Coraline: parents' guide

Bloodless but menacing fantasy violence: a doll is cut open and another is burned, garden plants attack Coraline, a cat she throws scratches out the villain's button eyes, the cat kills a rat spy with an audible crunch, a severed hand stalks her, and one brief strangling.

Mild and infrequent: "rat crap" once, a few "oh my God" exclamations, plus "jeez," "Lord" and "cripes almighty." The rest is name-calling such as "jerkwad," "wuss puss," "psycho," "idiot" and "stupid."

No romance. In the Other World, two retired actresses shed padded bodies for a stage act, one in a skimpy mermaid costume and the other in only sequined pasties and a tiny bottom. A neighbor in tiny shorts lands with his groin barely missing Coraline's shears.

No drinking or drug use is shown. Coraline's mother makes a passing joke about someone being drunk, and two elderly neighbors comically mistake pink lemonade for an alcoholic drink.

Sustained dread and disturbing images: buttons to be sewn over Coraline's eyes, a boy's mouth stitched into a smile, ghost children whose lives were taken, a skeletal spider-like villain, a ringmaster made of rats, and a chase through a collapsing world. Her parents are abducted.