It's September now, so I guess that means the summer movie season is officially over. For me personally, it didn't feel like much of a season. Since July, I've busy moving from BC to Washington, so unfortunately I didn't get to see nearly as many films as I had originally wanted. I did manage to get most of the major releases, but there were plenty that I'm kicking myself for missing. So now, I'm playing catch-up with those that are still in theaters before I move onto the Oscar season lineup. Out of all the films I did manage to catch this summer, I have to admit that there weren't too many surprises or unexpected gems. With the exception of the out-of-nowhere hit Cabin In The Woods, most films managed to, more or less, delivered on what I expected. Films like The Avengers or The Dark Knight Rises were predictably good, Amazing Spider-Man and MIB 3 were predictably average, and others like Total Recall and Rock of Ages were, to no surprise, lame and uninspired. To my delight, however, I did manage to catch this little gem of a feature called Paranorman, a stop motion animated flick about a young boy who can communicate with the dead and is called to stop a zombie apocalypse. The few previews I had seen made the movie look promising, but I wasn't expected to like it as much as I did. Here's my full review.
As I mentioned, Paranorman centers around the young Norman Babcock, a young horror movie enthusiast with the ability to see and interact with spirits of the deceased. He lives in the Salem-inspired town of Blithe Hallow, Massachusetts, a centuries old community supposedly plagued by a decades-old witch's curse. 
None of the town residents, schoolmates, or even Norman's family believes in his ability, and as a result is labeled as a freak. The only person who does believe Norman is his eccentric and similarly outcast classmate, Neil. Despite this, Norman wishes for no friends, and prefers to be left alone (with the exception of the ghosts he frequently comes across). Norman, who has more or less come to grips with his gift/curse, faces an all new challenge when his recently deceased Uncle warns him that the aforementioned witch's curse placed upon the town centuries ago that will cause the dead to rise again. The reluctant Norman, aided by a team consisting of his new friend Neil, his preppy sister Courtney, Neil's dim-witted jock of a brother Mitch, and the school bully Alvin, races the clock to put an end to the curse before it's too late.
None of the town residents, schoolmates, or even Norman's family believes in his ability, and as a result is labeled as a freak. The only person who does believe Norman is his eccentric and similarly outcast classmate, Neil. Despite this, Norman wishes for no friends, and prefers to be left alone (with the exception of the ghosts he frequently comes across). Norman, who has more or less come to grips with his gift/curse, faces an all new challenge when his recently deceased Uncle warns him that the aforementioned witch's curse placed upon the town centuries ago that will cause the dead to rise again. The reluctant Norman, aided by a team consisting of his new friend Neil, his preppy sister Courtney, Neil's dim-witted jock of a brother Mitch, and the school bully Alvin, races the clock to put an end to the curse before it's too late.
It's easy to see why Paranorman is good, but it's kind of tricky to identify what exactly makes it great... and make no mistake, this movie is indeed great. You've got a movie with stellar stop motion animation, a likable and well suited lead character, and a very creative script that finds a near perfect balance of inspiration and originality in addition to providing suitable jokes and themes for both kids and adults. Ultimately, what separates Paranorman from the barrage of other animated comedies is the script. While I can't go as far to call if "perfect," as it does have a couple of things to nitpick, it basically hit all the right notes and managed to do something that most family films simply fail to pull off. It's a concept with a likeable and well-developed main character, an ensemble of colorful supporting characters, a few decent twists, and some well-meaning themes and messages. In a move unusual for a kids film, Paranorman takes many of it's queues from classic horror films, with many homages and tributes that most horror buffs (like myself) will appreciate. Even better, the film throws in some themes of anti-bullying, conformism, and social culture to give it a bit more weight. It doesn't quite reach the near perfect blend of fun and pathos in most of the scripts Pixar typically brings to the table (though I'd say it's definitely got the leg up on Pixar's last two outings), but it nonetheless hits most of the right notes and delivers the goods.
It seems like the main selling point for this particular flick was the stop motion animation mixed with small details of cgi courtesy of Laika animators. This is the same team that gave us the 2009 film Coraline (another stop-motion flick which also had dark-ish themes). I have to say that I have a strong admiration for this kind of stop motion filmmaking.
While computer generated animation is impressive and typically well-done, I can't shake this feeling like it's become almost a cliche unto itself. While I have great respect for the thousands of hard working cgi animators (and I really mean no offense to the work you guys do), there's just so many of them that it's becoming harder and harder to be impressed by the barrage of animated flicks to be released every year. With stop-motion, it's hard not to admire the hours and hours of dedicated work that comes with it, and the end results are usually pretty impressive. Paranorman is primarily stop-motion, complete with excellent character and creature designs, plus some beautifully realized production models of a town that brilliantly parodies Salem in Massachusetts. While most of the film was stop motion (or at least it looked like it was), it also included some small touches of cgi. This mainly comes through in the especially exciting finale, which blends it's creative stop motion along with some trippy and visually dynamic computer generated imagery to end the film on a particularly exciting note. If nice looking animation is all you're looking for, then Paranorman is all but guaranteed to satisfy.
On the not-so-positive side, there are a couple of things I can get into, but nothing that ruins the film. The supporting characters are all diverse and often funny, but their personalities aren't exactly dynamic or original. You have the preppy teenage girl, the dim-witted jock, the fat kid, and the school bully... they're fun don't get me wrong, but they all come from a done-to-death formula that lacked original thinking.
Not to mention, some of the jokes fell a bit flat, but when you have a movie primarily aimed at children, that's not really a surprise. Overall, it finds a solid balance between it's kid-aimed jokes and the more adult humor. I know some parents have voiced some concerns over some of the potentially scarier content for their kids. While I'm not going to say what age I think is appropriate (it really depends on your kid and how they perceive what they watch), but I'll say this one definitely seemed aimed toward a slightly older child audience. It's not even really because the film is "scary" per se (the zombie scenes in particular are played more for laughs than anything), but it includes some themes and motifs that are a bit darker and heavier than what you typically see in your average family film. I would say most kids 10 and up could probably handle the movie, any younger than that... I'll let you make that call.
Overall, Paranorman is this summer's surprisingly great film. It's probably on the tail end of it's theater run now, so if it's still playing in a cinema near you, definitely go check this one out. If you missed it, it'll make for a great watch when the Blu-Ray comes out. Either way, see it!
My Score: 4.5 out of 5!
It seems like the main selling point for this particular flick was the stop motion animation mixed with small details of cgi courtesy of Laika animators. This is the same team that gave us the 2009 film Coraline (another stop-motion flick which also had dark-ish themes). I have to say that I have a strong admiration for this kind of stop motion filmmaking.
While computer generated animation is impressive and typically well-done, I can't shake this feeling like it's become almost a cliche unto itself. While I have great respect for the thousands of hard working cgi animators (and I really mean no offense to the work you guys do), there's just so many of them that it's becoming harder and harder to be impressed by the barrage of animated flicks to be released every year. With stop-motion, it's hard not to admire the hours and hours of dedicated work that comes with it, and the end results are usually pretty impressive. Paranorman is primarily stop-motion, complete with excellent character and creature designs, plus some beautifully realized production models of a town that brilliantly parodies Salem in Massachusetts. While most of the film was stop motion (or at least it looked like it was), it also included some small touches of cgi. This mainly comes through in the especially exciting finale, which blends it's creative stop motion along with some trippy and visually dynamic computer generated imagery to end the film on a particularly exciting note. If nice looking animation is all you're looking for, then Paranorman is all but guaranteed to satisfy.On the not-so-positive side, there are a couple of things I can get into, but nothing that ruins the film. The supporting characters are all diverse and often funny, but their personalities aren't exactly dynamic or original. You have the preppy teenage girl, the dim-witted jock, the fat kid, and the school bully... they're fun don't get me wrong, but they all come from a done-to-death formula that lacked original thinking.
Not to mention, some of the jokes fell a bit flat, but when you have a movie primarily aimed at children, that's not really a surprise. Overall, it finds a solid balance between it's kid-aimed jokes and the more adult humor. I know some parents have voiced some concerns over some of the potentially scarier content for their kids. While I'm not going to say what age I think is appropriate (it really depends on your kid and how they perceive what they watch), but I'll say this one definitely seemed aimed toward a slightly older child audience. It's not even really because the film is "scary" per se (the zombie scenes in particular are played more for laughs than anything), but it includes some themes and motifs that are a bit darker and heavier than what you typically see in your average family film. I would say most kids 10 and up could probably handle the movie, any younger than that... I'll let you make that call.Overall, Paranorman is this summer's surprisingly great film. It's probably on the tail end of it's theater run now, so if it's still playing in a cinema near you, definitely go check this one out. If you missed it, it'll make for a great watch when the Blu-Ray comes out. Either way, see it!
My Score: 4.5 out of 5!
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