Coraline

Inside the flat, everything still looks three-dimensional. Coraline spots the other mother waiting in the shadows. The other mother accuses Coraline of bringing vermin into the house, but Coraline replies that the cat is her friend. The other mother reminds Coraline that she loves her.

Coraline walks to the drawing room. The other mother follows her. Outside the window is nothing but mist. Coraline examines the other mother, realizing how little she resembles Coraline’s real mother now. The other mother asks where the souls are, and Coraline presents the marbles from her pocket. The other mother reaches for them, but Coraline recoils, replacing them safely in her pocket. Coraline acknowledges that she must still find her parents, trying her best not to look directly at the snowglobe.

Coraline tells the other mother that her parents must be through the big wooden door that leads back to her real house since she hasn’t been able to find them in the other world. She tells the other mother to open the door. The other mother produces the key and unlocks the door to show Coraline that she’s wrong. The cat, still in Coraline’s arms, grows tense, but Coraline thinks reassuring thoughts, hoping it’ll trust her. While the other mother isn’t looking, Coraline slowly moves toward the mantel. The other mother tells Coraline she’s wrong, opening the door. She tells Coraline that Coraline will have to stay forever, but Coraline replies that she won’t and throws the cat at the other mother’s face. The cat claws at the other mother, causing her to bleed black blood.

Coraline quickly grabs the snowglobe and rushes through the door. She tells the cat to come with her, grabbing the key out of the lock. Coraline tries to pull the door closed behind her, but the other mother pulls it back. Coraline feels the presence of the ghost children and her parents with her, and their ghostly hands grasp hers, lending her strength. Coraline can feel something poking through the door crack, grabbing at her, but she manages to pull it closed, dropping whatever was touching her to the ground. She runs through the corridor, aware of the presence of the others she’s saved.

Coraline and the cat make it to her original drawing room. The presence of the others has gone. Coraline slams the door and locks it, then apologizes to the cat for throwing it at the other mother. The two curl up on the stiff couch. Coraline falls asleep staring out the window at the real world beyond.

Coraline’s mother gently shakes her awake. She tells Coraline that they looked all over the house for her, then asks where the cat came from, relaying that the cat darted out as soon as they opened the front door. Coraline hugs her mother tightly. Coraline’s mother tells her that dinner will be ready soon and inquires about Coraline’s torn dressing gown. Coraline says she fell, then goes to wash up.

In her bedroom, Coraline empties her pockets. The snowglobe is now empty. Coraline ties the key around her neck and tucks it into her clothes. She goes to her father’s study and gives him a kiss on the back of his head. He greets her and asks what that was for. She tells him she misses him sometimes. He scoops her up and carries her to the dinner table.

Dinner is pizza topped with vegetables that Coraline doesn’t like. Aside from the pineapple, which she picks off, Coraline eats every bit of it. Before bed, Coraline tucks the marbles underneath her pillow.

Coraline dreams of a picnic with the ghost children. They thank her for saving them and for hosting the picnic. The four of them frolic in a meadow and play games together. When they return to the picnic blanket, the children deliver the news that Coraline is still in danger. Coraline is upset because she thought she had beaten the other mother. The children tell her they believe in her, then retire to an afterlife.

Coraline wakes to a noise in early dawn. She leaves her bedroom, following the noise that sounds like footsteps of something small with too many feet. She opens the front door to look at the gray dawn sky when something scuttles past her. It’s the other mother’s hand. Coraline knows it’s searching for the key.

Coraline’s parents never mention nor notice that they lost two days in the snowglobe. Upon returning to bed after seeing the other mother’s hand, Coraline finds the marbles have hatched like eggs. She stores the empty shards in a safe place.

Coraline visits Misses Spink and Forcible. They read her tea leaves again and note that everything looks good aside from a hand-shaped smudge at the edge of the cup. One of their dogs has suffered a deep scratch from some sort of fight, but the ladies aren’t sure what it’s from. Coraline realizes what likely caused it. As she leaves the ladies’ flat, the old man upstairs greets her, getting her name wrong. Coraline corrects him and asks how his mice are. He replies that something has frightened them, and they won’t play their instruments. He’s considering setting a trap with food to catch whatever it is. Coraline replies that it’s probably not after food and touches the key around her neck.

Coraline keeps the key around her neck at all times. That night, while Coraline is in bed, the other mother’s hand scratches at the window, leaving deep grooves in the glass. Coraline sleeps restlessly, listening for the hand to return.

The following day, Coraline devises a plan. She gathers her dolls that she doesn’t play with anymore, a paper tablecloth, toy teacups, and a jug of water. To ensure she isn’t followed, she takes a long route around to the old well. She removes the planks and carefully spreads the tablecloth across it. She then sets up her dolls and teacups to hold the cloth in place. She puts enough water in the teacups to weigh them down around the edges of the well. Then, she returns home the same way she came.

Once home, Coraline removes the key from her neck and dangles it from her hands visibly. She visits the old ladies again to ask how their dog is. The dog is fine, but the vet doesn’t know what caused the cut. Miss Spink says Mr. Bobo, the old man upstairs, believes it was a weasel. Coraline is surprised that she never learned Mr. Bobo’s name. Then, she announces loudly that she’s going to go play with her dolls. Miss Spink tells her to be careful of the well. Coraline ignores her and mentions loudly that the key she’s carrying is part of her game.

Coraline makes her way back to the well, singing loudly. She can tell the hand is following her now, keeping out of sight but not completely inconspicuously. She talks to her dolls, pretending not to see the hand. She carefully lowers the key in the middle of the tablecloth, making sure it doesn’t sink into the well yet. Then, she pretends to clean up after one of the dolls, stepping away from the key and the well. The hand leaps out and grabs the key, landing hard in the center of the tablecloth. The cloth collapses into the well, taking the hand and the key with it. Coraline counts forty seconds before she hears a distant splash deep in the well.

Coraline moves the planks back where they were, covering the well. Having rid herself of the hand of the other mother, Coraline gathers her dolls and tea set. The black cat approaches and winks approvingly. At home, Mr. Bobo greets Coraline, getting her name wrong again, and tells her that the mice say everything is good, and they want to perform for Coraline as soon as they are ready. Coraline corrects him, and this time he repeats her name correctly back to her.

Coraline returns the stone to Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, thanking them and telling them it saved her as well as several others. She gives them both big hugs. That night, as Coraline lies in bed, she opens her window to let the warm summer air in, and she can hear the faint music of the mice coming from Mr. Bobo’s flat.