ParaNorman Movie Review

ParaNorman is the latest movie by FocusFeatures to come out in the line up of fun family movies this Summer.  I enjoyed my night out watching this one.  I didn't realize, until I go there, that it was in 3D.  I usually don't tend to like 3D, and the glasses give me a head ache, but this was the exception.  Because of the type of animation in this movie, the 3D effect really just enhanced the picture instead of distracting from it.  ParaNorman was very innovative with it's animation and might just become a standard to measure new animated movies by.  I love the look of the film.

ParaNorman is about a boy who is often misunderstood by his family, friends and whole community.  He can see and speak with the dead.  Even though he doesn't quite fit in and is even bullied, Norman manages to take on the dead, ghosts, zombies and grown ups to save his town from a curse that is over a Century old!  He's a hero who doesn't even realize it and becomes very loveable for that.

I went with a child that was 6 years old and loved hearing her innocent laugh throughout this movie.  Adults tend to expect too much, while children only laugh if it's truly funny.  To me that is a sign of a funny movie.  I heard plenty of that in ParaNorman.  This movie is rated PG and I was surprised to hear a couple of "bad" words and a couple of references that were more for pre teens, but there was nothing in this movie that was vulgar.  This movie was from the same group that made Coraline, which frightened more than a few children, but you need not worry about the typical child being afraid in ParaNorman.

So tell me... when watching an animated movie do you tend to cheer for the hero or the villain?

Disclaimer * I was given a ticket to see this movie but ALL thoughts and reviews are my own.