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Halloween Day by Day: "ParaNorman" (2012)



Ever since Tim Burton's "A Nightmare Before Christmas", stop motion animation has proven to be a wonderful medium for horror themed animated features like "ParaNorman"...

Norman is your typical eleven year old boy living in Blithe Hollow.  He has loving parents, an annoying older sister, a best friend, and tries to avoid being beaten up by the school bully.

He also sees dead people... and soon, that ability will put him at the center of a century long grudge as the dead rise from the gave and scare the town...

Tim Burton's "A Nightmare Before Christmas" is a hard animated film to beat. 2012's "ParaNorman" come pretty damn close to doing so.  The story is interesting, and balances humour and scares wonderfully.  Even though you know how it'll turn out, you still want to see it happen.

I loved the characters, they are all unique, well rounded, and fleshed out.  You come to like them, and root for them.  They were emotionally engaging, and pretty believable.

The voice acting was top notch as well.  The performers brought their characters to full, vibrant life- infusing energy and emotion into them.  I want to give special credit to Kodi Smit-McPhee as Norman, and Jodelle Ferland as Aggie.  These two really helped to set the tone for the movie, and really brought a depth of feeling to their roles.

What can I say about the stop motion animation?  Simply amazing.  The skill and talent that went into creating the character puppets can not be over appreciated in my opinion.  The texture of the models, and the scenery is just wonderful.  Using the puppets brought a reality to the world and the story that I really appreciated.  Just some stunning work from the visual effects department.

When you get the chance, watch it.  It's a wonderful Halloween type movie to watch with the family, as there are things that both kids and adults will enjoy and appreciate about "ParaNorman".  It's going into "The Good".
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