ParaNorman

From the creators of “Coraline,” but not having that 2009 film’s interestingly chilling, gentle touch, “ParaNorman,” released in 2012, is an entertaining but only restlessly involving animated adventure about an 11-year-old boy with the ability to communicate with the dead – and the living.

With its technically confident stop-motion animation and capable synopsis, the film, co-directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler, had the creation of something more significant, but it lacked with story and character development.

Michael Rechtshaffen said in his review, “There should still be enough going on to engage both the stop-motion and zombie-flick aficionado, but the unmistakable Tim Burton-Henry Selick vibe likely will be too intense for younger viewers.”

Set in the ghostly town of Blithe Hollow, whose tourist-attraction self-important rights hang on it being the site of a 300-year-old witch hunt, “ParaNorman” focuses the clairvoyant talents of boy Norman Babcock, voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee, whose ability to speak with its dead residents has him labeled as a freak.

Sharing that look is his disturbed dad (Jeff Garlin) and small-minded older sister (Anna Kendrick), who are scared over Norman liking to watch TV with the ghost of his grandmother (Elaine Stritch).

More encouraging is his eccentric, homeless uncle Prenderghast, voiced by John Goodman, who sees in the wide-eyed kid a family spirit – and the only one who’ll be able to prevent a stubborn witch’s curse from creating all sorts of frights, starting with the zombies of the founding fathers.

Rechtshaffen mentioned, “Wry touches abound, from the retro titles onward, but though the filmmakers have said that they were going for a “John Carpenter meets John Hughes” vibe, those diverse styles never quite come together.”

However, more difficult than making a combining tone and sticking with it is the failure of Butler’s script to give his characters (mainly those walking-dead elders) enough to do and creative ways of making them.

Rechtshaffen ended his review by saying, “Although the 3D element doesn’t really enhance all that much, Laika Studios’ distinctive stop-motion technique makes for notably fluid, jerk-free, detailed animation that continues to introduce fresh, intriguing possibilities to the venerable Ray Harryhausen model.”

Overall, I think that this movie is very well done and something that the whole family can sit around watching around Halloween time. Especially for those who are interested in the dead and zombies, especially with the whole zombie craze that’s been going around lately with the popularity of “The Walking Dead,” which I have never seen. However, if you’re a fan of this studio’s work, definitely pick this one up, and have a scare of a time.

Now hold on tight everyone because next Monday will be a movie that is definitely from the weird mind of a popular director, which I will look at next in this year’s “Halloween Month.”