Movie Review | ParaNorman

Please excuse this break in our regular scheduled "True Blood Tuesday" for an amazing movie...

Last summer when ParaNorman hit theaters I wanted to see it, but I only vaguley knew what it was about. I knew that it had Halloween undertones, but the trailers didn't speak to me a whole lot, and when I heard that it was from the same minds of the people who made Coraline (not my favorite movie - though I'm willing to give it another shot) I kind of stuck this movie on the back burner, and wasn't aching to see it.

 My husband kept moving it from the back burner, to the front, and I'd push it back again, and this weekend, I finally gave in, and I have to say that it makes me feel like kind of a moron for waiting so long to see it!

Norman is a fairly "normal" kid, who happens to be able to see and speak to dead people. We learn this in the first few minutes of the movie as he's talking to his dead Grandma. Norman doesn't seem disturbed by his gift, but his family is, and most of the town is pretty put off by it as well.

He goes about his normal business, finding humor in zombies, and his own conversations with the ones around him, we learn along with Norman that the deceased are there because they have unfinished business (see Casper for a full definition of that) or because they died suddenly.

Norman lives in the town of Blithe Hallow where 300 years ago a witch named Aggie cursed the 7 people who sentenced her, and hung her.

Each year on the day of the curse, Aggie threatens to "wake" and Norman's grandfather helped keep her asleep, and now it's Norman's turn to help keep Aggie asleep, but Norman doesn't think that's very fair to Aggie who was different like he is, he wants to help her.

Since Norman can talk to the dead, he's the only one who can help her.

In the end, all is well in Blithe Hallow - my favorite quote from the movie being "Nothing is wrong with being scared, as long as it doesn't change who you are."

All in all? I gave this movie 5 stars on my Netflix queue. It's engaging, spooky, and intriguing. A story line that we have not seen yet in all of these animated "spooky" flicks.

It's a buy for me, I'll probably wait till Halloween when it will inevitably go on sale, but it's going to be a staple in my collection, and I would encourage it to be a staple in yours as well.

Here is the credit song by the White Stripes... I Love it!