Young Norman Babcock leads a lonely life, filling his days in Blithe Hollow with horror films and the company of his ghost friends. Yes, because Norman has the ability to see and communicate with the deceased, including his beloved grandmother. Due to this peculiarity and his introverted character, Norman is a victim of school bullies, but when the anniversary of the witch hunt that in the past was practiced in the village with the capture and killing of Aggie is approaching, Norman will be the only one able to face the witch's curse. In fact, at the stroke of midnight, a horde of zombies rises from their graves and begins to haunt the inhabitants of Blithe Hollow.
That cartoons are no longer just for children has been known for many years, adding the fact that in the last 10-15 years many animated films produced for cinema have reached truly enviable quality levels. Pixar confirms this rule with almost every film, and challenging them are Dreamworks, Blue Sky, and Laika Enterteinment, as well as many other large and small companies. There is also this trend of producing animated films with decidedly horror tones, shifting from time to time towards the dark fairy tale, comedy, love story, or B-movie, always dealing with monsters and the supernatural in a way accessible to the youngest, but winking at adults.
The latest exponent of this mini-genre is 'ParaNorman,' which blends ghosts, witches, and zombies with effective nonchalance.
And it is the American Laika Enterteinment that gives birth to 'ParaNorman,' the production company that more than others seems attentive to dark and horrific atmospheres, having in the past already given life to 'The Corpse Bride' by Tim Burton and the beautiful 'Coraline and the Magic Door' by Andy Selik. Unlike its predecessors, however, 'ParaNorman' seems to take many aspects from another piece of the recent horror animation for children, namely 'Monster House.' From the Dreamworks film, that of Laika takes the autumnal atmospheres of the Halloween period, the introverted and 'loser' main characters with an opportunity for redemption, the American provincial town, and the supernatural threat strongly anchored to the urban context. If we want to make a comparison with 'Monster House' or 'Coraline,' 'ParaNorman' shows itself to be weaker than the previous ones, especially because it seems to run out of breath more in the narration of the story, but if taken on its own, it is an excellent entertainment product.
The strength of 'ParaNorman' is its desire to revive the tradition of some 1980s horror films that aimed at a teenage audience, think for example of 'Return of the Living Dead 2,' 'Halloween Night,' or 'Monster School' and you will immediately realize what the style and tone of this fun cartoon are. Not surprisingly, in fact, 'ParaNorman' begins as if it were a grindhouse product, with damaged film and definitely splatter images, revealing after a few minutes that what we are watching is a B-movie with brain-eating zombies that little Norman is watching on TV, in the company of his dead grandmother.
The introduction and the first 15 minutes of 'ParaNorman' are beautiful, an affectionate and heartfelt homage to past cinema with an effective presentation of the characters and an immediate ability to create empathy towards them. As the minutes pass and the more horror component based on resurrected dead and witches comes into play, the film slows down and seems to stagnate lazily on what was done in the first half hour. The stall is noticeable, even if there are no lack of good ideas that want to reverse the typical situation of 'Night of the Living Dead' or successful gags. The conclusion that tends towards goodness and morality is predictable, but frankly no one would have expected something different from a film that wants to be primarily entertainment for children.
What surprises, in a certain sense, is the quite accentuated macabre component, with violent and anxious scenes for the standards of family animation films, as well as some ideas that are quite disgusting, such as the scene in which Norman finds the corpse of his uncle.
Very good is the development of the characters who ride the stereotype for specific screenplay needs, so as to recall certain characters of certain 1980s cinema.
The film, directed by the duo Sam Fell and Chris Butler (the latter also author of the screenplay), is made with the particularly peculiar technique of stop-motion, that is, with plasticine puppets animated frame by frame. Furthermore, the film is presented in 3D... a good 3D, which emphasizes especially the depth relegating to only a couple of scenes the expedient of relief.
In short, 'ParaNorman' is a successful and affectionate homage to certain 1980s horror cinema, fun and with nice characters. It pays the price of having come out after other similar films of excellent level and has the disadvantage of a screenplay that softens too much in the last part and a slowed rhythm in the central part. Overall, however, it satisfies.
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