Coraline

I must say I thoroughly enjoyed this film.  In my opinion, it had several good things going for it:

1.  A secret passage is central to the storyline.

2.  Unlike the majority of children's movies (think The Lion King, The Little Mermaid,  Beauty and the Beast, even Wall-E) this one avoided the ever cliche love story.  I don't care how many different ways Disney can package and sell it, there's just something awkward about a children's movie that revolves around a love story.

3.  Although I didn't see it in 3D the movie has a 3D version that was apparently wildly successful at the box office.

4.  The protagonist is a young girl who successfully channels Dora the Explorer and Punky Brewster.

5.  It is absolutely beautiful to watch.

Despite my warm and fuzzy feelings for the flick, several things still managed to bug me a bit:

1.  The movie clearly stole stuff from Alice in Wonderland - including the psychedelic cat - without ever acknowledging the theft.

2.  I found some of Coraline's dialogue to be a bit unnatural (granted she is a walking clay model, but still, a girl has got to have her standards).

3.  Buttons for eyes are scary. Period.

4.  There is a very awkward scene in which two over weight female characters are shown performing in nothing but their underwear.  The breasts of these characters are bizarrely grotesque and it just seemed... weird... or something...

5.  I know I should match my 5 pros with 5 cons but, to be honest, it would be a stretch for me to come up with any further critiques.

Long story short - it's sure to please - A -