Nerd Movie Reviews

ParaNorman in 3D Review

I Maed a Mov1e W1th Z0mb1e5 1n It

Extra nerd props to anyone who knows where I got that sub title from.  Anyway, I was supposed to see Hit and Run last night but the timing sucked and I didn’t want to be out until midnight.  I have important Warhammer related stuff to do.  This one was playing at a more fitting time and as I loved Coraline I thought this one would make for a nice viewing.

As is my rule for kids movies I will not be doing my usual stars/black holes but rather taking it in more on an impression basis.  My impression is not bad, but not great.  Certainly not as good as Coraline, but certainly better than Brave.  However, if this were a bell curve ParaNorman would sit on the Brave side of the hump rather than the Coraline side.

Don’t get me wrong.  Visually this movie is stunning, with a seemless blend of amazing stop motion and CGI.  The art is great, and you tend to forget its animated after a while.  It’s like the Lorax with a soul.  It also has the benefit of direction that many live action films could seriously be jealous of.  Of course, the amount of effort put into a single stop motion scene as compared to shooting some dopey actors means you had better have your direction dialed unless you want your production people to mutiny.

Where, then, does it not work for me (I was about to type “fall apart” but in truth it doesn’t really fall apart so much as just stumble a few times)?  Basically in two portions: the tone and the overall writing.

By tone I mean I can’t figure out if this is for kids or adults.  Most good kids movies are for kids but put in enough adult stuff to keep dads from wanting to sneak to the bar down the street.  In truth this film is too gruesome and horror-ish to be for kids, yet at the same time the story, jokes, and characters too childish for adults.  The jokes that are in there are painfully obvious and predicable, and delivered with the subtlety of a baseball bat.  Instead of writing in brilliant items for each group (Toy Story, Incredibles, etc) it lands squarely in the middle zone, or as I like to put it Mediocre Valley.

The story also impacts in that zone, with a pretty formulaic, prosaic message that has been spat out by any number of Disney movies and after school specials.  This film is so deeply mired in the Stereotype Swamp (at the south end of the Mediocre Valley) that is needs a flat bottomed boat just to go shopping for groceries.  There’s Norman, the creepy kid who talks to dead people and is bullied and ostracized by other kids at school at school; his fat friend who is a big weenie and goes on chip eating binges; his suburban disbelieving parents; his older social butterfly sister; their super nerdy girl friend; the fat kids older brother who is a dumb jock; the fat cop on a scooter; a big bully; and a cast of local yokels who make the guys from Deliverance look like the supporting characters from Sex and the City.  It’s like the writers had a kids/horror stereotype checklist and scored in the 90% zone.

The story is of Norman, a weird kid who can see and talk to dead people.  That very important plot element is beaten to death in the first ten minutes as he wanders the town talking to assorted ghosts but is then dropped entirely unless it is needed to advance the plot.  He has what looks like a typical childhood; abused by his peers, bullied by a bigger kid, has a fat loser for a sidekick, and has all his major issues more or less ignored by his parents (if you think that last sentence might give you an insight into my own childhood I won’t say you are wrong).  His crazy uncle wants him to take over keeping the local witch from rising from her grave and bringing forth the seven people responsible for her death as zombies (that Zombie Apocalypse image actually comes from our Cheap T Shirt category, incidentally).

Naturally things go haywire, starting with the death of the uncle and the undead rising up.  The seven zombies do stuff that makes sense in a zombie movie but later when you realize what their real motivation is you kind of end up scratching your head.  There is a long van chase scene with the head zombie trying to kill them all that will leave you confused if you think about it.

So it’s up to Norman to save the day with a long speech about the evilness of bullying and how it is better to forgive and forget or something.  At the time the visuals were at their all time most amazing and I kind of lost track of the dialog (which was nothing to write home about anyway).

Anyway, it’s not a bad movie.  If you are into animation and visuals you will really enjoy it.  I don’t think it’s a great movie for pre teen kids, and honestly I don’t think it’s a great film for adults who expect to laugh with their kids.  I will say the 3D was pretty good and enhanced the film a lot, so try to see it on a big screen in 3D.  If you are going just because you hope for another Coraline I hope you enjoy popcorn.  Date movie?  This should work OK but I am not going to give it 2 thumbs up on it.  Bathroom break?  That’s easy.  At one point the Mystery Gang (oh yeah, did I mention that if you squint and decide the bully is Scooby you basically have an episode of Scooby Doo?) go into the city hall and start doing an exciting search through old records to find the witch’s grave.  Feel free to duck out right there if you are truly riveted by the story.

Thanks for reading.  I’ll try to see something else soon, although tonight is movie night at my friend Brian’s house and he has announced he will be showing something called Attack of the Two Headed Shark.  Sounds amazing.  Follow me on Twitter @nerdkungfu.  Post a comment here if you loved this movie and think I am a soulless insensitive jerk for not shouting its praises from the rooftops (you can also comment if you think my reviews are good and this one is spot on.  Also feel free to post if you have met me and think I am amazing.  I can’t get enough of that).  If you have off topic questions or comments feel free to email me at [email protected].  Talk to you soon.

Amazing Dave

Tags: cheap t shirts, ParaNorman Review