L'étrange pouvoir de Norman

Yes, like most "kids" movies, it had it's corny, funny, sometimes just plain silly parts, but... Paranorman left me pleasantly surprised. First and foremost, if you didn't like this movie because you compared it to Caroline, that's your problem. This movie stands well on its own and it's completely unfair to make comparisons. By the time the movie had finished, the beauty of it shone through and, without hesitation, I would say it stands up very well against "blockbuster" films designed for mature audiences. It's neither vulgar or obscene, but there are a few parts in the movie that will go straight over the youngster's heads but you will most certainly get it if you're over the age of thirty and haven't been living in a cave. If you take your kid(s) to see this, be ready; there are a few intense scenes that might have them a little frightened. Regarding the poor guy who didn't want to see the Expendables 2, I didn't see it, either, but I sure heard it. They poorly placed this movie the very next theater over from it.

Laika Entertainment, the stop-motion studio behind the modern classics Corpse Bride and Coraline, are back with their latest spooky tale, ParaNorman. Like its predecessors, ParaNorman is a beautiful claymation wonder. Every single frame is filled with such a vast amount of detail it would take several repeat views to catch all the hidden gems.

ParaNorman is also filled with humor. The talented voice actors that bring the clay characters to life provide most of the laughs. From Anna Kendrick's (Up In The Air, 50/50) ditzy cheerleader, to Casey Affleck's (Gone Baby Gone, Ocean's Eleven) dumb jock, to Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad, Kick-Ass) getting to play against his 'McLovin' typecast as the angry school bully. But the biggest laughs by far are dished out by child actor Tucker Albrizzi who is perfectly cast as the voice of Norman's chubby best friend, Neil.

ParaNorman is a visual and comedic force. Despite the tedious and demanding workload and easier computer rendering technology, Laika Entertainment continues the tradition of making stop-motion movies the hard way. With films as stunning as ParaNorman hopefully the technique will live on forever.

ParaNorman looks like a throwback to the good old campy stop-motion animated films. The concept may not sound so original, but the designs and the themes of the story are the main appeal here. The movie is fun and wonderful to look at. While it goes through a crazy adventure comedy, there is a surprising twist that made this so endearing. It is something that we don't usually see in an animated film, but because of that we intend to love it. ParaNorman is funny, creepy, smart, and affecting.

ParaNorman is oddly different as an animated family film. Unlike the others, this one has a dark and mature context, but by sentimental means. Although the story is about spirits and zombies, the true core of this film is the emotion and the message that it is trying to show us. There's a couple of moments that are quite affecting. Usually is when Norman is being alone in his gloomy life. In other parts, the film is ought to be funny. The comedy sometimes feel way apart from the drama, but they still work anyway.

The stop-motion animation indeed looks marvelous. These little figures really brought themselves to life as their voice actors provide their personalities. The campiest part, the zombies, are quite impressive to look at. It's undeniably solid. The music score sure knows which part is suppose to be gloomy, campy, or just ordinary. It's a great effect to the scenes and you'll love it. The rest of the movie is all ridiculous and fun little set pieces that are entertaining enough to enjoy.

ParaNorman is surprisingly strong. The depth of the story made this movie so special. It's still filled with comedy and lightheartedness. In the end, it turns out to be endearing. It's a rare kind of family film that is brave to show what it wanted to show. It might be hard for some to understand its sentiment, but if there's anything else why anyone would like this film then it's because of its majestic animation. ParaNorman is simply great and it's easy enough to recommend.

I recently watched again, and reviewed here, MONSTER HOUSE, which is, like PARANORMAN, an animated horror movie for kids (actually, both feature as main character a boy who has a fat-and-funny friend). I'm not sure if MONSTER HOUSE appeared in the great Fangoria magazine, but PARANORMAN did. I was already interested in watching it on the big screen when I found out the Fangoria coverage, which was just the plus. I was interested for the obvious reason: stop-motion material from the people responsible of CORALINE (not Henry Selick tough). This is clearly the sort-of little stop-motion film of year (and I said sort-of little since it had a pretty big publicity campaign here in Mexico City) while Tim Burton's upcoming FRANKENWEENIE is like the big and long-awaited one.

There is some good news. While we wait to found out if Burton finally does something great after almost 10 years, here we have a film that will give movie geeks really cool stuff. Needless to say, kids won't enjoy some of the elements that most likely you will, fellow reader. Well, you will if you're into very cool horror tributes, in the way Quentin Tarantino would be proud, and nice takes on witch-hunt… and into zombies, of course. Talking about the zombies here, well, I recalled what Guillermo Del Toro's said about CRONOS; he said basically that the vampire from his film is like the saddest vampire ever. I won't say much, only that here we can think in the zombies as sad and confused human beings. The main character Norman is not the classic happy kid as well; you'll love him by just seeing his liking for horror – actually, not every day we have an animated movie that opens like something out of a Grindhouse. And there's good humor (and McLovin as a bully with stretched piercing – I watched the 2D Spanish dubbed version tough), so yes, it's worth watching!

*Watched it on 08 August, 2012

Stop motion movies always have a certain endearing quality and ParaNorman is no different. Norman is a unique, instantly likeable protagonist who earns a lot of sympathy for his struggles. This is the basic layout for the story, which isn't super deep, but is cute enough to compensate. I loved the horror aspect of the film and the comedy is pretty on point. There are some good twists on classic tropes that subvert expectations too. Laika has a strong track record and ParaNorman is another hit for the little studio that could.