Review of ParaNorman (2012) by Adam F — 15 Oct 2014

"ParaNorman" may be too frightening for smaller children but for everyone else, it's a hilarious and scary animated feature that's sure to delight. It's wonderfully animated, with a lot of creative designs and great special effects, and it is filled with consistent laughs that will appeal particularly to fans of horror films. It also has a surprisingly touching and well done message towards the end that parents will be happy to see without being like the obvious P.S.A.s that are thrown together at the end of so many children's cartoons. I'm a big fan of zombie and "classic" 80-90's horror and I had a terrific time. An added bonus is that with this one and you can bring your kid brother/sister to have some fun too. I wouldn't recommend it for children under the age of 8, but I know at least one parent who lets their 10-year-old watch "The Walking Dead", so I guess that's up to you as a parent to decide if you think this will be too frightening for them. The stop motion animation is very well done and looks gorgeous, not at all like some of that jittery stuff you're used to seeing in those Rankin/Bass Christmas specials. The animation is quite smooth here, almost a bit too smooth for my taste, but I digress.

Even in the realm of stop-motion, which is always pretty striking this one stands out. There is a particular effect towards the end of the film that looks like stop motion cloth was used to make clouds shaped like a face that stuck with me long after the film was over. It's so well done and unique... and I have no idea how they did it. I also very much appreciated the visual style of this film, which is very distinct. I suppose all stop-motion films look quite distinct, but once again, there's something about this one that makes it really stand out. This film in particular will look really great on Blu-ray and I would recommend you see it in 3D if possible (from what I saw, it would be a lot on fun in 3D). (2-D Theatrical version on the big screen, August 28th, 2012).