[6.5/10] *ParaNorman* is the rare family-friendly film that works better as a pure drama than as a comedy or a dose of light adventure. The core concept of the film is a strong one, drawing a line between historical witch trials and modern day bullying with a humane twist. Its key warning, about how people act mean or do terrible things when faced with something different they fear, is salient. And its resolution, to remember those who show kindness to you as a means to avoid hollowing isolation and turning the same kind of anger back on the people who’ve hurt you, is a resonant one.

The problem is that the movie isn’t especially good at dramatizing those ideas. The basic story, of a kid who talks to dead people, *Sixth Sense* style, but faces social ostracism at school and shaming at home from it, has plenty of potential. Norman’s plight is pitiable, and the supernatural twist of his connection to the other world makes for good fodder for another spooky, stop-motion story from the Laikia studio.

But most of the film isn’t spent really illustrating these themes with any nuance or recognizable pathos. Ninety percent of the characters are one-note stereotypes, without anything approaching an inner life or depths that make them more than cardboard cutouts (or, more accurately, vinyl puppets) to be moved around the miniature sets. Despite his gift and curse, young Norman himself is something of a cipher. And the characters around him are a generic bully, bog standard jock, and stereotypical teen girl. These characteristics aren’t jumping off points for more specific interpretations of these types, but instead thin personalities who are a pain to spend time with.

Honestly, the biggest problem with the film is that a lot of its players are some combination of annoying or unpleasant to hang around with. Most of the characters are either indifferent or active jerks. The film’s humor leans toward the bawdy, which is a strange choice for a film meant to be accessible to families. There’s nothing wrong with pushing the envelope a bit, but there’s nothing terribly clever about these line-stepping gags. And the broadness and irksome quality of the main people at the center of the story makes it hard to latch onto anyone.

The exception is Neal, the unrepentantly pudgy middle-schooler who befriends Norman, sees his otherworldly sight as a blessing not something to be feared, and refuses to do anything but stand by his side through the greatest of trials. Neal is not only the funniest character in the movie, with a happy-go-lucky attitude and deadpan response to a lot of the goings-on here, but also the sweetest, with his devotion to Norman being particularly heartening.

That’s about it though. It doesn't help that the movie seems to acknowledge everyone besides Neal and Norman’s mom kind of sucks, especially in their treatment of Norman, but then wants the audience to be magically on their side by the end of the picture. Norman’s dad says some downright terrible things to his son over the course of the film, but never apologizes or otherwise admits the error of his ways; he’s just suddenly cool with the son he’s been excoriating for ninety minutes and we’re all just supposed to accept his transformation. The townsfolk turn into an angry mob with minimal provocation, but we’re supposed to like or accept them afterward when they brush off their responsibility. Norman’s sister, Courtney, remains annoying throughout, but at least at some point she recognizes the need to listen to her little brother and stands up for him in front of the rioters, which is more than can be said for anyone else.

Beyond the flaws with the characters, the film isn’t much to look at despite the beauty of prior Laika studio productions utilizing stop-motion animation. The character designs are ugly, often to the point of being grotesque. When the gags aren’t oddly racy, they tend to be kind of gross, which lends itself to the overall unsightly aesthetic of the movie. And the animation isn’t particularly fluid, with the expressions leading to a sense of the uncanny much of the time. In contrast to spiritual predecessors like *The Nightmare Before Christmas* and *Coraline*, nothing about this world or its inhabitants is inviting. If anything, they’re a hurdle to overcome to appreciate this movie.

The exception, thankfully, is the supernatural elements. Maybe it’s just because their form lends itself well to grotesquery, but the zombies have a neat and distinctive look about them that works better than the regular human characters. The special effects of the witch’s curse, particularly the swirling faces in the sky, grab your attention with menacing splendor. And the witch herself, a bundle of duplicating bodies and sparking electricity, provides the most striking visuals in the piece. The aesthetics here are a mixed bag, but when the movie leans into its witchy threat, it brings out the best in the designers and animators.

The same is true for the film’s plot. The script spends way too much time on uninvolving introductions and wheel-spinning ahead of the real meat of the story. But once Norman discovers what really happened to the “witch” who cursed his town and commits himself to resolving the emotional core of her grudge against the town and not just a temporary palliative, things kick up a notch.

The flashback where he learns that the witch was, in fact, a poor little girl killed by the townsfolk for being different is jaw-dropping. The set piece where he confronts her at peak rage and commiserates and relates to her as a fellow outcast is spectacular. And the closing moments, where he uses his powers to commune with the dead to speak with her and remind her of the reassuring presence of the people who care is affecting. The core idea of a modern day young misfit, misunderstood and unheard by his family and schoolmates, finding common cause with a young girl from three centuries earlier, who faced the 1700s equivalent of his ostracism, provides the ballast of the film, and I wish the the movie had focused more on it.

Instead, the halting attempts to add humor to the proceedings, or turn this into a generic kid adventure, which take up the bulk of the run time, fall flat. (Give or take an amusing sequence involving a zombie attack mixed with an effort to retrieve chips from a vending machine.) *ParaNorman* isn’t much to look at; its characters are tepid at best and actively annoying in several moments; and it can’t quite connect the dots between its laudable ideas and the actual story told. But those ideas do still carry the day in the film’s best moments, where a young boy whose differences isolate him from family and friends, and a young girl whose similar ill-treatment turned her into a creature of the night, find a way to push past their frustrations and reach a better fate, and a better place, for both of them.

Too generic and predictable on the story side, but they drum up quite a few fun scenes. It really helps that this wasn’t a Disney release, because given the genres it’s operating in it’d probably be a lot more tame and boring. As far as animated Halloween films go, I wouldn’t put this over _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ or _Corpse Bride_, but it’s still a decent enough watch. I almost wish it wasn’t trying to be a comedy, because the humor is clearly the weakest part of the film, and you don’t really need it given everything else going on. Some of the pacing can be awkward, there are a few corny moments here and there and a lot of the side characters (as well as their inner dynamics) are way too cliché. However, Laika can always fall back on their amazing animation style when the script isn’t entirely working. There’s some really great use of colour in this, often resulting in unique palettes that truly make the movie pop. The stop motion animation style and interesting use of shadows are fantastic, feeling distinct from other Laika projects. Add to that a terrific score by Jon Brion, and you have a great example of excellent production choices saving a potentially bad movie.

5.5/10

Really good watch, could watch again, and can recommend.

This is surprisingly dark, and underrated. While the animated characters are almost grosteque in their stylization, it serves fairly well when it comes to the undead. It also pushes the boundaries of it being a "kid's" movie or an "adult's" movie in it's content. So this is probably a movie for "older younger" audiences.

Not only is this a great concept, effect execution, and story, the characters that do pop, really do. I honestly could have done without a few of them, but most of the important characters work for what they need to do.

There is a much appreciated "twist" that examples some self-aware story telling that comes with the tropes typically involved with "I see dead people" stories. Its really rather refreshing without removing the idea that burning witches at the stake was an atrocity in history.

The story is touching and charming and just requires an open mind, which is part of the message of the story.

Laika Entertainment - after doing a number of contract works beforehand, with the best probably being "A Corpse Bride" for Tim Burton - is a studio that has specialized on the old artform of stop motion animation movies. Given our current times, this seems to be an incredible amount of work that could have easily been done using a few computers. However, these guys go through the crazy amount of work of first doing animated shots to scetch up the movie, then empoly a number of designers to scetch out the chracters, giving these to sculptures who acutally build DVD-Keepcase-sized puppets that are movable in everywhich way needed, with replacable faces so up to 250000 faces with different facial expressions can be created; carpenters, electricians etc. then build miniature sets for the puppets, and when finally being able to shot, they actually have to create each frame of a 25 frames per second movie by hand. A while ago I've read in an article about Laika that each minute of a movie, takes a week's work of just shooting, errors therefore are extremely expensive and hard to fix and at the end, Laika runs out with approximately +/- $0 USD.

So what other reasons are there to create such a movie, other than being a total movie buff and loving what you do? And that is what you realize when watching the movies and making ofs. This insane amount of detail, as well as lovely stories worth telling make great movies.

I've already seen "Boxtrolls" (7/10) and "Kubo" (8/10), which I both really loved, and sames goes for ParaNorman. However comparing all three movies with oneanother I have to say that ParaNorman is slightly worse than the other two.

When it comes to "Boxtrolls" we had a nice idea for a story that was overall well told - but not as great compared to "Kubo". Therefore it had lovelyer figures that where really cute. "Kubo" did not point that much in the cuteness department but storywise it was great and it really had you emotionally invested.

Taking both into account, "ParaNorman" unfortunately is behinde them in all departments. That does not mean the movie is bad - it isn't. It again has a great and lovely story, nice animated figures and good overall story telling; but in comparison it's simply just not at the level of the other two, so this is why from me it only gets (6/10).

That being said, we get not only a nice movie, but also in parts funny parody on horror movies, so all in all I really enjoyed this movie!

His parents think he's a bit bonkers, but "Norman" swears that he can communicate with his deceased grandmother (especially when she wants the central heating turned up!). When his uncle tells him that his unique skills might help with a ritual that could spare their sleepy town from a curse, he agrees to help - but oops! Next thing, the place is awash with zombies and it falls to "Norman" to figure out just what originally caused the curse and to find a way - together with his popular sister and his new found, and rather unlikely, friends - to annul it before it is too late! This is a fun family adventure with some strong characterisations (including the really enthusiastic voice talent of Kodi Smit-McPhee in the title role) and some superbly detailed stop motion animation. The writing is frequently quite pithy with plenty for the grown ups to smile at, and think about, as the story progresses. Though hardly original - the story itself has everything from "Salem's Lot" (1979) to "Hocus Pocus" (1993) running through it - it's still an enjoyable watch that lends itself well to a big screen to better appreciate the colourful vivacity of the creative artistry and lively Jon Brian score. Sure, their heads are bigger than the rest of their bodes combined, but the facial expressions are what makes this and I rather liked this film.