By Tanner Smith
“ParaNorman” is a fun, well-animated Halloween horror-adventure film…but it’s actually more than that.
It’s another creepy stop-motion animated film, though I wouldn’t confuse it with “Coraline” or “The Nightmare Before Christmas” (both good in their own ways). The plot involves Norman (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee) as an odd outcast kid who sees ghosts. One of the ghosts warns him of a witch’s curse that haunts his small hometown. The deceased are brought back as zombies, and Norman, along with four peers, have to race to put them back to rest before the witch returns and destroys everything and everyone in town.
Without giving too much away, it turns out the question as to who the real monsters are is more complicated than it seems. The zombies walk about town, and of course, the townspeople are frightened (and in a funny twist, the feeling becomes mutual when the locals fight back). But as Norman and his friends find out, it’s not the zombies or the witch that’s haunting the town and the characters–instead, it’s the past. Terrible decisions made in the past come back to haunt the town, much of which has to do with refusing to accept the things the majority calls strange and unusual. It’s a tragic story that makes you feel for the characters and become more invested in what’s happening.
It’s not easy to accept a family Halloween film that warns its audience that THEY could become the monsters they fear–and THAT’s why “ParaNorman” deserves to be treasured.
THIS lost Best Animated Feature to “Brave”?!
Smith's Verdict 
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