ParaNorman-2012

Directors Chris Butler, Sam Fell

Starring Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick

Scott’s Review #453

Reviewed July 23, 2016

Grade: B+

ParaNorman (2012) is a highly imaginative and very enjoyable animated film that I admired a great deal.

Creative colors and images are key, and the film is stop-motion.

Despite being animated, it is not a kid’s movie but rather geared toward the teenage or older demographic.

It is among the strongest of the five films nominated for Best Animated Feature in 2012, along with Frankenweenie, a similar type of film.

ParaNorman is so similar to Frankenweenie that they could almost be simultaneously reviewed or watched on the same day.

Both center around an isolated young male coping with his surroundings, and both contain a light horror feel.

In ParaNorman, an army of zombies invades a small, suburban town, and our hero, Norman, a strange young man who can communicate with the dead, must save the day.

The film features sympathetic peers, but the adults present various obstacles.

I have gone on record as being not much of an animated film fan, but I do view the best of each year, and this one impressed me immensely.

Oscar Nominations: Best Animated Feature Film