Packaged and marketed as a kid’s movie, “ParaNorman”, the
new stop-motion animated offering from Laika—the folks behind “Coraline”—is
everything you want out of this kind of movie. This is a horror movie aimed at
children, one that is also funny, touching, and, most importantly, full of
legitimate frights. Death—in the form of ghosts, zombies, corpses, and the
potential for characters to die—is an ever-present specter. At every turn
there’s a realistic chance that happily-ever-after might not happen. Scares
blend with a strange gallows humor to create a fantastic movie that will get
you as pumped up as it gets your kids. Horror fans will love this, as there are
copious nods to the genre, including, but not limited to “Halloween”, “Friday
the 13th”, and Romero’s “Dead” trilogy.
