Review: ParaNorman

Review by Daniel Nenadovic

I woke up this morning with plans to write out my thoughts on Star Wars: The Old Republic, what with its impending transition to a free-to-play business model and my many musings on its strengths and weaknesses. I can't write that article today, because I saw Paranorman a few hours ago and I need to tell you right now that you need to go out and see ParaNorman. For today, if you'd like some thoughts on SW:TOR and haven't read Randy's thoughts on the Inquisitor class story yet, you should do that here.

So, why do I need to tell you that you need to go see ParaNorman? I can't tell you that. See, while ParaNorman is a good movie throughout, what compels me to drive others toward this film are its final act and its final message. These are phenomenal, and I can't recommend them enough, but nor can I spoil them for you because that would weaken their effect.

Is the rest of ParaNorman worth seeing, though? It starts off feeling like typical modern animation fare, with a mix of adult and childish sensibilities and a standard cast of stereotypical characters. You have the downtrodden and misunderstood loner, the annoying sibling, the parent who refuses to understand or accept, and the school bully. That's nothing special, right? You've read that story dozens of times. Heard it told since you were a child. Perhaps you've even seen it on the big screen one too many times.

Indeed, ParaNorman would not have gripped me from the start but for its beautiful visual style. It is a stunning and beautiful blend of stop-motion animation and CGI. I must confess that I am damned tired of CGI animated films. I've never quite bought into their shiny plastic aesthetics. Trying to watch The Phantom Menace or Attack of the Clones makes me squeamish for all of the shiny environments, and even recent CGI still leaves me disappointed. For instance, one reason that I've yet to see Brave is that it is another animated film that looks like glossy plastic to me. I know that CGI can do great things, but I'm just weary of it. ParaNorman, in trying to stay practical as much as possible, lets CGI heavily complement practical stop-motion, and the visuals come out absolutely amazing for it. They are masterful, and if you're a fan of stop-motion animation then they are reason enough to go see ParaNorman in theatres as soon as you can.

If you're not a fan of stop-motion, then maybe you can rely on ParaNorman's quirky vibes to stay interested in the movie. From oddball music to gross corpse humor, the whole film strays a short ways off the beaten path into territory that deals with death a little more directly and lightly than most of our stories do, although that is something of a trend in animation. Or maybe it's just a trend in Tim Burton's material. Yeah, probably that.

Either way, ParaNorman does stay just quirky and off enough for me to have been interested in its story, even if that story feels like it's pushing the same old cogs into the same old place.

Its audio is solid stuff, too. That quirky and spooky music fits the film incredibly well, and voice acting is all very solid and appropriate for its scene, whether ridiculously exaggerated in an unrealistic car crash or muted in a tender moment. The audio effects also keep the tone of animated horror very well, with squishy friction as zombies try to paste limbs back on and squeaky pops when somebody steps on a brain.

So, is ParaNorman worth seeing before its ending and its message? If any of the above sounds good to you, then yes, the film is solid enough if not quite spectacular. But, at least for me, that final act and that message drive the film up into stellar territory. Perhaps we've seen and heard them both before, but within the context of ParaNorman I felt that they were more beautifully told than I have seen in a long time.