“Let’s watch a scary movie for Halloween and review it,” suggested Ms. Sciacqua. “Yeah!” said the journalism class. And then we realized that there were too many scaredy cats in class to watch a legitimately frightening movie. We ended up with two strange and unusual children’s movies, Coraline and the Corpse Bride.

Coraline  

Review by Ray Celaya

Main Cast: Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Keith David 

Director: Henry Selick 

February 5, 2009 

1 hour 40 minutes 

Find on Apple iTunes, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Redbox 

Coraline’s behavior portrays an illness known as a Psychotic Dissociative Cluster. Her experiences involving a false world with similarities and real beliefs are a sign of that disorder. (https://screenrant.com/coraline-movie-hidden-easter-eggs-details-you-missed/) 

Coraline moves to a new city and has trouble enjoying the move. As an 11-year-old, she finds herself wandering around and conversating with the new people around. While wandering around and being a young kid, she finds a little door that is locked and closed off. After convincing her mom to open it, they find out it is just a brick wall behind it. 

After being woken up in the middle of the night by mice, she is led by them to the same small door and sees that it is open. The mice run in and Coraline follows them through a tunnel that’s just big enough for her to go through. On the other side she finds an alternate world that seems better than the original one.  

Coraline frequently visits and finds things she never could have imagined. She’s forced to win a life-or-death game for the sake of her real family.  

I believe this family/horror movie teaches a valid lesson to people about not always trusting your curiosity or listening to people that can potentially help you. This is a good film to watch with young children and siblings when they are being too wild. This film is a good 4.5 stars out of 5.  

The Corpse Bride 

Review by Conor Hustedde

Main Cast: Johnny Depp – Victor Van Dort, Helena Bonham – Emily the Corpse, Emily Watson – Victoria Everglot 

Directors – Mike Johnson and Tim Burton 

2005 

77 minutes 

Find on HBO Max and Amazon Prime 

The Corpse Bride, directed by Tim Burton, was based off an old Jewish folktale found in the Shivhei ha-Ari, and shares much of its story with the main film. The movie, an animated musical/dark fantasy follows Victor van Dort, the son of a rich fish merchant, who is made to marry Victoria Everglot, the daughter of an aristocratic family. Unable to recite his vows on the wedding night, Victor runs away in shame where he accidentally proclaims his vows to a corpse, Emily. While this is happening, Victoria’s family unknowingly agrees to marry her to Emily’s murder. The movie consists of Victor attempting to reconcile with both Emily and Victoria and save his fiancé from a grisly fate. 

The Corpse Bride is a fun family movie that is short and sweet. It does not drag on too long like many contemporary movies do, and it plays to its strengths. The musical score is invigorating, and the song “Remains of the Dead” is a highlight of the movie. I would give this movie 4/5 stars. The characters can sometimes feel underdeveloped, but what can you expect from an 80-minute kids' film? I would recommend it for anyone who wants to sit back and enjoy. 

Source: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/89345/12-lively-facts-about-corpse-bride