Product Description
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From the makers of Coraline comes the story of Norman, a boy who
must use his ability to see and speak with the dead to save his
town from a centuries-old curse. In addition to spooky zombies,
he’ll also have to take on mysterious ghosts, wily witches and,
worst, of all, clueless grown-ups. But this young ghoul whisperer
will soon find his paranormal abilities pushed to their
otherworldly limits. Featuring the voice talents of Kodi
Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Christopher
Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin and John Goodman, it’s a
frightfully funny and magically thrilling adventure for the whole
family in eye-popping stop-motion.
Bonus Content:
* Preliminary Animatic Sequences
* Peering Through the Veil: Behind the Scenes of ParaNorman
* Featurettes
* Feature Commentary with Writer/Director Chris Butler and
Director Sam Fell
.com
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Norman sees dead people. Heard that one before, right? The good
news is that even though the cultural reference that entered our
collective consciousness way back with The Sixth Sense is the
conceptual spark, it's not a clichéd mark against ParaNorman.
Neither is it some psychodramatic plot twist in this charming and
ingenious stop-motion animated kids' story about a little boy who
shares the world with the ghosts who are living all around him.
The paranormal stuff is just a part of everyday life for
sensitive, lonely Norman and it doesn't freak him out one bit. It
started when his grandmother died and she decided to stick around
for him. Even though his parents and teenage sister think it's a
little weird that he believes she's still living with them,
nothing could be more normal for Norman. But she's not the only
one whose spirit is still roaming. Everywhere he goes, Norman
makes friends and talks with the ghosts who float about all over
the place, which not surprisingly makes him seem a little weird
to all the other kids at school. Fortunately Norman makes friends
with another living misfit named Neil, who believes in his
unusual gift and remains a staunch sidekick even after the whole
town is threatened by an ancient curse. It's this aged secret
that turns out to be the cause for all the restless souls
strolling around in the first place. The plot thickens
considerably when the founding hers rise from their graves as
zombies (who everyone can see), and it falls to Norman to set
things right. The threat they carry harks back to a centuries-old
witch-hunt that put a harmless little girl named Aggie on trial
by the tribunal now wandering around town in varying states of
decrepitude and still cursed by their misdeed. The whole thing
turns into a pretty intense piece of haunted horrors, with the
burden falling on Norman to release Aggie's innocent spirit and
send the zombies back to their graves before the town succumbs to
her very real supernatural wrath. The action may get a little too
y for littler kids. There's lots of fire and brimstone, and
even though the zombie antics are played for laughs, some of the
characterizations border on the genuinely gruesome. But the style
is wonderfully sophisticated (it comes from the company that
produced Coraline), with terrifically anthropomorphized
renderings of human and ghost/zombie figures alike. Everything
feels wickedly baroque and through with a sustained
creepiness that is kept mostly at bay with a script that packs
plenty of gags. The voice performances are lively and vibrant,
with a cast that includes John Goodman, Anna Kendrick, Casey
Affleck, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, and Elaine Stritch. When
Norman faces off with Aggie in the dark and stormy finale, some
children may be holding on to Mom and Dad tight (and they may be
holding back), which is ultimately to ParaNorman's credit. Just
as much credit goes to the fact that the story and design
direction allows for the laughs to balance out the frights for
both the parents and the kids. --Ted Fry