Review of ParaNorman (2012) by Bella H — 23 Apr 2013

The log line for this film intrigued me greatly. It said an army of zombies has to be stopped by this kid who loves the undead, like most young boys. The voice talent turned out to be familiar as well and so things were looking up even if the style of animation isn't my favorite.

Then Norman's special ability is revealed and I liked where this was going. But the movie takes a dive from there. They had in their hands a plot and characters that were ripe for great storytelling and they waste it with an unlikeable and overly crazy town, pathetic villains, story lines that wimper out and are lazy, lacking a true punch, and just not delivering on a set up which was bright.

Maybe it's too many things cannibalizing each other, or characters that weren't interesting or became uninteresting. I'm not sure. It rubbed me the wrong way and the vision was lost in the scramble.

There are some cool things if you read into it and take it at face value, you know, finding the good amidst the bad, but really this movie is half what it could have been and so you get something mediocre but not awful.