Halloween Films: Part 2 (1 of 7). Henry discovers his paranormal abilities with ParaNorman (currently available via Tubi). Get the full show now @ FilmBuds.Bandcamp.com!
[00:00:00] 233. Let's get to ParaNorman from 2012. It's directed by Chris Butler, who would also go on to do Missing Link. It stars the voices of Cody Smith-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz+, Casey Affleck, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garland, Elaine Stritch.
[00:00:24] And the synopsis is, a misunderstood boy takes on ghosts, zombies, and grown-ups to save his town from a centuries-old curse.
[00:00:37] Well, the first Laika movie that I saw was Coraline, which I think remains by far the best even now.
[00:00:47] As I always say, I will always, nine times out of ten, prefer stop-motion over digital or any other forms. There's just that tangible nature to the animation that feels more...
[00:01:00] Obviously, all animation is difficult, but for me personally, I just like seeing the actual work put on screen because you know it had to be done by hand and that just hits me a little bit more.
[00:01:13] I saw this, I think, around the time that it came out, maybe a year or two after, and I've seen it many, many times. It's one that never really gets old.
[00:01:28] It has such a great Halloween smorgasbord of story elements and creatures that it's always one that comes to mind around October, and that's why I decided to put it in this collection.
[00:01:43] It follows a very, you know, what you'd expect, a bullied, misunderstood, nerdy kid who's a loner, very Tim Burton-esque in a lot of ways.
[00:02:00] But none of it feels put on or forced or cliched. I think it's written well. It's acted fantastically across the board, voice-wise.
[00:02:09] For example, John Goodman as the Mr. Pendergast. I think his name is Casey Affleck. Such an unexpected role for him.
[00:02:23] Leslie Mann. It just goes on and on. And Laika always casts really good voices.
[00:02:29] Talking about some criticisms, small ones. Ranking-wise of Laika, it would be somewhere in the middle, maybe right under Coraline, but there's still a big dip of at least star ratings from that movie to Paranorman and the others.
[00:02:48] What I think's heard it a little bit on rewatches is I think the first act is amazing.
[00:02:59] The setup of the world, everything with him at school, debates with his parents about the ghost of his grandmother, the best friend is hilarious.
[00:03:13] However, when it gets into the main narrative of this book being read or whatever, and I just feel like it is at 11 out of 10 all the time for a good while.
[00:03:29] A lot of the humor drops out. It's mainly just cutting back to the chase, then the riot in the town, back and forth, back and forth, and becomes kind of repetitive.
[00:03:41] I'm never bored or anything like that, but I'm kind of waiting for things to quiet down and it to get more character-centric again rather than plot-heavy.
[00:03:55] Once all that quiets down a little bit and it gets into the third act with the cursed girl, I think all that is great.
[00:04:02] And the final visual climax of that forest and all the lime green lights and the roots and trees and all that stuff is really, really dark and creepy but very effective.
[00:04:18] Probably too scary for most little kids.
[00:04:21] Some other standout scenes.
[00:04:26] The moment of humor in the town when the zombies are walking towards the trucker guy in the alley and he's trying to get a bag of chips,
[00:04:37] but he's debating on running away from them or waiting for his chips to be vended out and dropped in the little pickup container.
[00:04:46] I think that's hysterical.
[00:04:49] The steroids joke from Casey Affleck when they're in the van.
[00:04:56] When Norman is in the bathroom on the stall and suddenly the ghost of John Goodman's character comes out of the toilet.
[00:05:03] Or even all the stuff with the play and he starts having the nightmares or the visions and screams out and embarrasses everybody.
[00:05:16] When Norman first starts walking to school, it looks like a normal town or neighborhood.
[00:05:23] And then it switches to his perspective and he sees all the ghosts around him.
[00:05:29] That's very clever in the transition.
[00:05:31] And I think overall it does have a good message about listening to your kids.
[00:05:39] Sometimes they can't even explain to themselves what's going on or they don't have the right words to describe it to other people.
[00:05:48] Being patient and understanding.
[00:05:51] So as far as animated movies to watch around Halloween, this is definitely one of the better ones despite the issues.
[00:06:03] No matter what, I think it has a lot more heart and a lot more good intentions and care and thought than so many others like it that come out nowadays.
[00:06:13] So I'll always have that respect and appreciation for it.
[00:06:21] That one is a heavy three and a half out of five.