Norman Babcock has a lot of friends, unfortunately they are all dead. He has the ability to see and communicate with ghosts of people and animals and because of that he is considered weird at school and even to his own family. He is bullied at school because of his abilities and his only friend is Neil who is an overweight boy who is also bullied.The small town of Blithe Hollow, where they live, has quite a history that includes the execution of a witch 300 years ago. Norman begins having visions of the event while he is rehearsing for the school play in which he has a role. He is also approached by a wild looking man who claims to also see the dead and tells Norman that he is the only one that can stop the return of the witch's curse including the attack of 7 zombies on the town.....
We took our grandson to see this movie and he loved it. Tonight he is going to a haunted house with his father and so it is a big scary day for him. This is a very good movie and it is entertaining for many age groups. The graphics and storyline were well written and my wife and I enjoyed it as much as our grandson.
The movie is rated PG and some parts are pretty intense. It may be too much for younger or sensitive children. At the end of the film one of the teenage characters reveals that he has a boyfriend and several people have taken offense to that being in a cartoon story. If that is offensive to you or you do not want to possibly be asked the question on the way home of why Mitch has a boyfriend, you might want to avoid this movie.
It is a good story line about bullying and how a couple of young boys save the town from a paranormal event. It can be scary to some children so make your viewing choice wisely. We enjoyed the movie and we all gave it 5 stars.
"ParaNorman" is a stop-motion animated film that revolves around Norman (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee); a young boy who can talk to dead people and is ridiculed because of it. Even his family doesn't believe in his gift, especially his dad Perry (Jeff Garlin) who refuses to think outside the box and gets angry at things he doesn't understand. Norman is picked on everyday by a thick-headed bully named Alvin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and is mostly a loner until he gets to know a red headed boy named Neil (Tucker Albrizzi) who is bullied just as much as Norman but has learned to turn the other cheek.
A strange man named Mr. Prenderghast (John Goodman) claims to share Norman's gift and under a strange set of circumstances passes the duty of keeping the witch's curse at bay for another year to Norman. Now in a race against time, Norman finds himself with a group of unlikely allies including Neil's meathead brother Mitch (Casey Affleck) and Norman's ditzy sister Courtney (Anna Kendrick) as he tries to save the town from uncertain doom and a zombie takeover.
"ParaNorman" treads a thin line between something that's appropriate for the whole family and only being suitable for a teenage or more mature audience, but if you didn't have a problem with the content in "Rango" or "Coraline" then it shouldn't be much of a problem here. The word "hell" is used more than once and Norman's grandma calls Perry a "jackass" at one point. It hints at more mature themes, as well. Perry calls Norman's gift "limp wristed hippy garbage" and a certain male character mentions having a boyfriend late in the film. Norman's sister Courtney is very gifted in the posterior region and there are many jokes that make use of that or could be considered innuendo. It's kind of glorious, really. Fans of animation will be in heaven.
There's obviously a big horror influence, as well; particularly classic zombie films, "Halloween," and "Friday the 13th." So the film not only caters to animation fans, but also horror hounds. There are a ton of throwbacks, jokes about brains, and zombies with flesh hanging from their decayed bones. The imagery is just as exceptional; intimidating houses, gloomy forests, and a heavy use of shadows and lack of lighting. "ParaNorman" is just the right amount of homage, humor, and animation.
"ParaNorman" isn't quite as original or as dark as "Coraline," but it's still extremely entertaining for most ages and one of the best animated films of the year. The emphasis on witchcraft results in a rather peculiar final act, but is still very enjoyable. "ParaNorman" is brilliantly animated with an amazing cast and clever writing. It's the animated film horror fans have been waiting for and the one "Frankenweenie" is probably aiming to be.
There's a brief scene after the credits that's really interesting; you see how the model for Norman was made along with how much detail goes into a stop-motion animated picture.
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This movie is a BEAUTIFUL example of animation, especially stop motion animation, of the highest quality; a true work of art.I am sad to see so many parents rating this film poorly for "inappropriate material". This movie has some of the BEST MATERIAL you should be teaching your kids! For one: There are no purely evil characters. There are characters who made bad choices, and feel regret. Too many films, especially film for children, paint humans as "purely good" or "purely evil" which only teaches them to judge their peers and elders harshly. This is a film which teaches children empathy towards their fellow humans. I recommend it wholeheartedly.It wasn't bad, but I found that they lost track of the target audience. There is too much graphic/scary content for young children, but the story is over simplified, making it unpalatable for adults.
I love stop motion animation (e.g. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, Chicken Run, Corpse Bride, Coraline, Frankenweenie, etc...), so was really excited to see ParaNorman, but unfortunately this movie just didn't jell for me.
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After seeing ParaNorman yesterday at the base theater, I have to say that I'm kind of surprised that there is such a controversy over the "message" of this movie. First, I don't think there was any type of nefarious message; the only message I gleaned from watching this movie was the usual "don't judge others" and "we're all different, we're all special" type of thing. Those are messages with which I agree. In fact, my husband and I instilled what ethics, morals and beliefs we felt were appropriate for our children with the hope that they would be productive members of society and independent thinkers. Doing such has made us confident that they are able to assess different situations and make good decisions on their own, regardless of what movies they watch, or books they read, etc.In other words, we're pretty confident that they can watch a children's movie and still retain what we've taught them.
That said, I thought the movie was pretty good. I was kind of creeped out at some of the animation, which was very unique and well done. Some of the storyline was a bit dark, but I agree with other reviewers who noted that the darkness probably went over the heads of most children. Also, at this point I should admit that I was initially hesitant to take our daughter because I thought the premise had something to do with demons, but after looking up reviews and listening to my husband, I was wrong. My husband will now probably print out that last sentence and frame it, especially since he's the one who was... not... wrong. Erg!!
Anyway, moving swiftly along --
In my opinion, "ParaNorman" is a Halloween-type children's movie, and was enjoyable. I liked that Norman was able to overcome his own fear and do the right thing, in the face of majority opposition. Courage is always an asset.
I also laughed quite a bit at the jokes and writing, which was definitely rated PG. The children in the theater reacted well to the funny parts, and you could hear a pin drop whenever there was a dramatic crescendo. No one wept with terror, and there were children from infant-teen age range present. Our 11-year-old daughter thought it was great, and by the time we hit the parking lot she had moved on to begging for ice cream.
ParaNorman had great animation, good writing, and was entertaining. Recommended to others with the caveat that there may be aspects that some find offensive, so research prior to seeing is also recommended.
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