Directed by: Chris Butler & Sam Fell.
Written by: Chris Butler.
Starring: Kodi Smit-McPhee (Norman Babcock), Tucker Albrizzi (Neil), Anna Kendrick (Courtney Babcock), Casey Affleck (Mitch), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Alvin), Leslie Mann (Sandra Babcock), Jeff Garlin (Perry Babcock), Elaine Stritch (Grandma), Bernard Hill (The Judge), Jodelle Ferland (Aggie), Tempestt Bledsoe (Sheriff Hooper), Alex Borstein (Mrs. Henscher), John Goodman (Mr. Prenderghast), Hannah Noyes (Salma).
Everything
about ParaNorman is delightfully off-kilter. This is a traditional stop motion
animated film (with a little help from computers) about a very strange little
boy named Norman, who cannot only see dead people all around him, but talks to
them. For the most part, these dead people are nice to him – and like having
someone to talk to. His dead grandmother hangs out on the couch to keep an eye
on him. Everyone in town thinks he’s nuts and more than a little creepy. But
when the Witch’s Curse threatens this small New England – still proud of it’s
with trail days (or at least not ashamed enough to not use it as a tourist
attraction – he may be their only hope.
There
is something about stop-motion animation that I like. Unlike the more advanced
computer driven animation that dominants children’s films nowadays, stop-motion
animation isn’t perfect. The characters are lovingly sculpted by hand, and
prone to look and feel imperfect. The same is true for how the characters move –
not quite like real people. Computer animation can be great – but there is
something I love about the handcrafted feel of stop motion – and it’s just
about perfect for ParaNorman.
Norman
is not your typical protagonist for an animated children’s film – he isn’t
really a plucky, misunderstood, underdog. There is something creepy about him.
He’s a nice guy, but he is certainly morose and has an understandable
fascination with death. His hair stands straight up on, no matter what he tries
to do with it, and his ears stick out funny. Even his own family doesn’t understand
him – his father wants him to be normal, his mother loves him, but worries
about him, and his older sister is a typical self-involved teenage girl. The
only (living) person who likes him is Neil, a tubby kid in his class who finds
Norman’s gift fascinating. Everyone else – including the school bully Alvin –
hates Norman.
The
plot of ParaNorman is fairly typical – a witch is going to release a curse on
the town, and Norman is the only one who can stop it. He has to assemble his ragtag
group – including Neil, Alvin, his older sister and Mitch, a lovable but
lunkheaded jock who is Neil’s older brother. Their journey takes them all over
town – including the cemetery a number of times. It is an effective plot, but a
fairly by the numbers one.
What
I admired about ParaNorman were the visuals, which as I mentioned has a lovable
homemade quality to them, and the characters, who neatly skirt around cliché for
the most part (not really in the case of the older sister or the bully). I’m
glad they’re still making animated films like ParaNorman – aimed at slighter
older kids, which treat them with respect, and has a distinct visual look all
their own. I tire of many animated films with their concentration on bright
colors and non-stop action, but ParaNorman is so lovable, I never grew bored.
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