18 Hidden Details From Coraline You Probably Missed

Coraline remains a Laika movie that keeps on giving, with another re-release in 2024 so more fans can discover the various Coraline Easter eggs. Coraline stole hearts everywhere when it hit the big screen in 2009 as Laika’s first major motion picture. Based on the bestselling book by Neil Gaiman, Coraline was done in stop-motion animation. Those who worked on it put a lot of detail into the tiny worlds that the titular character ventures to. Some of these details were obvious on the first watch, but others weren’t as easy to spot.

There are so many details that helped create Coraline’s world. The story of the girl who ventures into a parallel universe, only to get trapped in it by a woman with buttons for eyes, took a long time to create. The entire film took a total of 20 months to shoot, not including the time it took to conceptualize and create everything needed for shooting. No shortcuts were taken, and every minor aspect served a purpose, which explains its lasting legacy, as it surpassed $160,000 in its most recent return to theaters.

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Related 20 Wild Details Behind The Making Of Coraline

Coraline was a ground-breaking stop-motion animated movie. We take a look back at it with these amazing stories about how it was made.

18 The Welcome Cake Reveals The Other Mother’s True Intentions

The Cake Shows The Other Mother Is Lying

When Coraline first comes into the alternate world and meets the Other Mother, she gets some nice surprises. Since the Other Mother wants Coraline to choose her, she does many things that are meant to make Coraline want to stay there and never return to her real parents. One of the things that she does is present the little girl with a welcome cake. This is a nice and sweet moment, but it has some ominous meanings for anyone who looks closely at the cake.

The cake has some words written on it to let Coraline know that they are happy to see her and want her to stay. One of the words is, of course, “Welcome,” However, the word is written stylistically, and the “O” in the middle of the word is written with double loops at the top. This is a symbol that means lying or betrayal. This implies that the Other Mother is welcoming Coraline to her home, but she is also lying, and Coraline would do good not to feel welcome in this new house.

17 The Monkey Slippers Reference The Past

They Homage The Movie MonkeyBone

When a movie goes out of its way to point something out, it has a meaning. Even if the meaning has nothing to do with the specific film, it is still something that the director wants people to notice. In Coraline, the girl and her father point out a little fun item, and since each of them mentions it, there is a chance it has to mean something. Both of them point out that the dad has some monkey slippers he wears throughout the movie. But, what is so important about monkey slippers?

Before Henry Sellick directed Coraline in 2009, he helmed a few other movies, including The Nightmare Before Christmas in 1993 and James and the Giant Peach in 1996. However, he also directed a live-action film, albeit one with a lot of fantasy elements. This was the 2001 black comedy MonkeyBone starring Brendan Fraser. There is a good chance that the emphasis on the monkey slippers was Selick giving a shout-out to his last directed movie.

16 Jack Skellington Cameo

Jack’s Face Is In The Eggs

MonkeyBone isn’t the only homage that Henry Selick throws in as a Coraline Easter egg. He also has a blink-and-you-will-miss-it cameo by none other than Jack Skellington. Of course, Jack is the main character in Henry’s first stop-motion animation classic, The Nightmare Before Christmas. In that movie, Jack Skellington is the King of Halloweentown, but he wants more. Jack figures if he kidnaps Santa Claus, he can bring his form of fun to the Christmas season as well.

In Coraline, the entire presence of Jack Skellington takes place in a very interesting place. While the Other Mom is making breakfast for dinner to impress Coraline, she cracks an egg and pours it into a bowl. The camera then looks down at the egg yolk, and Jack’s skull appears in the yolk. It is a little cameo in an unexpected place, but it really shows how hard Sellick worked to pay homage to his past movies in this new masterpiece.

15 The Face On The Dollar Bill

Henry Selick’s Coraline Uses Stop-Motion For Unique Charm

Henry Selick, best known for The Nightmare Before Christmas, spent a long time working on Coraline. As soon as it was decided that Coraline would be better received as an animated film, Selick wanted the movie done using stop-motion animation. After convincing the studio that stop-motion was the better style fit for Coraline, Selick finally got the green light. Doing it in stop-motion gave Selick more opportunities to be quirky and humorous with his work.

One of the first scenes in the movie involves Coraline and her family moving into Pink Palace Apartments. A moving truck labeled “Ranft Brothers” backs into the driveway, and the two movers transfer all the big pieces of furniture into the home. Not only was this a shout-out to successful animators Jerome and Joe Ranft, but it also led to a moment for Selick to add himself to the movie. The dollar bill given as a tip has Selick’s face on it. Before the audience even sees Coraline, they see the film’s director without realizing it.

14 There’s A Message In Coraline’s Dad’s Song

The Song Signals What’s About To Unfold

The first time Coraline makes her way through the portal and into the other world, she meets the other mother, also known as Beldam. The other mother is cooking dinner and tells Coraline to go and tell her other father that dinner is ready. When Coraline first meets the other father, everything seems pretty great all around. He sings her a song that sounds fun and catchy. However, there is more to it than that.

The song the other father sings to Coraline when she first meets him has a purpose: it’s a warning sign of what is about to happen. The lyrics go, “Makin’ up a song about Coraline/She’s a peach, she’s a doll/She’s a pal of mine/She’s as cute as a button in the eyes of everyone who ever laid their eyes on Coraline/When she comes around exploring, Mom and I will never ever make it boring/Our eyes will be on Coraline.” The singing makes it seem cute when it’s really a broad outline of Beldam’s intentions.

13 The Cracked Car

The Car Accident

When the Jones family settles into their new home, Coraline and her mom, Mel, talk in their kitchen. Mel is working on editing pages for Coraline’s dad, Charlie. Mel mentions something about a car accident, which is why she is wearing a neck brace. Coraline immediately screams the accident wasn’t her fault. The audience can conclude the accident was most likely Coraline’s fault, or Mel blamed Coraline for one too many mishaps that weren’t her fault.

Either way, a car accident happened. The car that the Jones family owns sits in the front driveway. It’s seen a few times, such as when Coraline goes to get her pink-flowered suitcase and when Coraline tries to look for her kidnapped parents. It isn’t until Coraline and her mom are driving back home from school uniform shopping that the car accident results can be seen. The front of the car has a giant crack behind one of the headlights, making it appear that Mel Jones was driving the car when the accident happened.

12 The Detroit Zoo Snow Globe

Caroline Unpacks It In The New House

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The Detroit Zoo snow globe becomes an important aspect throughout the entire movie. It’s one of the first things Coraline unpacks in the new house, and later on, Coraline’s real mom and dad get trapped inside it. It seems like just a regular snow globe of a fountain from the Detroit Zoo, but it has a bit more factual detail to it than that. The Horace H. Rackham Memorial Fountain is located at the very center of the Detroit Zoo.

The fountain features two bronze bears that stand tall at 10 feet high, making for an incredibly large fountain that pours water into a seventy-five-thousand-gallon pool. The fountain has become a well-known landmark within the zoo. When looking closely at the snow globe Coraline has, the fountain is a replica of the real-life zoo fountain, bears included. The bears disappear when Coraline saves her parents. Afterward, Coraline’s mom ends up blaming Coraline for “breaking” the snow globe.

11 The Bug Wallpaper Is A Hint

Coraline’s Dull World Hints At The Other Mother’s Bug Obsession

Everything in Coraline’s real world is supposed to look boring and lackluster, as it’s intended to contrast with the world the other mother creates. Multiple subtle hints in the real world foreshadow what’s going to happen during the second half of the movie in Beldam’s world. One of those details includes the wallpaper in the living room of Coraline’s home. The wallpaper in the living room is an ugly blue-gray color that looks to have some throwaway pattern on it, but it’s pretty unassuming on the surface.

That pattern, however, actually has a bug print on it. It can be difficult to see because the bugs are faint, but the bugs are definitely there. This is intended to foreshadow the other mother’s desire for insects. The other mother never eats during the meals she has with Coraline; the only time she eats is when she can eat bugs. That only happens later on in the movie, of course, once the other mother reveals her true self to Coraline.

10 The Soundtrack Has Several Hidden Aspects

Bruno Coulais Mixed Things Up

The soundtrack in Coraline was originally supposed to be done by They Might Be Giants, and the band created several original songs for the film. The unfortunate part is that the band got the axe when director Henry Selick decided to change the film’s direction. He wanted the music to aim for a creepier angle instead. This resulted in the band not having any of their music in the film, except the song the other father sings to Coraline with the hidden message.

When the change happened, French composer Bruno Coulais stepped in and mixed things up.

French composer Bruno Coulais stepped in and mixed things up when the change happened. When listening to the songs from the soundtrack, it sounds like it’s a beautiful, yet dark, French choir, or something else of that sort, but that isn’t accurate. While it is a children’s choir singing, they aren’t singing in French, let alone any real language at all. What sounds like a foreign language is, in fact, complete gibberish. They’re simply singing in a nonsense language.

9 The Pink Palace Flag

Mr. Bobinsky’s Flag Resembles Montenegro’s

When “The Pink Palace” appears in the beginning of Coraline, it’s easy to notice the flag hanging from it. It isn’t until later that it’s discovered that the flag is above Mr. Bobinsky’s apartment. Mr. B is a strange blue man with a mouse circus and he’s extremely athletic though a bit scatterbrained. He seems to believe that the mice talk to him, which Coraline believes, too. However, there is also a chance he doesn’t talk to the mice, and Mr. Bobinsky’s belief that he can do so is all in his head.

The flag outside of Mr. Bobinsky’s apartment appears to be the official flag of Montenegro. It’s a small country near Croatia and Serbia. While Mr. Bobinsky is Russian, he makes sure to keep the flag hanging proudly outside of his home. This could mean a multitude of things, but there’s no question that the hanging flag resembles that of Montenegro’s official flag. The only difference is that the real Montenegro flag has a lion in the middle, whereas Mr. Bobinsky’s flag has a horseman.

8 Mr. Bobinsky’s Medal

Radiation Exposure Explains His Skin Color And Beet Craving

Audiences know Mr. Bobinsky is Russian not only because of his accent but because of the medal that he proudly wears on his shirt. Even while wearing a dirty tank top, Mr. Bobinsky still has his medal shiny and pinned to his chest. This medal isn’t a run-of-the-mill badge, though. It’s a medal given to the nuclear clean-up team after the Chornobyl Nuclear Disaster in 1986. Mr. Bobinsky’s medal even says “Participant in the Clean-Up Campaign,” and has an image of a drop of blood on it.

The blood drop has three lines, with each line representing a certain type of radiation. It is the only medal that was given out to participants of a nuclear clean-up. The film’s creators have said that Mr. Bobinsky is blue due to being outside in the cold all the time. That said, being exposed to radiation for such a long time during the clean-up could also explain his skin color (in an animated world, anyway), as well as his desire to eat raw beets.

7 The Button Key Is A Hidden Symbol

The Key Symbolizes The Portal To The Button-Eyed World

The key that opens the tunnel door in the living room comes with the house, where it’s found in a drawer along with about a million other keys. Yet somehow, Coraline’s mother knows exactly which key she needs to open the door for Coraline. Just as well, Coraline’s mom is perfectly okay with destroying the wallpaper in her new home. Mel Jones is truly a woman of mystery and confusion.

After Coraline tells her parents about the other mother and the other father, Mel locks the door and hides the key. Coraline finds the key hanging above the doorway in the kitchen and uses her balancing skills to reach it. When Coraline is carrying the key, its shape can be easily examined by viewers. This scene offers a closer look, openly displaying it for all to see. There’s a button shape on the end of the key, which makes perfect sense as the key opens the portal door that leads to a life of button eyes.

6 Lightning Hand

The Other World Hides Beldam’s True Nature

The first time Coraline reaches the other world, she’s having fun until she starts feeling uneasy. She finds it strange the other mother would not only let Coraline do what she wants but also suggest ideas that her real mother was against. For example, Coraline wanted to garden in the rain earlier that day, but her real mother said no. The real Mel Jones doesn’t like dirt and especially doesn’t care for mud. The other mother knows that Coraline is more of a free spirit, so she suggests playing in the rain and mud to her.

The thing is, though, it wasn’t raining when Coraline visited. After Coraline points this out, the other mother creates a thunderstorm. With that thunderstorm comes a large bolt of lightning. In a split second, the lightning forms the hand of the real Beldam. It’s a needle hand, just like the one she’s revealed to have towards the end of the movie. This image also appears in the tree branches in Beldam’s world when the black cat speaks to Coraline for the first time.

5 The Framed Silhouettes Are Hints Of Ghost Kids

Beldam’s Dark Past And Intentions

The amount of effort that went into some of these details is truly remarkable. Tiny details that very few people would ever notice were worked into the background of “The Pink Palace.” An important aspect of Coraline involved the ghost children. These kids were vital because they, just like Coraline, were tricked into believing that the other mother was going to give them a better life. Coraline finds their eyes, and in return, the ghost children help Coraline escape from Beldam.

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The ghosts in the house don’t appear until Coraline’s third visit when Beldam throws Coraline behind the mirror. Hints of them are scattered around, though. Foreshadowing their appearance later in the film, the silhouettes of the children appear on the wall in the dining room in the other world. On the wall behind where Coraline sits at the table, there are three silhouettes. What makes Beldam even more creepy is realizing that she ate away at the lives of kids and then hung their images in her dining room.

4 Beldam’s Humming Hints At Her Connection To The Soundtrack

It’s Almost Impossible To Notice

The fact that the soundtrack is made up of complete gibberish ties the movie together, and director Henry Selick puts it to good use by having the other mother humming while she cooks. Beldam cooks a lot but doesn’t eat any of the food. Cooking becomes a major theme throughout the movie because Coraline always complains about the lack of good food in the real world. She also complains that her real mom never cooks, so, of course, her other mother cooks great meals all the time.

Beldam hums while she cooks. The first time Coraline sees her is when Coraline smells something good coming from the kitchen. She walks in, and Beldam is turned away from Coraline, but she’s humming. The songs she hums aren’t just random songs, however — the tunes come directly from the soundtrack. It’s a virtually unnoticeable thing because the tune sounds so familiar that there’s seemingly nothing to stop and think about.

3 Coraline’s Hat Is A Nod To The Director’s Son

Coraline’s Quirky Style

One of the most peculiar scenes in the film comes when Coraline goes to her family’s car after a night of rain and gets her pink flowered suitcase off of the roof. Coraline didn’t seem to care that she had left the suitcase out on top of the car all night. Even stranger is the fact that the only thing in the suitcase is a black military-style type of hat. Coraline puts on the hat and goes on with her adventure.

The hat is, in fact, a Japanese schoolboy hat. Director Henry Selick said he had found one similar to it for his son but that his son had no interest in it, so he decided to give Coraline the same storyline. In theory, Coraline did the same thing. She found the hat, but instead of doing nothing with it like Selick’s son did, she decided to wear it. It helps that it very much fits Coraline’s quirky style, as there are very few kids who would wear something like this, but Coraline doesn’t care.

2 An Unexplained Ketchup Stain

Coraline’s Dad Has A Stain On His Shirt For No Reason

One of the most memorable lines in Coraline comes when Mel offers Coraline lunch: “How do you feel about a mustard-ketchup-salsa wrap for lunch?” Coraline makes a face at the idea. Once she makes her journey to the other world to save her parents, they come back home and announce that their garden book has been well received. This puts them in a good mood, so they have a good night of family fun.

“
How do you feel about a mustard-ketchup-salsa wrap for lunch?
”

Ketchup comes back into play when Coraline’s father, Charlie, puts her to bed. He plays with her stuffed octopus, which Coraline finds absolutely hilarious. Pretending that the octopus is attacking his face, Charlie Jones makes an ordeal out of the whole thing. His over-the-top performance is why most viewers don’t notice the ketchup stain on his shirt in the scene. This unexplained element is only there due to a deleted scene that occurred beforehand. It’s difficult to notice, but once you see it, it’ll be hard to forget about it.

1 The StopMo Rulz Graffiti Pays Homage To The Creators

Recognition For The Movie Creators’ Hard Work

Henry Selick pushed the idea of making Coraline using stop-motion animation. Laika is known for doing stop-motion animation, but Coraline was their first feature-length movie. It was a major risk to do the movie in stop-motion animation, especially since there was so much content that needed to be covered in the film. Coraline ended up being the longest-running stop-motion animation film ever, at one hour and 40 minutes (Kubo and the Two Strings was longer a few years later).

With stop-motion being a major accomplishment for the film, it was only natural to give the hundreds of people who worked on it a shout-out. On the back of the Ranft brothers’ moving truck that was seen at the beginning of the movie, there is graffiti on the bottom right corner that says “StopMo Rulz” with a crown on top. Of course, this stands for “Stop-Motion Rules,” which is essentially a pat on the back for the people who made the movie.

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Based on Neil Gaiman’s novella, Coraline follows Coraline Jones, a lonely young girl who, after moving to a new house with her inattentive parents, discovers a portal to another, more sinister alternate reality behind one of the house’s many doors. Written and directed by Henry Selick, the film uses stop-motion animation and stars Dakota Fanning as Coraline. 

Director Henry Selick Release Date February 5, 2009 Studio(s) Focus Features Distributor(s) Focus Features Writers Henry Selick , Neil Gaiman Runtime 100 minutes Expand

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Category: Entertainment