ParaNorman (2012)

Children are able to handle more than they did ten years ago. In an increasingly edgy entertainment world, more and more children’s movies are being released that depend on light-hearted scares over potty humor. I think this is a great thing. Most movies for kids underestimate their audience and assume they are too stupid to want anything but the traditional throw-away gags. The new animated movie ParaNorman is incredible partly because it doesn’t talk down to the kids in the theater, but gives them the attention they deserve. ParaNorman is a scary movie with a plot that follows a young man who can see dead people, is ridiculed for it, and winds up needing to save the town from the evil witch who threatens to destroy it by raising the dead. Even with all its zombie attacks and child executions, the movie is much less disturbing than it sounds. It’s actually a lot of fun, thanks to an inspired, solid screenplay.

The film follows in the footsteps of Henry Sellick’s extremely imaginative Coraline, and this film was so similarly creative that I was surprised to learn Sellick had nothing to do with it. It was directed by Sam Fell, whose previous credits include the TV series Rex the Runt and the feature Flushed Away. Like Coraline, ParaNorman amuses with its cleverly dark sense of humor, entertains children with its carefully crafted fantasy world, and wows adults with its artistry. With the new ease of computerized filmmaking, witnessing true hand-crafted animation is really something. The animation in the movie is beautifully done and the quirky designs of the characters and objects that inhabit this crazy hillbilly town are one of the primary sources of amusement. Norman’s family rides around in a ridiculously round car unlike any I’ve ever seen and some of the characters are so frighteningly obese that it’s a miracle they can stand on their pencil-thin legs.

 Probably the best thing about the movies is how in-tune it is to what everybody wants and delivering so splendidly. For kids, there’s plenty of goofiness in-between the mild scares, and for adults, there’s the tastefully hidden innuendo and horror movie references (The first scene is a funny parody of low-budget horror, complete with terrible editing and effects, over-the-top acting, and visible microphones.). My only real complaint with the film is in the climax which somehow fails to build proper tension and goes on too long, followed by a shockingly flat ending. Everything before that, however, has an enormous amount of worth. It is one of the only movies of this year that felt truly fresh and I enjoyed it far more than other, more “mature” hits. I would say it’s a great family film, but parents with very young children may want to check it out first, since it is very dark, somewhat violent, and occasionally rude. On the whole, I think Pixar may again have been outdone for the best animated movie of the year. That doesn’t mean you should skip Brave, though.

8/10