From LAIKA, the makers of Coraline, comes the ghoulish, but charming ParaNorman, a 3D stop-motion animated film directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler. The story follows young Norman (voiced by Let Me In’s Kodi Smit-McPhee), a horror movie fan who also just so happens to be able to see and speak to the dead of his home town Blithe Hollow, the site of a famous witch hunt 300 years before.
Norman communicates better with the dead, including the ghost of his grandmother (Elaine Stritch), than he does with the living, including his own living family (Jeff Garlin voices his dad, Leslie Mann his mom, and Anna Kendrick as Norman’s superficial big sister). At school, Norman is target of constant bullying from Alvin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), and his only real friend is the chubby, still childish Neil (Tucker Albrizzi). He's a lonely boy who finds an escape in the macabre.
After Norman’s outcast uncle Prenderghast (John Goodman) reveals that the town’s legendary witch’s curse is in fact genuine and about to come true, it’s up to Norman to try and save Blithe Hollow from both the witch's vengeful spirit and its frenzied citizens’ own destructive small-mindedness.
Equal portions sweet and sad, ParaNorman is a funny (at times scathingly so) yet ultimately poignant story about anger and the threat posed by mob mentality. ParaNorman works as a fun tribute to “B” horror movies and their tropes, as well as a rumination on the not particularly kid-friendly subject of death. This is a movie that never belittles its viewers’ intelligence; it trusts them to understand their amusing nods to horror conventions and also to stay with them when things venture into more somber territory.
With its autumnal color palette and crisp cinematography, ParaNorman is one of the year's best-looking movies. Even the film's 3D is put to good use, and is employed more for atmospheric effect than for the “boo!” factor. This film is a handcrafted beauty, but it would have been merely superficially appealing had it not also been for its heartfelt and humorous story. You care about these characters and, as fantastical as their world gets, it’s always human and relatable.
The voice cast – which also includes Casey Affleck, Bernard Hill, Jodelle Ferland and Tempsett Bledsoe – are all solid, especially Smit-McPhee as the title character; whose scenes with Ferland are especially heart-tugging. Bottom line, ParaNorman is one of the best films of the year, animated or not. Check it out.
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