Coraline Book vs. Movie

I’m going to discuss a few of the differences between Coraline the book (written by Neil Gaiman) and the movie. For starters, the story introduced a whole new character named Whybie. In the movie he was an important character and helped carry out the storylines, but he wasn't at all in the book. However, I thought that he was woven into the movie very effectively and actually made the story better. A lot of times it seems that when major changes are made from book to movie like that, something gets messed up along the way--but not in this case. I thought it was an excellent addition by the screen writers! Whybie's full name was Whyborn, which I thought was extremely sad but added to his character. Coraline meets Whybie early in the story and he, of course, can’t listen to her lecture that her name is CORAline and not Caroline… and he says his grandmother lost her sister to the house that Coraline now lives in. So there is now an interesting tie in to the ghosts that she will meet in her "other" house and eventually rescue.
Overall, the story is a little different but effectively stays with the book with only a few new props (the spyingdoll: an example of what wasn't in the book), but the story is told accurately and beautifully, with a little weirdness thrown in, which makes it such a fun movie! My favorite parts were the beginning when Coraline is bored and trying to get her parents to pay attention to her. I thought her actions and words were exactly to character--both the book and the movie captured this brilliantly.
One thing I was a little disappointed in was the voice for the cat. For some reason, he just didn’t seem as cool as the cat in the book. However, I thought the appearance and voice of the Other Mother was very good! She was all sweet and nice at the beginning and quickly became scary, menacing, and downright EVIL. Overall, though, it was a very fine movie--fun, entertaining, and thrilling, and a very good adaptation of the book.