ParaNorman

Movie Title--  ParaNorman

Release Year--  2012

Running Time--  1 Hour and 32 Minutes

Director--  Chris Butler and Sam Fell

Cast--  Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Tucker Albrizzi, Casey Affleck, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, Elaine Stritch, Jodelle Ferland, John Goodman

Norman Babcock, a misunderstood 11 year old boy that speaks to ghosts, is recruited to save his small town from a 300 year old witch's curse.

Norman Babcock (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is an 11 year old boy that can speak with the dead.  Because of this he feels isolated at home due to his family all but accusing him of making it up and he is alienated at school, causing him to be bullied and ridiculed by his peers.  His only friend is an overweight kid named Neil Downe (Tucker Albrizzi), who is also constantly bullied however he stays in a generally good and upbeat mood most of the time.  

As the school is getting ready to put on a play to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the execution of the town witch, Norman has a vision that flashes back to the town's past and he finds that he is being chased by the town's citizens as if he were the witch.  He snaps back into reality and the bell rings to end the school day.  As Norman and Neil walk home, they encounter Mr. Prenderghast (John Goodman), Norman's "crazy" uncle, who tells Norman that he has to stop the curse of the witch.  Soon after this meeting Mr. Prenderghast dies.

During the theater performance at school, Norman has another vision and it ends with him snapping back to reality as he shouts "the dead are coming", promptly ending the play.  Norman's father (Jeff Garlin) is frustrated with how his son is acting and Norman's mother (Leslie Mann) explains that sometimes people say things they don't mean because they are afraid for the person that they love.  The next day Mr. Prenderghast appears to Norman and tells Norman he must go retrieve the book he was holding when he died.  

Norman makes the decision to go get the book and continue with the regular ritual that Mr. Prenderghast had been in charge of.  After Norman gets the book and takes it to the graves of the 7 people that condemned the witch he is interrupted by the school bully, Alvin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) as he tries to read from the book which he is discouraged to find is a book of fairy tales.  The dead rises and Norman realizes that the witch's grave was not among them.  

Norman and Alvin start to run from the zombies and run into Norman's sister Courtney (Anna Kendrick), Neil and Neil's older brother Mitch (Casey Affleck) who are out searching for Norman together.  The five of them head to the Town Hall to find out where the witch is buried and stop the curse for good.

So, if I am being honest, I didn't really care for this film.  Don't get me wrong, I am a fan of stop animation but for some reason, I just didn't really like this film.  It really wasn't a film that appealed to me but someone suggested that I watch it, so I decided to give it a try.  I was OK with watching it once but now that I have seen it, I probably will never watch it again.

I don't really think it is a film that younger children should see, especially very small ones.  This is more like an animated film for maybe tween or teenage children.  It is scary for small children and for children up to age 11(ish) it is probably a little inappropriate for them.  

If you have an older child you want to watch this with, I would say give a try but if you have a small child, I recommend finding something a little more kid friendly but whatever choice you go for, make sure you Don't Forget the Popcorn!