I like to know as little as possible about a movie before I see it, a policy that sometimes has its drawbacks. For instance, I watched this new animated movie under the assumption that it was created the way most animated films are these days, by computer. It wasn’t until the end credits that I learned I was watching stop-motion puppets, with computer graphics used only to provide some effects.

Stop-motion animation is a very labor- and time-intensive craft, especially if you want to achieve anything near the depth of detail and motion seen onscreen here. (A few statistics from the studio publicity department: The film’s production took 18 months after two years of pre-production; it took 10 craftsmen three to four months to make each puppet; 300 people working for a week were able to capture 74 seconds of film.)

Had I known that in advance I might have appreciated the effort that went into crafting Coraline more. But appreciation is less important than enjoyment, and even without knowing what I was watching I enjoyed it very well indeed.

Adapted from a children’s book by Neil Gaiman, Coraline begins when the young girl of the title (who has the off-center face of MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow) is moved by her parents to a large old house in Oregon. Feeling ignored as they concentrate more on their work than her, she goes exploring and finds an alternate world behind a bricked-up door, where the house is decorated and bright and her “other” parents are attentive, exciting, and better cooks. Of course all here is not as it seems, and when Coraline learns their evil secret she must gather up her courage to save herself and her family.

Coraline was made by Henry Selick, who also directed The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach. As with all of his films, it’s a bit dark and even sometimes grotesque for young children but older kids and teens will probably love it, as will Tim Burton fans (many of whom still don’t realize that their boy did not direct The Nightmare Before Christmas). Even horror fans with a low demand for blood and grue should enjoy it—it bears more than a passing resemblance to the Freddy Kruger films of the 1980s.

The spindly, minutely detailed characters and backgrounds show the influence of Eastern European animators like Jan Svenkmajer, and at every moment are a delight to look at. The main voices are provided by Dakota Fanning, Terri Hatcher, and John Hodgman. Supporting characters—neighbors in Coraline’s house—include a Russian acrobat (Ian McShane) and a dotty pair of aged actresses (Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French) whose experience was less legit than they like to remember.

The plot sometimes sags when Selick and company get caught up in a set piece, like a show performed by leaping mice or a naughty music hall number (which is where the film earns its PG rating). But plot is the last thing you go to a movie like this for. Coraline is also the first feature of its type to be filmed in 3D, and while the effects are suitably impressive, you tend to forget about them after awhile: I don’t think you would be missing a lot if you see the regular (‘2D”) version.