ParaNorman

ParaNorman 

Director: Chris Butler and Sam Fell

Written By: Chris Butler 

Photography: Tristan Oliver

Staring: Kodi Smit McPhee, Tucker Albrizzi, Anna Kendrick

Year: 2012

Country: USA

 From Laika Entertainment, the people who brought you stop-animated features such as Corpse Bride and Caroline, comes ParaNorman; a big-hearted adventure-horror for the Family. 

 Norman Babcock, who lives in the town of Blithe Hollow, is an outcast; called 'Abnorman' in his school because of his unique gift to see and speak to the dead. When a Witch's curse is put over the town and zombies rise from the ground, only Norman can help to restore things to the equilibrium.

    

 It would have a made a brilliant movie for Halloween, it's strange then that it came out at the end of summer. I guess it didn't feel it could compete with the other two animated horror-themed children's movies coming out in October, Tim Burton's Frankenweenie and Hotel Transylvania. 

 It nice to see in a world full of CGI animation movies the likes of  Shrek, that stop-motion animation that still hold strong. The Gothic and exaggerated look of the film has been compared to the work of Tim Burton, which is fair, but I can assure you that ParaNorman is better than anything Tim Burton has made in nearly 10 years.   

 The character's are all rounded and interesting and the voice work fits each one perfectly. Casey Affleck plays dim jock, Christopher Mintz-Plasse plays the school bully. Leslie Mann  and Jeff Garlin play Norman's parents and  Anna Kendrick  plays the sister all to great effect.  

 The controversial inclusion of a gay character was a brave one and a progressive one, but there's a part of me that thinks it may have just been added for comic relief.   

 ParaNorman gives genuine laughs throughout and, possibly, for some of the younger viewers, genuine scars. 

Score: 3/5