Paranorman (2012) Review

Few 2012 films were so controversial and hated by American parents, why? Because a character admitted he was gay. Yup. Not kidding, just go browse Imdb(.com), people are raging over there. I truly cannot understand how that can upset people. That being said I do think marketing this for kids was a bad decision, because it does contain some adult humour and it is pretty scary at times. The film did overall feel more fit for adults, even more so then Frankenweenie, though kids at around 10 years should enjoy it as well.

The plot is an odd one of an outcast, Norman, who has a sixth sense, aka he can see ghosts and talk to them. However lately he has been constantly going into this almost nightmare state, getting some bad omens, which he discover is foreshadowing a horrific event about to happen in his town.

The film did spend a bit too much time setting things up I think, seemed like they really needed you to understand the fact that he wasn’t the most popular kid in school. It also felt that in the first act, the humour didn’t work as well as it should have. During this part I felt not everything needed to be there for the sake of the story and it did kind of drag. That being said it is for the most part fun to watch during this and once it takes of it becomes really fun.

 The film has a very special art style, using stop motion, creating a very interesting and unique art-style. There has truly been put a lot of detail into the animation, making something as simple as a car or a street lamp amusing to look at. It took a while to get used to the animation, because like I said it is quite unique, but after 10-15 I was very into it.

Once the film gets going it actually becomes quite exciting and at times scary.  Would almost rather qualify it is an adventure film more then a comedy, though it is of course very funny as well. Luckily as it gets more serious it works very well and even becomes kind of touching at times as the plot unravels. However as it leads into the climax the film turns into something absolutely amazing, both visually and story-wise, and the climax is truly one of the best scenes I have ever seen in any animation ever. The resolution following it was also very nice though it did annoy that it felt like they really pushed the rather obvious message of the film a bit too hard. A scene that started off brilliantly and beautifully, ended up being dragged out too long, nearly repeating the message to make sure we got it. That being said it was still a touching scene.

One thing that took my by surprise was the score, which turned out to be just great. Jon Brion´s score hit the perfect balance between quirky comedy and suspenseful horror, while poking fun and 80s horror movies. That being said it was a bit overused in some of the earlier scenes.

The end result is a beautifully animated film that is flawed, however it is so much fun. It has it peaks in the realm of genius, but lows in mediocrity, luckily most of its flaws are easy to overlook leaving you with a very fun and exciting film.

4/5