Review

Norman Babcock is the weird kid at his High School, the sort that gets picked on by bullies and laughed at by everyone else. While Norman may appear slightly strange there's a good reason for that, he can see dead people, all of the time! His family don't understand him, his only friends are his dead Grandmother and Neil, the fat kid at school who is the other target of the more "normal" kids. Naturally Norman is a bit on the emo side, and is not helping his cause with an over developed fixation with zombie movies. About par for the course I would imagine in the small village of Blithe's Hollow.

Norman's eccentric Uncle contacts him telling Norman it's up to him to keep a Witch's curse from destroying the town. Guess which curse Norman doesn't managed to stop in time? - leading to a zombie outbreak, a Witch on course for revenge, and the sort of pitch fork carrying mob one would expect in any decent town under assault by Gothic forces. Can Norman, with a little help from his family and new found friends, defeat the Witch and save the township, or will Halloween really come to a small New England town?

Paranorman was meant to get a 2012 release date Downunder but got held over to 2013, no doubt due to the rising number of animated dark genre orientated outings peppering the final few months of 2012. So hey I caught it on opening weekend, along with a few other shady looking characters, and a whole of bunch of kids and their care givers. Interestingly the average sand pit age seemed about six, which I would have thought might be slightly young for a movie dealing with re-animated dead people. This was born out with a number of kids absolutely freaking out to the rather zany antics of the zombies, so guess the rule of thumb is don't take younger folk, the movie is not for them.

The movie is brought to you by stop animation shop Focus Features, who previously delivered 9 and Coraline. So with Paranorman you can expected gorgeously rendered backdrops and outstanding animated characters. Paranorman really is a delight to look at with very much a Tim Burton influence apparent. From the Kids, who do battle with evil in the face of adults who put The Simpsons and Southpark mobs to shame, through the zombies - more cartoon orientated than frightening to anyone over eight, to the various ghosts who haunt Norman's world, everything is luscious and makes the ticket price money well spent. I was absolutely blown away by the animation that matches the very best coming out of Japan at the moment. If you are a fan of cartoon artwork, then you will really want to catch up with this movie that fills the screen with atmosphere, a slightly surreal feel, and a wink at the Audience that shows the movie makers aren't really taking it seriously.

Fingers crossed there's a sequel, this one rocked the house down!

Whereas Focus' two previous features also sporting animation that blew audiences away, the story lines were completely lacking, guess script Writers are expensive in Hollywood. Paranorman doesn't suffer this problem, with a fully develop plot that both fleshes out the characters and subtly presents the underlining themes without shoving them into the face of the target younger audience. If wondering, we're talking xenophobia and the whole bullying issue which is becoming epidemic in most schools across at least the Western World. Thank god teachers have drawn up charters that show they are opposed to bullying, while staying in staff rooms during lunch! On the bright side the Writers here don't go House of Mouse saccharine sweet on things, or show anything like a smug attitude to their targets, the themes are there for those who want to indulge, otherwise it's over easy and the plot romps along as Norman realises "normal" doesn't always get the job done.

Surprisingly Paranorman has leapt out of the paddling pool it's designed for and gone full controversy, at least for some bigoted sectors of society. And it all comes down to one line folks. Mitch, Neil's older "jock" brother, is the love interest for Courtney, Norman's sister. Mitch appears to be into sport, cars, and even admits he isn't the brightest tool in the shed. Toward the end of the movie Courtney suggests that they might like to go and catch a movie together, to which Mitch replies that his boyfriend likes chick flicks! OMG the first gay character in a kid's cartoon and with a line that had most adults in my movie session chuckling away, and most kids not noting what amounts to a throw-away line. Naturally this hasn't gone unnoticed by the less accepting members of our society, many of whom no doubt shower fully clothed. So rather than concerns about younger children being exposed to issues like bullying, death and decay, and the ever present violence, people are concerned that one character is gay! Sick sad World folks, with the Yank Fundos leading the charge.

Hey what else have I got to say about this one, covered the intriguing plot - which does spin a surprise towards the end and the excellent stop motion animation, guess the voice over Actors kind of deserve some kudos here. I was sold on each and every character. Sure some of them are played as the Falstaff style companion, but since when did anyone say Paranorman was going to be all serious. Great effort by all involved to add to the outstanding nature of the movie.

So I had a pretty good time with the movie and got my ticket price worth in terms of entertainment and big screen magic. Be warned the movie isn't really for little kids, shame on the parents dragging their ankle biters along for a traumatic experience, but should work for slightly older ones. The horror content isn't presented as anything approaching serious, and there's some pretty good messages being delivered without the syrup some Studios poor over their offerings. Full recommendation on a movie that shows animation can appeal to most age groups.

Paranorman is currently playing to mixed results in most markets. Seems the religious right having found a new hobby horse to ride, and the moral majority are out swinging, which is going to impact ticket sales. Of course dark genre style cartoons have never really managed to match the overtly sugared diet Disney feeds consumers, but what the heck, still nice to see movie makers extending the concept and taking a few risks.