ParaNorman

There is something about animation that just captures your attention. With claymation, it brings characters to life using stop motion techniques, shooting the movements of the characters one at a time. “Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer,” “Wallace and Grommit,” and “The Nightmare before Christmas” are some examples of well done animation done with clay characters.

The marriage of this kind of animation and a great story makes for movie magic. Here in “ParaNorman,” we get a great story of acceptance set against a dark curse. I found this movie to be a great coming of age story in the same vein as “The Goonies,” where a band of kids try to save their homes from foreclosure and  have a grand adventure solving the mysteries of a lost pirate treasure.

Norman Babcock is a seemingly normal kid with a passion for horror movies. He has one gift that seems to ostracize him from other kids his age and making him a target for the school bully Alvin: Norman can see and talk to the dead. He even carries on conversation with his deceased grandmother, who instead of passing on is watching over her dear grandson. He lives in the small town of Blithe Hollow, home to a legendary witch hunt.

School life for Norman is difficult, with the regular bullying from Alvin. Norman is befriended by Neil, another one of Alvin’s targets. Neil does not judge Norman by his odd behavior and thinks that Norman has a cool “superpower.” He even convinces him to find the ghost of his deceased dog so that they could all play together.

During drama class, Norman has a waking dream of Blithe Hollow’s past during the witch hunt. He does not know what to make of it. Later Norman and Neil meet the ‘town crazy’ Mr. Prenterghast, who warns Norman of the approaching danger of the witch’s curse. The witch hunt is part of the foundation of Blithe Hollow’s history, where a witch was found among it citizenry. This witch cursed the founders of the town for condemning her. Norman and Neil ignore him.

Neil and Norman perform the story of the witch hunt as part of the school play. During the performance, Norman has a full blown vision about the witch and the curse. He learns that the dead would be rising soon. Embarrassed by Norman’s antics, his father grounds him. Norman retreats into his room despondent that he is largely misunderstood and that nobody believes him.

Mr. Prenderghast, who dies of a heart attack, comes back as a ghost and confronts Norman in (of all places) the Boys bathroom. He tells Norman that it is his duty to continue his work in protecting the town from the witch’s curse, and that he must read the book at the grave of the witch before the end of the day. The book is still with his body.

Reluctantly, Norman goes to Mr. Prenderghast’s home with encouragement from his grandmother, who believes that Norman has the ability to help quell the witch’s curse. He retrieves the book and takes it to the town graveyard and begins reading the book at the site of the town founders. Alvin had caught up with him and again bullies him. A storm cloud appears with a crone’s face. It begins casting magic powers.  Norman and Alvin soon discover the town founders have begun rising from their graves. The seven began to chase Norman and Alvin who flee in terror.

Meanwhile, Norman’s older sister Courtney tries to find her little brother, who snuck out of the house while their parents enjoy a date night. She goes over to Neil’s house to see if Norman was there. Courtney, Neil and his older brother Mitch go out to searching for Norman. While driving around town, Mitch hits a pedestrian, which turns out to be one of the zombies of the town founders. They cross paths with Norman and Alvin, and together they flee in Mitch’s van, with one of the zombie’s riding along. While trying to defend themselves from the zombie, they race to the Town Hall’s records on the recommendation of his friend Selma. They hope to find the witch’s grave to put an end to the curse.

The zombies have made their way to town and are taken aback by the differences from their time. Discovered by the townspeople, they are not feared but are persecuted for being monsters. Norman and the other break into the Town Hall, but are not able to find the records. In a fit of anger, Norman sends the others away for not believing him or listening to what he has to say. He then tries to confront the witch, who has appeared over the town, striking down the witch iconography peppered throughout the town. He tries to read from the book, which was a copy of “Sleeping Beauty.” The witch strikes him down and he goes flying into the Town Hall.

Unconscious, Norman has a vision of the witch trial, where he learns that the witch was a girl the same age as he, with the ability to communicate with the dead. It also turns out that she is a powerful psychic, creating a powerful curse to raise the dead of the Town Council who persecuted her out of fear of her abilities.  Norman began to understand and empathize with the girl. He now understood the meaning of the curse. He now has to confront the angry townspeople to get them to listen to him and help stop the curse.

This story has several messages in it regarding bullying, finding friends who believe in you, and believing in yourself. It demonstrates what it is like to be alienated for what you are and how you can deal with this by finding those who can help and believe in you. It also shows that revenge against your bullies isn’t the answer to finding peace.

I found this feature to be charming and with a lot of heart. It is a fine adventure that is different from a typical horror/ zombie movie. It just happens to have these elements in them. Instead it is a character study of those shunned by others and how they handle being ridiculed. They in turn rise to the occasion to prove that there is more to them that can be found if only we would listen.