As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
Film
- An understated one, but one for Wybie's grandmother Mrs. Lovat. This old woman, driven by the disappearance of her twin sister, not only managed to stop the Other Mother from getting new victims, but managed to essentially contain the demon for decades to the point that by the time Coraline meets her, she's nearly starved to death.
- There's just something remarkably awesome about Coraline packing up a bunch of everyday items as her Lock-and-Load Montage. The music helps it along — you just know in that moment that this girl is something else.
- After Coraline has escaped the Other Mother's metal spiderweb and climbed through the little door into the hallway, the Other Mother pries the door open and hisses — and Coraline kicks her in the face.
- Doubly awesome: the Other Mother doesn't simply hiss at her. She's yelling "You dare disobey your MOTHER?!" This gives Coraline's kick even more emphasis, as though stressing how fed up she is of this nasty creature having the gall to call itself her "mother".
- Wybie gets his own moment in the sun. After the Other Wybie heroically rescues Coraline, knowing how the Other Mother would punish his betrayal, the real Wybie calls Coraline crazy before getting chased away — not particularly auspicious. But then at the end, when Coraline is being dragged towards the well by the Other Mother's disembodied hand, he comes riding down out of the dark to grab the hand, falls into the well, then climbs back out in time to smash the thing to smithereens. And then he apologizes for insulting her and calls her "Coraline" — the first time any of her new neighbors at the Pink Palace has gotten her name right.
- After being attacked by an entire garden of the most horrible things the writers could imagine, Coraline still strides into the theatre aisle, watched by all those bat dogs, and shows nothing but determination. Took a Level in Badass, indeed.
- The movie's mere existence is a huge CMOA to the world of stop-motion, 3D, and animations in general. It utterly annihilates almost every single limitation of stop-motion.
- Coraline's final facedown with the Other Mother herself. "No. I'm... NOT!"
- She throws the cat in the Other Mother's face!
- One for the cat too: he didn't know she was going to do that, and is about as freaked out as the Other Mother. Then, as she struggles to pull him off, he takes advantage of the situation to claw at her and rip out her button eyes. And considering how Coraline only barely makes it to the door even with a headstart, that may have been just enough to let her win.
- The garden scene is awesome by itself, but for anyone with any kind of experience in making stop-motion... It's mindblowing!
- This line, just for the awesome snarkiness and the fact that it can be used in so many conversations:Coraline: Cats can't talk.Cat: Well, you're clearly the expert in these matters.
- Coraline locking the Other Mother away, with the latter pleading to be let out and saying that she'll die otherwise. The "demon" begs the "little kid" for mercy; that is beyond awesome.
- When Coraline begins her quest to find the ghost children's marble eyes, she first goes to the garden. There, the Other Father has been strapped into his harvester by the piano's gloved hands, which force him to attack Coraline as he begs for forgiveness. But rather than simply watch his "daughter" be killed, he fights back against the Other Mother's control and is able to wrench his arm free from the machine. He quickly hands Coraline the marble as he plummets to his death, screaming, "TAKE IT!" The fact that this pumpkin creature which had almost no will of its own outright defies the dangerous Other Mother is a true Dying Moment of Awesome.
Novel
- Coraline cleverly sets up her picnic blanket on top of the garden well and lets the Other Mother's hand fall in. She even brings along dolls for "protective coloration", a concept mentioned briefly in the beginning of the book.
- After Coraline finds the first soul, the Other Mother conjures up a wind that keeps her from moving to find the rest. Coraline yells, "Play fair!" — and the wind stops.
- When the Other Mother makes the Other Father attack Coraline in the basement, Coraline realises there's no point trying to run, since he'll just chase her until he catches her, and instead turns his attack against him by pulling out his button eyes.
- Coraline finds her parents souls and hides the fact from the Other Mother long enough to trick her into opening the door. Then she throws the Cat at her and escapes, with the Cat while apologizing.
- A very minor one, but Coraline uses a little more than guile and wits in the game. She can actually defend herself. Enemies come along and give you a hard time? You can run away... or you can kick 'em in the face, or knock their brains out with your slingshot!
