ParaNorman
Animated tale is gross, scary … and excellent Discuss this article
Soulfully voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In, The Road), 11-year-old Norman sees dead people, though most of them are as friendly as Casper. His deceased grandmother, for example, is now a chatty green cloud that’s settled permanently in front of the TV. Norman’s real problem is that his ghost-whispering ways have made him a town pariah; like Coraline, which was produced by the same animation company, this is a 3D adventure headlined by an unusually lonely child protagonist.
It’s also a throwback to a bygone era of less-sanitised kiddie fare, when movies of this sort were allowed to be kind of gross and a little scary. Dense with verbal and visual humour, ParaNorman builds to a surprisingly moving climax that advocates letting go of your grudges and forgiving life’s bullies. It’s a vital takeaway for young viewers still battling the monsters of childhood, or for the adults still haunted by them. AA Dowd
Time Out Dubai,
-
- E-mail:
-
- Print:
