Review: ParaNorman

It’s quite strange when Pixar releases a film and it turns out not to be the best animated film of the year. For god knows how long that’s been a given but it seems that 2012 is the year where we give that title to someone else, and until I see Wreck It Ralph I’m gonna say the best animated film of the year is Paranorman and for several damn good reason.

Paranorman follows a young boy called Norman who - for some reason or another - can talk to ghosts. Of course this makes him the ‘freak’ of high school and as a result he has no friends and is bullied constantly. When his estranged uncle died Norman is told that he must stop ‘The Witch’s Curse’ and keep the town safe, unfortunately he misses his opportunity and as a result seven zombies rise from their graves to attack the town.

Or do they?

I don’t want to give too much away because I think going into this film blind is the best way to go, needless to say the story isn’t what it appears to be, about 2/3 of the way through it flips on it’s head and becomes something different. It’s got a great message running through about bullying and how it affects you and the people around you, again not wanting to spoil too much. It’s a good plot and despite the whole ‘only you can save mankind’ device it’s pretty original.

Along with the great story are a host of memorable and well-developed characters. The titular Norman is a lonely boy, alienated because of his ability he spends most of his time away from others. What’s great about Norman is that he doesn’t feel like one of those ‘nobody understands me’ kids, he complains that nobody listens to him but you could make the argument that he doesn’t allow people to listen to him, what with his constant talk about ghosts and dead people. It’s a role that’s well-rounded and flawed, much like a great character should be.

Norman’s only friend is Neil, a fat kid who manages to stay sweet and trusting despite getting bullied just as much as Norman. Neil is the breakout character of the film in my opinion, he’s got the funniest lines, he’s hilariously sweet and his attitude towards bullying is something to be admired, he’ll make you laugh then he’ll make you think.

Along for the ride are Alvin, the school bully and resident dumb-ass, Courtney, Norman’s bitchy sister who has a massive ass (seriously that thing is huge, I’m not saying that because I was checking her out it’s like right in your face) and Mitch, Neil’s older brother, a jock who has his own little secret. None of them were are rounded as Norman or even Neil but they were all memorable, all well-voiced and all had a lot of funny moments.

The direction of the film is brilliant, for starters it manages to blend horror and comedy and make both suitable for adults and children. There are quite a few scary moments, Norman in his uncle’s house, the fight on the rooftop, even the ending could be seen as quite scary but it’s balanced out by great humour that anyone can find funny, some of the jokes miss but a lot of the time they hit, whether it’s the sight of a dead guy’s tongue falling out his mouth of just the gun-ho attitude of the town’s people towards the zombies.

The animation is stunning, some of the best I’ve seen in an animated film. It’s stop motion so it has a distinctive look which oddly enough manages to echo the monster movies of the 50s in it’s own way, I know they used some kind of special trick with the facial animation but I won’t pretend to know what it is, suffice to say it pays off, the facial animations look amazing, the mouths, eyes and expressions move seamlessly through the film, almost like it was CGI. Where the animation really shines is the set pieces, even before the zombies rise it looks great, the whole town feeling very suburban like, then once the shit hits the fan and the spooky stuff stars happening it just gets so much better, seeing the witch in the sky was incredible to look at, I can only imagine what they did for that. Then to top it all off an absolutely fantastic ending with so much to watch with spinning trees, floating ground and exploding lightening, I can’t do it justice here, you have to see it to know what I’m talking about.

There are two kinds of sleeper hits in the film world, there’s the sleeper hit which has been touted as a sleeper hit for months before release. Then there’s the ones that genuinely come out of nowhere and surprise you with how great it is. Paranorman is the latter, a great story with a worthwhile message, wonderful characters and a distinctive and stunning animation style. Definitely check it out.

8.5/10