Review: ParaNorman
PLOT: Norman Babcock is misunderstood. He has always had the ability to speak to people after they had died, yet nobody believes him. To his family and classmates, he seems to be just plain odd. Yet on the eve of the anniversary of a dark time in this small townâs history, Norman is faced with a monster size responsibility. Somehow he must stop a centuryâs old witchâs curse in order to keep the dead from rising from their graves.
REVIEW:
It is not hard to imagine certain audience members not appreciating a movie like PARANORMAN. The stop motion animated feature is drenched in horror references and it even offers a few jokes that might not sit well with some parents. However, if you let that get in the way youâll be missing one of the most entertaining and joyfully macabre animated features of the year. It may be filled with ghosts, witches and zombies, yet it is more human and honest than most family oriented films. And yes, if you love horror movies it also happens to be one of the best genre films of the year as well.
Norman â voiced by LET ME INâs Kodi Smit McPhee - sees dead people. His deceased grandma (Elaine Stritch) sits on the couch knitting what grandmotherâs knit while Norman watches zombie movies on TV. She talks to him constantly. Sadly nobody really believes that Norman has a gift to speak to the dear departed. Not his mother (Leslie Mann). Not his father (Jeff Garlin). And most definitely not his sister Courtney (Anna Kendrick)! However, there is one heavy set boy named Neil (Tucker Albrizzi) and a creepy uncle (John Goodman) that has faith in our hero and his supernatural abilities. When Normanâs uncle emerges warning his nephew of an evil witch bringing the dead back to life, the young boy must find a way to stop a town curse that has continued for 300 years.
First time writer/director Chris Butler sure knows how to tell a good ghost story. The filmmaker previously worked as a storyboard supervisor for the equally good CORALINE. Here, in his feature film debut, he manages to create such a remarkable vision. The gloomy cemetery looks as though the headless horseman would feel right at home. Even the more common scenes such as Normanâs school or his home seem picturesque. The animation is extremely impressive making it easy to step into this world of misunderstood monsters and men. However this is another case of the 3D not really adding to the story, and in some cases it became slightly distracting.
PARANORMAN is a wistfully entertaining movie that manages to be a solid genre picture as well as a family film. Besides the impressive animation and the well chosen actors, the score by Jon Brion is fantastic. Albeit as visually impressive as it may be, the 3D seems superfluous and the sometimes adult humor may leave a few parents a little uncomfortable. Yet there is so much to love that this is arguably the best animated film of the summer â possibly of the year. Irreverent, a little spooky and a lot of hopeful make PARANORMAN a frighteningly good fable about being a square peg in a round hole.
Source: | JoBlo.com |
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