ParaNorman

The stop-motion animation company, Laika, had already proven their unique spin on kid’s entertainment on the world with their creative bizarrely and genuinely disturbing 2009 film, Coraline, so it would be interesting to see how their next project would fare from a critical and commercial viewpoint. The 2012 film, ParaNorman, features a lot of similarities with Coraline, as both share the dark yet inventively messed-up tone with classic call-backs to movies of a bygone era within the tone and character style of an 80s movie. Coraline was able to work within this attitude and produced a great movie that stood the test of time whilst still paying tribute to its original source material, and people assumed ParaNorman would similarly, tackle a very recognizable idea through a visually creepy edge, but this movie doesn’t only produce the exact same results, but in many ways, surpasses them and reaches even better heights. In a small pilgrim-esque town of Blithe Hollow, a young boy named Norman (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee) is horribly misunderstood by his parents (voiced by Leslie Mann and Jeff Garlin) and sister Courtney (voiced by Anna Kendrick) and relentlessly bullied by his classmate, mainly school bully Alvin (voiced by Christopher Mintz-Plasse). This stems from the fact that he has the ability to see and speak with ghosts, which drags him into a very dangerous situation when his recently deceased uncle, Mr. Prenderghast (voiced by John Goodman) warns him of a curse placed upon the town by a witch murdered years ago, which states that if said witch is not calmed every 10 years, the dead will rise from their graves and attack the town. Now facing what looks like the end of the world, Norman needs to find a way to prevent this event from taking place with the help of his sister, Alvin, his new best friend and equally outcasted kid Neil (voiced by Tucker Albrizzi) and his older jock brother Mitch (voiced by Casey Affleck) to stop the zombies from destroying their home, even though a few secrets uncovered along the way reveal that everything isn’t as black and white as it appears to be. While only being a moderate success at the box office (grossing $107.1 million against its $60 million budget), ParaNorman was very well received by critics and even earned itself a Best Animated Feature nomination at the year’s Academy Awards. On the surface, ParaNorman already contains a ton of great elements like its straightforward yet perfectly done concept, likeable characters, very pleasing visuals, and clever allusions to classic monster films of old, but the cleverness of this film from both a satirical, comedic, and even atmospheric creepy level, is nothing short of outstanding and makes this film anything by ordinary.

The premise of the surface offers up some fun but also genuinely creepy material, coming from the mind of director and writer, Chris Butler, who saw zombie films as templates for social commentary already so saw the avenue for a kid-based perspective being appealing, and it definitely was just that. The set-up for this film is a great idea and is executed pretty perfectly, being laced with elements from classic horror fiction to provide a sense of familiarity, dabbles of the cult classics and the hammy over-the-top films to provide a uniquely comically yet still atmospheric edge, all the while being mixed in with the tone and atmosphere of an 80s movies to provide a tone of character, personality, and dirty grit to this world. You can sense familiar ideas being sprinkled throughout this film (a boy seeing ghosts really isn’t that new anymore), but the manner in which they are executed is not only different but told in such a clever way. The atmosphere is uncomfortably bleak and morose, it eats away at the audience’s mental state and goes far enough to leave an impressionable mark on kids, but always keeps the mystery intriguing and the characters goofy and likeable to balance things out. It definitely plays with expected tropes of the genre but never goes full satire, keeping the focus on its characters, their emotional struggles, and the message of the film, which is simply brilliant. This movie not only tackles an even more intense message, but through even more intense means, as the revelation about the true evil of the town is not only quite tragic and saddening, but also pretty disturbing and messed up (especially for something at a kid’s film). It’s done with thought and effort, so the darkness is warranted and how it blends into the kind of story being told as well, the environment and tone it deciding to emulate (the pilgrim vibe is very intentional) and the characters of focus, makes it that much more effective. The message is more than just viewing things with open eyes, it’s about letting go of past wrongdoings and finding the positives in bleak situations, learning to juggle that fine line between acceptance and vengeance, and how much of yourself do you have to lose before your emotions take the best of you and turn you into something that many already fear you to be. It shows that it’s not the simple monsters that haunt people, but rather the decisions of the past and the consequences of the present that can often shape people’s expectations of not just an individual, but anyone within a similar frame of mind or perspective, and this is captured through a really amazing screenplay and directing job by both Butler and fellow co-director Sam Fell. Its handled brilliantly with a great pay-off, a well thought out reveal, and an equally intense climax that plays out radically different from how it would have been perceived to play out in the beginning.

The characters, though very simple and archetypal, are still very likeable and work very well in this type of film both as satirical caricatures, and just generally memorable faces. The film captures the character and grittiness of an 80s movie, where the tone is both disturbing but charming at the same time, where the actions they take are far more dangerous and severe than in most kids’ movies, and where every character regardless of importance feels like they have a backstory from the way they act and the way they’re designed. This film relies on challenging the archetypal way certain characters are viewed and how they are portrayed physically as compared to what’s hidden underneath the surface. Each one is not only very well acted with a ton of very talented people in even smaller roles like John Goodman, Elaine Stritch, Bernard Hill, Tempest Bledsoe, and Alex Borstein, but also has a very unique design that makes the characters a lot easier to identify as well as present a clear picture of who and what they are spoofing. While some can be a little underwritten (like Norman’s parents are a little too one-note and unhelpful), the rest of the cast are pretty great. Kodi Smit-McPhee does pretty good as Norman, Neil as a character could easily become annoying, but the decent writing and voice acting save him quite a bit, Courtney as a character is given a pretty good turn-around by the end of the film, Casey Affleck brings a brainless but still entertaining element to the character of Mitch, and while Alvin is pretty atypical even by these kind of films, he’s fine enough. The villain is also very well handled, taking what at first looks like a simple open-and-shut case and creating a far more tragic character who gets far more interesting and even scarier as the mystery keeps unfolding. With a great designs, horribly tragic past, and a threatening yet still identifiable voice by Jodelle Ferland, it’s a standout of the film especially with how her situation gets resolved. It doesn’t pick a side and relegate a person to a certain trope, rather blurring the line between loving or hating a character to a point where it’s almost unclear on how much to route for a certain side. It taps into the worst type of horror that any good horror movie understands; the most frightening thing about the most terrifying evil is that they’re human and they have become the terrors that haunt nightmares.

The sets, as usual for a Laika production, are very well constructed with giant scale and impressive detail and are presented in a manner that are definitely unique to other forms of stop-motion puppets, but still contain the same components used to great effect in this environment. What’s even more impressive about this visual style is that it has a twink of ugliness to most of its production, but it feels intentional and furthers a lot of the film’s tone and mood in a smart way. The character models are a little jagged and even distorted in some way, but it leads to memorable designs and decent expressions, The color palette is much drearier and contains a lot of harsh greens and yellows (which doesn’t sound great, but is used very effectively) and the overall look of the film almost looks like a somber painting that’s been splashed with water, creating this almost smear-like design to its backgrounds which makes for nice contrast against its more jagged elements in the forefront like its angular buildings and greenery. All the creepy camera angles by cinematographer Tristan Oliver, the gothic looking environments and locations, and the old-fashioned production design by Nelson Lowry does give the film a distinct look that pays homage to older films, but still feels like its own thing with its own style. The comedy may not be the most interesting or smartest (especially next to the depth and maturity of its script) but it provides a light-hearted goofiness that is needed in such morose movie and it surprisingly doesn’t off-set the tone. This is a film that definitely warrants the PG rating, with not only a lot of grim and scary imagery, but also severely disturbing undertones and subtle horror that is much deeper than visuals can express.

ParaNorman is a classic kid’s horror-style movie that fits right in with Laika’s other creepy animated pictures, possibly even being their best film made yet. Coraline is fantastic with it portrays and deserves to be recognized as such, but the realms in which this film tackles an equally straightforward message is simply outstanding and does give it a slight edge over its predecessor. With clever and creative concepts that are both entertaining and scary, a visual style that is both recognizable and a fair emulation of a past style, but also fresh and uniquely displayed, characters that are basic but likeable and memorable, and a message that is very strong and difficult to explain to kids done in a way that they will never forget, with creepy undertones and subtle but important themes. This movie will surprise you in how sophisticated it treats its messages, its characters, and its atmosphere. It’s gripping, interesting and even kind of touching. Deceptively better than it appears, ParaNorman is a fantastic Halloween classic that will hopefully never be put to rest.