REVIEW: PARANORMAN

Stop motion is one of the most rigorous, time consuming methods of animation ever, if you've ever seen the little, slight detail put into one of those features, it's jaw dropping.  One of my personal favorite films (not just of stop-motion, but of all time) is Wes Anderson's "Fantastic Mr. Fox."  You see every little ripple of clothing that was moved just an inch, to make it appear like these dolls or moving.  Other brilliant instances of this work are "Coraline," "Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit," and "Corpse Bride."  They're short, but only because it can take up to a year to shoot a simple five minute shot.  Take note that every movie I've listed has either won or been nominated for Best Animated film at the Oscars.  It's quality entertainment.

Now add in there actually coming up with funny gags, characters worth investing in to, and having a positive message for kids, though I think a more adult stop-motion film would be very entertaining.  "ParaNorman," directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler, who both have experience in animation, contains all of these things, and is one of the best movies to take the family too despite some actually scary stuff.  The first big step into making "ParaNorman" likable is making the world we live in...scary.

This movie is essentially what would happen if "The Sixth Sense" followed on Haley Joel Osment's character for a day, seeing ghosts appear everywhere like we see normal people.  The movie opens with Norman (Kodi Smit-McPhee) watching a horror movie with his grandmother, only the audience realizes that when he tells his annoyed, borderline cruel father that grandma's talking to him, his father goes off on a rant about how she's dead.  Norman's dad, voiced by the great Jeff Garlin of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" fame, personifies all that is wrong in Norman's world, the disbelief of his ability to talk to the deceased, constantly putting him down.  At one point he even notes that he wish Norman wasn't born like himself at all.  His sister Courtney (Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick) and predictable school bully Alvin (voiced in a role against type, usually a nerd, Christopher Mintz-Plasse) are no better.

Tucker Albrizzi, who brilliantly voices Neil

His only real companion, pardon the ghosts, is a chubby boy named Neil (easily the film's best character), who has the best possible attitude to have in a terrible situation he and Norman are in: indifference.  While Norman is scrubbing "freak" off of his locker, Neil is scrubbing "fatty" off of his.  I wish the filmmakers wouldn't go to easy jokes like having Neil stuff his face with chips in front of a TV, cliches like that are too easy to use.  But the kids (and there were many) in the theater seemed to enjoy it, and I suppose you have to throw in one of those gags every ten minutes just to make sure they stay tuned in.  Norman doesn't even want Neil's company, however, preferring to be totally alone.  That is until is psycho uncle (voiced hilariously by John Goodman) comes and drops a bit of a burden on him.

That's as far as I go, because I know you have presumptions on what this movie is by the trailer alone.  Well I'll let you in on a secret: it's only so kids will want to come see it.  Swap seeing the dead with being gay, or having acne, or being short, and you'll see what's wrong in our society: no one listens to the victims.  If anyone took the time to actually hear Norman out perhaps they wouldn't think so bad of him.  Instead he gets berated and bullied at every turn, and a lot of it is relevant to children.  When zombies do end up walking among us like you've seen in the trailer, they're afraid of our world: the anger, the hatred, even what's  being produced on television in one scene.  What "ParaNorman" is saying is if we're scared of someone for being a little abnormal, we label them and dismiss them.  Why don't we just hear them out?

In addition to having some genuine chuckles, realistic, ghoulish, beautiful animation, strong, positive message for kids and adults, and great voice work form Casey Affleck as Neil's older brother, "ParaNorman" is one of the best films I've seen all year (and yes, go see it in 3D, it's amazing).  It's certainly the one to beat for Best Animated film (sorry "Brave") and maybe a dark horse for best picture.  You don't have to be dead to see where Norman's coming from.

Rating: 3.5/4 stars