ParaNorman: Film Review

The Premise

Norman Babcock is a perfectly normal (Read: Stereotypical) nerdy teenage kid. He goes to school. He gets beaten up. He has no real friends. The rest of the small town he lives in treats him like an outcast.

Oh, and he can talk to ghosts.

Come to think of it, that's probably why he get's bullied, has no friends, and is treated like an outcast.

He continues with his strange upsetting life until he starts having strange visions of terrible things to come. The witch's curse placed on the town centuries ago is about to come to pass and the dead are about to rise from their graves. Naturally, only he can do something about it. Well, him and his new found gang of misfit companions of course.

From TVTropes: Basically "The Goonies" meets "Night of the Living Dead" with a strong dose of "The Sixth Sense" and "Super 8". 

The Review

The first thing I heard about ParaNorman was that it was made by Laika Animation Studios, better known as the guys behind the 2009 stop-motion animation film Coraline. This one simple fact got me very excited to give this film a shot, if just to marvel at its visuals. In that camp, I was certainly not disappointed, ParaNorman looks absolutely spectacular. An incredible amount of thought has obviously gone into how the hand sculpted models should be implemented. For example, the appearance of motion blur is given by using "smeared" character models. (See Link A) "Eye Candy" doesn't begin to describe it. It is a shame, then, that the film as an entire package doesn't really live up to the very high standards the studio has set.

Let's start with the characters. Norman himself is the least insufferable of the main ensemble. Although his quiet nerd demeanour is rather uninspired (this is probably justified due to his constant bullying) he does have moments of snarky humour and wit. It's almost every other character I have issues with! They each conform to a one-dimensional stereotype, as if the writers really did get their inspiration straight form "The Goonies".

Neil is a "kindred spirit" to Norman, the only other kid to suffer bullying as bad has his. Myself and most other viewers probably expected him to become the secondary protagonist, but he completely fails to have any other real influence in the plot beyond this. Norman's older sister Courtney and Neil's older brother Mitch are the archetypical "cheerleader" and "jock" respectively. Courtney's constant attempts to get Mitch to notice her are played for laughs, but once again, the only purpose either of them really serves is to flesh out the cast. Oh, and Mitch can drive, I guess. Finally we have Alvin, the school bully and dumb thug who the audience is essentially told outright to dislike the moment he enters the scene, only to have him join the protagonists at even the remote sign of danger. And of course, Norman’s parents (and almost any other adult present) prove themselves next to useless throughout the entire affair.

Perhaps the unoriginal characters were an attempt to parody the films’ "B-movie" setting? If so, it backfired. Although dialogue between the group members is entertaining, I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve seen it all before, and I imagine most members of the audience will feel the same way.

However irritating most of the characters may be, there are many other aspects that ParaNorman manages to nail spot on. The film makes no secret of the fact it’s taking jabs at old horror movies, and the sheer number of references and shout out’s in both the dialogue and behind the scenes is truly impressive. From the obvious (one of characters dons a hockey mask a la “Chainsaw Massacre”) to the subtle (a candy machine contains a bar of “Cujoh’s Chocolate”). Coupled with many other hidden gags (of a surprisingly crude nature for it’s PG rating I might add), and this becomes a film that could easily benefit from repeated viewings.

Another point in ParaNorman’s favour is how the plot unfolds. Starting from a premise that has clearly been done to death (boy with extraordinary powers must save his hometown from destruction), the final third or so of the film plays out quite a bit differently than might be expected, after a surprisingly emotional and disturbing plot twist. It was quite refreshing to watch this occur, even if it was a little exposition heavy. I was especially impressed with the final act, which was both stunning to watch and genuinely creepy in places. 

All in all, ParaNorman is certainly an entertaining film as a whole. It’s outstanding visuals and constant stream of scenery gags make for a fun experience, but the incredibly predictable characters and dialogue often hold it back from what it could have been, a film with an interesting story that defied expectations, like Coraline before it. But who knows? Maybe I simply took the whole thing too seriously? Ultimately, I would recommend giving it a shot, and if you do, tell me what you think!

3/5 stars

Jake

Link A, (Smeared character models) http://animationsmears.tumblr.com/post/27987323392/paranorman-is-using-sculpted-smears-i-admit-it