Another from the sadly defunct Epinions. I also did this one at GMR.
Be who you are.
I've seen ParaNorman twice -- the Eternal Child that lurks not very far under the surface demanded it. And I loved it as much the second time as the first. (My first viewing was motivated by a trailer, which was appealing, and a bit of controversy, about which more later.)
Norman Babcock (Kodi Smit-McPhee) lives in a small Massachusetts town notable for its witch trials. Well, one witch trial, that of Agatha Prenderghast (Jodelle Ferland), a young girl who was hanged in 1712 for the crime of witchcraft -- she could talk to the dead. Before she died, however, she cursed her accusers: they will emerge from their graves every year and will never, ever be completely free to pass on.
Norman has inherited the family gift (he's a Prenderghast on his mother's side). His uncle (John Goodman), on his deathbed -- well, actually a little past that point -- impresses on Norman that he has to be the one to avert the curse this year, by reading from a book over the witch's grave before the sun sets. That's right -- the book clutched in Uncle Prenderghast's cold, dead hands. Norman does his best, but it turns out he's got the wrong graves -- he's reading to the accusers, who start to emerge as the sun vanishes below the horizon. Norman, who manages to accumulate a following -- his sister Courtney (Anna Kendrick), his friend Neil (Tucker Albrizzi), Neil's big brother Mitch (Casey Affleck), and the school bully, Alvin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) -- heads off to find the witch's grave. The rest is barely controlled chaos.
OK -- the story is directed at kids, and the "lesson" -- be who you are, and accept others for who they are -- is stated quite baldly a couple of times. It's also the main motivating force for the story, which adds a level of meaning to the whole thing. It's also a tight, action-packed story with a lot of humor and a fair amount of pathos built in.
I'll make a guess, though, that some of the humor is going to be over the head of your basic eight- or nine-year-old. Case in point: The Sheriff (Tempesst Bledsoe) to one of the townspeople: "You can't shoot at civilians -- that's for the police to do." There are lots of those, as well as a few references to other "scary movies" -- the crowd scene in front of the Old Town Hall, complete with pitchforks and torches, is very funny.
It wouldn’t be one of my reviews of animation if I didn't talk about the actors. They're superb -- the naturalism in the dialogue is fully in line with the naturalism of the animation. Norman is a small boy, and Courtney is the archetypal big sister, Mitch the dumb jock, and on down the line. Yes, they are playing stereotypes, but they're taking it a few steps beyond that.
About the animation: I'll admit I've tended to avoid stop-motion in the past, probably because of my memories of clunky, jerky examples that I've seen way back when. This is flawless, or nearly so. It's not only in the movements of the figures, but in the way the animators have captured fleeting facial expressions and small gestures. And the CGI effects fit in almost perfectly.
About that "controversy": to put it baldly, one of the characters is gay, but you don't find out until the end, and it's a throw-away. Apparently, this was too much for one "conservative" commentator, who complained that you don't discover the character is gay until you've developed an affinity for him.
Apparently, the point of the film was over his head.
It's rated PG, runs 92 minutes, and is definitely a 5 star effort.
(Focus Features, Laika Entertainment, 2012)
I've seen ParaNorman twice -- the Eternal Child that lurks not very far under the surface demanded it. And I loved it as much the second time as the first. (My first viewing was motivated by a trailer, which was appealing, and a bit of controversy, about which more later.)
Norman Babcock (Kodi Smit-McPhee) lives in a small Massachusetts town notable for its witch trials. Well, one witch trial, that of Agatha Prenderghast (Jodelle Ferland), a young girl who was hanged in 1712 for the crime of witchcraft -- she could talk to the dead. Before she died, however, she cursed her accusers: they will emerge from their graves every year and will never, ever be completely free to pass on.
Norman has inherited the family gift (he's a Prenderghast on his mother's side). His uncle (John Goodman), on his deathbed -- well, actually a little past that point -- impresses on Norman that he has to be the one to avert the curse this year, by reading from a book over the witch's grave before the sun sets. That's right -- the book clutched in Uncle Prenderghast's cold, dead hands. Norman does his best, but it turns out he's got the wrong graves -- he's reading to the accusers, who start to emerge as the sun vanishes below the horizon. Norman, who manages to accumulate a following -- his sister Courtney (Anna Kendrick), his friend Neil (Tucker Albrizzi), Neil's big brother Mitch (Casey Affleck), and the school bully, Alvin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) -- heads off to find the witch's grave. The rest is barely controlled chaos.
OK -- the story is directed at kids, and the "lesson" -- be who you are, and accept others for who they are -- is stated quite baldly a couple of times. It's also the main motivating force for the story, which adds a level of meaning to the whole thing. It's also a tight, action-packed story with a lot of humor and a fair amount of pathos built in.
I'll make a guess, though, that some of the humor is going to be over the head of your basic eight- or nine-year-old. Case in point: The Sheriff (Tempesst Bledsoe) to one of the townspeople: "You can't shoot at civilians -- that's for the police to do." There are lots of those, as well as a few references to other "scary movies" -- the crowd scene in front of the Old Town Hall, complete with pitchforks and torches, is very funny.
It wouldn’t be one of my reviews of animation if I didn't talk about the actors. They're superb -- the naturalism in the dialogue is fully in line with the naturalism of the animation. Norman is a small boy, and Courtney is the archetypal big sister, Mitch the dumb jock, and on down the line. Yes, they are playing stereotypes, but they're taking it a few steps beyond that.
About the animation: I'll admit I've tended to avoid stop-motion in the past, probably because of my memories of clunky, jerky examples that I've seen way back when. This is flawless, or nearly so. It's not only in the movements of the figures, but in the way the animators have captured fleeting facial expressions and small gestures. And the CGI effects fit in almost perfectly.
About that "controversy": to put it baldly, one of the characters is gay, but you don't find out until the end, and it's a throw-away. Apparently, this was too much for one "conservative" commentator, who complained that you don't discover the character is gay until you've developed an affinity for him.
Apparently, the point of the film was over his head.
It's rated PG, runs 92 minutes, and is definitely a 5 star effort.
(Focus Features, Laika Entertainment, 2012)
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