PARANORMAN is a movie about a misunderstood kid who can see and talk to the dead-- nobody, including his family, believes him-- except of course for his grandmother, but then after all, she's dead too.
Norman's gift is shared by his estranged uncle who is ostrasized from the local town because everyone is convinced he's crazy--a fate destined to be Norman's but this is never mentioned or explored. Instead of a kinship between these two like minded ghost receptors Norman doubts his ability despite the fact that he shares in it.
And that's what's wrong with this movie.
I wanted to like it-- don't say that I didn't try.
We had FREE passes, we know the work of many of those involved in the production of it, it's about the macabre and its set essentially in Salem which is one of my favorite, er, haunts.
The character design and the animation is flawless-- superb even-- and that's what makes the rest of this boring pile of film so tragic.
If they had poured even half the effort into coming up with an actual story here instead of rehashing something we've seen hundreds of times before AND devolving into some really middle school level dialogue and comedy we could have had a great film along the lines of NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. We could have had something that goes on to be a cult classic, instead we have a movie that runs along the level of MONSTER HOUSE and the like.
A bit too scary for little kids, and a bit too boring for adults.
**1/2 stars.
