I finally saw 'Coraline'! I waited much too long; it's been out for a month already. It was, to put it succinctly: rad. The design was great, the stop motion was great, the voice acting was actually pretty great. The British comedy team French & Saunders, Ian McShane, and John Hodgman did excellent jobs. And freaking Keith David as a cat? I was a bit "meh" when I first saw Dakota Fanning and Teri Hatcher on the cast list, but to be honest, they each did pretty good jobs. I just don't think of their voices as interesting or distinctive. And I'm coming off the horror of listening to Miley Cyrus' voice in 'Bolt', a perfect example of an actor being cast just because of her contract with a studio, not because of any discernible voice talent. She sounds like a 45 year old smoker.
But Dakota Fanning was engaging and likeable, making her Coraline not at all cloying or awkward sounding. I was impressed, and that had been really my only misgiving. Even if her performance had been lacking, the design and animation would have distracted me.
Now, to see 'Watchmen', which I fear will invariably disappoint. Oh well. Fingers crossed.
