"ParaNorman" - Film Review

Man is it a good time to be a kid right now. The amount of content being produced that’s directed at kids (and often also at a broader or adult audience) is plentiful and really good. Cartoon Network is producing great series such as Adventure Time and Regular Show. The Disney Channel is making Phineas and Ferb and Gravity Falls (Disney also now has in its hand the valuable properties of Marvel and Lucas Films, which are likely to prove incredibly fruitful in the near future). Pixar is popping out a high quality animated film almost every year.

One such quality work in the kid content pantheon is the recently released ParaNorman. Boasting impressive stop-motion animation, some really great voice acting (including Casey Affleck, Anna Kendrick, John Goodman, Bernard Hill, Leslie Mann, Christopher Mintz-Passe, and Jeff Garlin) and a good dose of humor, the film tells the short, sweet tale about an outcast boy named Norman (played by Kodi Smit-McPhee) who can see and talk to ghosts. Norman is forced to use his powers to save the day when a witch’s curse placed on his town is activated.

Like many recent films directed at kids, there's plenty of humor and content that will please an older audience, and the film is likely to engage and amuse adults much more than they may expect (It's become kind of cliched to say this about recent children and family films because they're made with such great craftsmanship, and by adults nonetheless, that it's really shouldn't be a surprise by now that the better ones win over individuals of all ages).

What sets the film apart from other family friendly fare is how much nuance and depth the story has. At each turn the film refuses to take the easy way out with explanations of the supernatural that threaten the town. Instead, it opens up old wounds the town has brought upon itself and a number of its townspeople through an unwillingness to understand others. When Norman saves the day, it’s not just due to his powers; it’s also because of how big a heart he has in spite of his terrible mistreatment by everyone around him over the years.

ParaNorman features nice animation, good laughs, and well-earned sentiment (Norman's final confrontation with the "witch" is the highlight of the film, and, not to spoil anything, is a real tearjerker and sentimental and touching in all the right ways). The film is a tad tonally inconsistent, but it does fine whenever it sticks to any particular one (e.g. funny/serious/scary, etc.)

Grade: B