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Topic: ParaNorman
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Stu Jamieson
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 524
From: Buccan, Qld, Australia
Registered: Jan 2008
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posted 01-19-2013 06:46 PM
ParaNorman is the holiday season late-comer and this is perhaps no surprise. No doubt the local distributor did not want to pit it against the other kiddie heavy hitters of the season, Wreck-It Ralph and Rise of the Guardians, as they are far superior movies to this.
Clearly taking a leaves out of the books of The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Corpse Bride and Coraline the animation exhibits a kind of grotesquery which seemingly attempts to out-freak Tim Burton. But it looks like it's trying too hard.
The film shoots for a tone and story similar to Peter Jackson's The Frighteners but that film gets the balance right. As a horror movie for kids, Paranormal leans towards the lame and fails to satisfy in almost every way. I heard toddler a few rows back exclaim to her mother, "this is stupid"; I couldn't agree with you more, kid. The film is neither scary enough nor is the story interesting enough and the modelling of the characters are, at times, downright depressing. Looking at Norman's mother makes me almost want to cry.
The film is littered with astute social observations and nods to horror movies and much of it is funny if you think about it but somehow the jokes fail to fire.
As a horror film targeted towards kids, Coraline is still king from this bunch. Paranorman takes classic adult horror movies and tries to make them appealing to kids with very limited success. Coraline, however, takes an issue which is close to a child's heart (parental neglect) and weaves a genuinely unsettling story from that.
3 out of 10.
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