Tammy and I had a rare and coveted free Saturday last weekend. We took the opportunity to see a matinee at the Movie Tavern. We decided to go see something brainlessly funny, something we wouldn’t have to think about, just some good old yuk-yuk entertainment. So we bought tickets for Mall Cop.

Ten minutes after the movie was supposed to start, after we’d already ordered our food, the manager stuck his head in and said he was replacing the bulb on the projector. “Hang tight.” Ten minutes later, he stuck his head in again and gave us the bad news. The project was a “no worky.” We could either get a refund or see something else.

Several times over the last few months, Tammy and I have lamented that Hollywood is just not putting out anything we want to see. Gory horror flicks, sappy chick-flicks, and feel-bad sob stories just aren’t worth my twenty bucks. I’d like to see Grand Torino, but that is not a “Tammy movie.”

The only other option that was even on our radar was Coraline. I had a feeling it was going to be too weird and gothic for Tammy (and that turned out to be true) but it was all we had left.

I’m a big fan of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and the sub-genre that it spawned. So Corline had an automatic head start on my review. It was only available in 3D, which may have canceled out that head start. There’s a big wave of 3D movies coming out and I’m just not a fan. The technology has been around for 50 years. Oooh, the thing reaches out from the screen in that one seen and makes your head rock back. I get it. If it doesn’t contribute to the whole experience of the movie, it’s not worth wearing the uncomfortable plastic glasses for two hours.

Coraline, like Despereaux, is based on a book, which means you have to go into it with that in mind, knowing that there’s more to the story that you won’t see, knowing that the plot will not follow normal movie patterns, and knowing that it might feel a little awkward in this medium.

With that in mind, the story is great. It has a great moral (eventually) and it’s entertaining. It is weird. It is gothic. It has a heavy dose of tween girl angst. (Didn’t that used to be teen angst? When did angst move in to elementary school?) But, ultimately it’s a fun story for grown-ups too.

I feel I should warn you. I would not take someone younger than, say, 12 to see Coraline, despite the target audience. It’s got some really scary scenes. And there is one scene, which I would call PG-13 (or worse). Without giving away too much, imagine (or rather, try not to imagine) an overweight septuagenarian dancing and singing wearing a bejeweled thong and pasties. Yeah. Ick.

My heart for the genre is just enough to pull this movie up to three grins.