REVIEW - PARANORMAN

Laika Animation's ParaNorman may lack a little of the visual ingenuity that distinguished Corpse Bride and Coraline, but it is a funny, surprising film, and the animation is charming and distinctive nonetheless. Essentially a very simple narrative strung out over 90 minutes by withholding most of the details and then drip-feeding them to viewers, Chris Butler and Sam Fell's film chugs forward at a wayward pace, stopping and starting in spurts, moments of humour and history interjecting along the way. If messy, it's also refreshing, particularly as so much of the screenplay is so subtly smart that it'd be a shame if this were just a regular cartoon zombie movie. The jokes are aimed mostly at older audiences, yet never push the upper boundaries of the PG rating, being character-based and more wry than one might expect, and less reliant on slapstick (what slapstick there is, though, is actually quite well done), and the thematic material touches upon humanistic and historical issues, and enriches the development of even the most superfluous characters. These brief, occasional more adult strokes are delightful, and assist ParaNorman in becoming more memorable, and perhaps more purposeful, than the majority of American animated films. The voice work is good, and the insightful characterisation throughout will no doubt endear audiences of all ages. Jon Brion was a great choice for composer, and he stretches his skills here, producing one of his best scores.