Rated PG (Scary Action and Images, Thematic Elements, Some Rude Humor and Language)
Directed by Chris Butler and Sam Fell
With the voices of Kodi Smit-McPhee, Tucker Albrizzi, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Christopher Mintz- Plasse, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, and Elaine Stritch
A year ago a teaser trailer for ParaNorman appeared in front of The Adventures of Tintin. I geeked out. When the movie was over and we were walking back to the car I said to my friends "OMFG!!! Doesn't that movie ParaNorman look totally awesome?!" They said ".....What? You want to see that? It looks ok." I geeked out so much because the trailer said "From the creators of Coraline (the company Laika, Inc.)." Coraline, which was directed by Henry Selick (who did The Nightmare Before Christmas. A huge misconception is that Tim Burton directed the movie but that's false!) is one of my favorite movies ever. Its stop-motion animation is breathtakingly, colorfully, unforgettably beautiful. I can't emphasize that enough. It's also a frightening movie that was probably too intense for little kids when it was released in 2009. The scariness works, however, because its message is perfect for kids: DON'T MISBEHAVE AND ACT LIKE A BRATTY KID.
ParaNorman is only Laika's second feature, probably because stop-animation movies take a longgggggggggg time to make. I think Pixar has its first competitor. The movie is still quite scary for little kids, but it's nowhere near as nightmarish as Coraline. It's set in Blithe Hollow (not a real place) in a New England town that feels very reminiscent of Hocus Pocus. Norman (voiced by Let Me In/The Road's Aussie actor, Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a lonely, bullied boy who's misunderstood by his parents (Jeff Garlin and Leslie Mann) and dim-witted, cheerleader sister, Courtney (Anna Kendrick, PERFECTLY CAST) because he can see and communicate with ghosts. 300 years ago the town's councilmen executed a woman whom they thought was a witch. Norman soon starts having weird visions and his deceased uncle (John Goodman) tells him that at sunset the witch will place a curse on the dead councilmen and bring them back from the dead. This happens, of course, and the zombies wreak havoc on the town. Norman, his chubby friend Neil (Tucker Albrizzi), Neil's hunky jock brother Mitch (Casey Affleck), Courtney, and Alvin come together to stop the witch's curse and send the zombies back to the grave.
The movie's animation, like Coraline, is beautiful and benefits from a few decent 3D effects. The anatomy of the characters are so physically unique they look like they should belong in the Mutter Museum. Some people's ears look 5 times bigger than their eyes. Some people's butts look HUGE and it doesn't make sense because they don't have bloated stomachs or thighs. It's like the animators just made two big balls of clay and stuck them to the figures' butts. ParaNorman is also thrilling, exciting, cleverly written, and very funny. I had no idea I would laugh out loud during the movie but I ended up doing so at least 10 times. It's that type of comedy that has jokes that seem so easy to think of except nobody ever thinks of them. I've never heard of Tucker Albrizzi but his character, Neil, gets the greatest amount of laughs. Every other voice actor is perfectly cast and Smit-McPhee, in particular, is so good because he has that perfect, male adolescent voice.
Most of all I loved ParaNorman because of how sweet it is. It's educational for kids because it tells them that it's ok to be different and weird. You may live a miserable life but you can't only think about the negative parts of it. You have to be positive and think of the good things in life. Just look at Norman. He's bullied all the time because he's a medium but it's ok because he ends up fighting to save the town from the witch's curse. He does have a miserable life but on the other hand he's got Neil, an equally bullied outcast who one day at school just comes up to him and starts a conversation because he's a nice person.
I noticed (in my town at least) that ParaNorman is barely getting enough showings at local theaters. The Expendables 2 (which I won't pay to see, sorry) is getting twice more showings than this one. This isn't fair! Do yourself a favor and pay to see ParaNorman (and if you see it in 3D you'll get these cool green glasses that are just for the movie). You'll laugh, smile, scream (well, if you're a little kid), and be blowed away by its stop motion animation.
