It is said that the eyes are the window to ones soul. So by the Other Mother taking the childrens eyes and sewing buttons there instead is a way for her to keep their souls with her and therefore trapped in the other world. this is why they are suddenly released when the "eyes" are taken out of the Other World.
That dates back to various reasons throughout history. The eyes keep the soul within, so coins (or buttons in this case) keep eyes closed until the soul is ready to leave. Coins had been placed on the eyes to bring into the afterlife upon burial, to pay the underworld for safekeeping.
The other mother wants to keep Coraline in her world forever and tries to entice her with delicious food, remarkable toys, and the promise that Coraline can live by her own rules.
Coraline Jones (voice of Dakota Fanning) is an unhappy child. She feels neglected by her parents (Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman) after they move to an old house in the country. Busy with deadlines and dreams, her parents have no time for her and are irritated by her questions and constant pestering.
Trivia. It was stuffed with sand instead of cotton when spying on Coraline. This reflects her other creations too, as other Wybie, the hummingbirds and the circus mice are full of sand too.
Coraline's greatest fear at the start of the novel is that her parents do not love her enough, and the Other Mother, whom Coraline meets in the world beyond the bricked-up door, is a frighteningly literal manifestation of Coraline's inner psyche.
This is an important detail, but more on that later. So did Coraline make it out of the Other World? The answer is no. In fact, she never left at all.
In Roald Dahl's Matilda and Neil Gaiman's Coraline, parental neglect is contrasted against violence as both are shown to be psychologically detrimental to a child, while the impact of these imperfect parents is able to help a child redefine their sense of self.
Coraline overcomes great odds, defeats the evil other mother, saves her parents, and rescues the trapped souls of three children.
In Coraline (2009), on the first day Coraline enters the other world there is a brief flash of lightning in the shape of the other mother's hand in it's true form. Right before, the other mother is seen tapping her hand, thus alluding to her true form and what's going to happen.
She smells something from the kitchen and wanders over to find her mother cooking. When her mother turns to greet her, Coraline sees that she has black buttons for eyes.
Henry Selick explains that Mr. Bobinsky's skin is blue because he's outside all the time, in the cold and damp weather, wearing only a sleeveless shirt and short pants. And the cold causes his skin to become blue.
'Coraline' (2009)
Coraline is an especially comforting piece of dark fantasy animation because it tackles the themes of courage, identity, and child-like imagination. Many times, people begin to lose their identities and imaginations as they grow older and make their way into the “real” world.
Coraline realizes the Beldam has kidnapped her parents, forcing her to return to the Other World. Accompanied by the cat, Coraline proposes a game: if she can find her parents and the essences of the ghosts' souls, they will all go free; if not, she will finally accept the Beldam's offer.
Coraline is warned by the Sweet Ghost Girl that even if she wins, the Beldam will never let her go. Using her wits, Coraline tricks The Beldam into unlocking the door for her, while she finds her real parents trapped in a snow globe.
Mel later locked the door again and hid the key after finding rat feces near it. After Coraline escaped from the other world, she and her husband were kidnapped by the The Beldam (Other Mother) and were trapped in the other world.
Leaving room for a strong case surrounding Coraline's childhood as a factor in her developing mental illness. As her hallucination goes on, her schizophrenia sets in as her perception and paranoia take a turn for the worse.
Coraline is a dark fantasy story following a little girl by the same name through a dangerous adventure in another world.
Throughout the film, Coraline uses the symbolism of body parts as a physical representation of emotional manipulation, revealing the unseen trauma caused by emotional abuse. Hands, the most repeated symbol throughout the film, are used as the Other Mother's physical manipulators.
Coraline's behavior is consistent with a psychotic-dissociative cluster as evidenced by her experiencing an alternate universe as well as incorporating fixed beliefs. As these are critical parts of the plot, it is best to formulate Coraline's behavior along a psychotic-dissociative spectrum.
Mel mentions something about a car accident, which is why she is wearing a neck brace. Coraline immediately screams that the accident wasn't her fault. The audience can come to the conclusion that the accident was most likely Coraline's fault, though, due to her abrupt defensiveness.
The Beldam in the novella. The appearance of the Beldam changes throughout the movie. Her modus operandi is to disguise herself as a child's mother to lure them into her world- In Coraline's case, she disguised herself as Mel Jones, Coraline's mother.