Location
Wide Release
Dates
Opens Aug. 17The mildly macabre, and mildly entertaining, ParaNorman is a stop-motion animation film that seems unsure about its own audience.
The screenplay lacks that lively spark of intelligence found in the movies of Pixar (Toy Story, Up) or Aardman (The Pirates! Band of Misfits), filled as it is with obvious gags at which only young children will laugh. And yet there are also a few references to sexuality (admittedly references that only adults are likely to catch) that may cause overly sensitive parents to feel uncomfortable with the content.
Listen to me, talking so seriously about a goofy little story about a young boy named Norman (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee) who finds himself an oddball both at home and school because he can see and talk to the ghosts who hang around his small New England town of Blithe Hollow. One day Norman and his friend Neil (Tucker Albrizzi) encounter the crazed Mr. Prenderghast (John Goodman), who charges Norman with preventing a zombie apocalypse.
ParaNorman?s characters are all sculpted with exaggerated features ? absurdly proportioned ears, or jowls, or backsides ? that suit the film?s ghoulish aesthetic, which is similar to that of movies like Tim Burton?s Corpse Bride or Coraline. Blithe Hollow and its denizens, both living and dead, accomplish a fully realized sense of place.
The story ends up with just the messages you?d expect: that it?s important not to judge people (or ghosts, or zombies) based purely on their outward appearances, and that your own harsh treatment of others is bound to come back to bite you in the ass.
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