History WesternAnimation / Coraline

** The other (albeit unseen) example is Mr. Bobinski's circus mice. Th tell Bobinski to warn Coraline about the door, even calling her by her correct name, something Bobinski never does.

* NowYouTellMe: While exploring, Coraline flips a switch, only to find a sign telling the reader not to touch the switch. It turns off the electricity to the computer room, destroying her father's work.

* HopeSpot: Coraline reluctantly goes back to the Other World to [[spoiler:save her parents. She then sees her real mother peeking through the door, neck brace, buttonless eyes, and all. Coraline is so happy and relieved that she runs into her mother's arms. It turns out to be the Other Mother, who proceeds to confiscate the key to the Other Door while taking off her disguise happily]].

* AnAesop: There's no place like home... even if it doesn't seem enjoyable at first.

* SirensAreMermaids: During the Other Spink and Forcible's song, the Other Spink describes herself as "the siren of all seven seas" while dressed as a [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent mermaid]].

** The Other Father is shown driving a giant mechanical praying mantis. Female mantids are famous for killing and eating their males after mating with them. [[spoiler:The Other Father drowns after being forcibly stuck together with his mount after saving her life.]]
** The very subtle split-second sign of the Other Father's stitches coming loose in the piano scene.

** The vision Coraline sees of her parents shows them shivering and covered with snow, and when she's in the living room in the Other World, the sound of them finger-writing on frosty glass can be heard.[[spoiler:They've been hidden in one of the snow globes on the mantel.]]

** Coraline and the Other Mother never actually shake on their deal for the game, and it turns out that the Other Mother had no intentions to hold up her end of the bargain.
** At the end of Coraline's second visit to the Other World, as she falls asleep, the Other Mother hushes the silent Other Father. [[spoiler:While it seems like a cute "shh, she's trying to sleep" moment, it turns out that the Other Father has already subverted the Other Mother's influence by that point, having dropped hints to Coraline in his song. She's not being a sweet parent, she's trying to reassert her control over a problematic lackey...correctly, as the Other Father tries to defy her further, resulting his own destruction.]]

** The small door that leads to an alternate world version of Pink Palace is similar in concept to the clock tower door at Midwich Elementary School in ''VideoGame/SilentHill1''. The other world here is much more inviting but still just as sinister due to the Other Mother's presence. Like the ''Silent Hill'' Otherworld, this Otherworld also has AlienGeometries like rooms that are impossibly BiggerOnTheInside, and Coraline even advances to the FinalBoss by solving a puzzle. The Other Mother's final form also wouldn't be out of place as ''Silent Hill'' boss and an idealized loved one being a monster in disguise is a fundamental plot point of ''VideoGame/SilentHill2''.

* ArcSymbol: A thin and bony hand, which appears not just in the opening, but also in a flash of lightning during Coraline's first trip to the Other Mother's world and then in Coraline's tea leaves the day after. [[spoiler: Of course, this turns out to represent the last surviving part of the Other Mother: her hand.]]

* ArcSymbol: A thin and bony hand, which appears not just in the opening, but also in a flash of lightning during Coraline's first trip to the Other Mother's world and then in Coraline's tea leaves the day after.