Paranorman - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Paranorman



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
For the last and final review of the Shout Factory re-released Laika Productions titles, we get the 2nd film of their library (yes, that sounded weird even in my head). Right after Coraline hit it big, the studio was hot on their trail to making another CGI created stop motion film. This time it went a little less creepy, and a lot more child like fun with a heavy infusion of horror movie homages thrown in for good mix. Out of all the titles, Paranorman is probably the weakest of the original 4 (as stated before, I haven’t seen The Weakest Link yet, and since that is attached to Fox Shout Factory won’t be re-releasing it). Not because it’s not a fun movie, but because it feels the most mainstream of the 4 titles. Coraline, The Boxtrolls, and Kubo all have a very esoteric vibe to them that makes them stand apart from mainstream cinema. Coraline is a creepy child’s tale that has very Tim Burtonesque vibes, Botxtrolls feels like a French flick, and Kubo is a great take on an ancient Japanese fairy tale. However, Paranorman feels like it would be right at home in the Saturday morning cartoon world, feeling a bit more average than the rest.

That being said, Paranorman is by no means a bad flick. It’s a fun film that uses horror tropes and humor to tell an age old tale of forgiveness. We meet our titular hero as he’s knee deep in a zombie movie, and Norman’s (Kodi Smit-McPhee) parents (Leslie Mann and Jeff Garlin respectively) not listening to him again. I guess Norman can see dead people (where have we heard that before), and nobody is keen to listen to an 11 year old that claims he can see his dead grandmother. Well, Norman just so happens to live in a Massachusetts town that once famously burnt a witch alive. A story that has been infused into their local pop culture about some evil witch who has cursed the town. The thing is, Norman can actually see the dead people he claims to, and has begun to see weirder and weirder things enter the world of the living. Things that shouldn’t be happening and reek of the ancient curse.

When his crazy uncle (played by John Goodman) gives him a dire warning of the future and claims that only Norman can fix it, things get even worse. The veil between the living and the dead becomes even more frail, soon Norman and his new buddy Neil (Tucker Albrizzi) are in over their heads trying to dodge zombies, read a spell to an ancient witch, and try not to get beaten to death by the local townsfolk as they go into full Beauty and the Beast mob mentality. Simple, right?

Paranorman is a simple tale of forgiveness and listening to one another. Norman is not listened to his whole life due to his gift of speaking with the dead, and this leads us straight into a misunderstood witch who is trying to make everyone around her suffer for condemning her. Nothing special, but fun. The real kicker here is the obvious winks and nods to pop horror culture in the unfolding of the story. Everywhere you turn is a different horror trope, a different take on a classic horror theme song, and even the ending is straight out of your typical horror movie…..just toned down for a saturday morning kids audience.

Kodi and Tucker take most of the acting bruntwork, but I have to admit that Norman’s sister Courtney (Anna Kendrick) and Neil’s brother Mitch (Casey Affleck) take the cake. Affleck in particular hams it up as the local hunky football player with more muscles than brains to a T. My favorite part of the whole movie is the bombshell he drops on Courtney at the very end, and fully admit to rewinding that scene a couple of times to laugh a bit harder.




Rating:

Rated PG for scary action and images, thematic elements, some rude humor and language




Video:

As I’ve stated with the previous Laika re-releases, the video score will be identical to the Universal 2012 release simply due to the fact that it was as close to perfect as could be back then, and the Shout encode looks just as good. Shout claims to have a new master for these, but I really can’t see any appreciable difference between the two discs at first glance, so I’ll have to trust them that they’ve tweaked it just a bit. Colors are prone to soft pastels on inside shots, and more garish halloween colorings later on with neon green, pink, yellow and what not when the Witch comes out to play. Blacks are deep and inky, and the stop motion animation looks fantastic. There was a brief moment of banding, and when Norman goes into the Penderghast house looking for Mr. Penderghast you can see some black levels flicker just a bit. Outside of those split moment artifacts, the disc looks amazing.







Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is a carryover from the 2012 Uni release, and that really isn’t a bad thing. It’s an incredible track with great bass and a huge sound field that really immerses the listener. The film starts out quiet enough, but when the action begins with zombies and ghosts galore, the low end REALLY kicks in with it culminating with an incredible stand off between him and the Witch, Agatha, at the end. Surrounds cocoon the audience in with creaks and groans from wooden floors, screams from terrified townsfolk, and the swirling and whirling of Agatha’s wind powers near the end. It’s a spooky, creepy, and exciting mix that makes full use of all 6 speakers, proving once again that you don’t NEED an Atmos or DTS:X track to be incredible.









Extras:

• NEW Feature-Length Storyboards
• NEW Inside LAIKA Featurette
• NEW Never-Before-Seen ParaNorman Animation Test Footage
• Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Chris Butler and Co-Director Sam Fell
• "Peering Through the Veil
• Original Featurettes

Final Score: ​

As I said, Paranorman feels more at home as a Saturday morning cartoon than as one of the typical Laika Production films. Sure it’s got horror elements, but they’re mainly humorous ones vs. actual creep and disturbing imagery that the rest of their films thrive off of. Still, the movie is quite enjoyable as a popcorn animated kids flick, and is probably the most accessible of the films to younger audiences. The Blu-ray that Shout Re-released sounds and looks pretty much identical to the Universal release from 2012, but the inclusion of new artwork and new extras makes it appealing if you haven’t bought the old Uni release yet. Fun movie, worth checking out.

Technical Specifications:

Starring: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Chrstopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, Jodelle Ferland
Directed by: Chris Butler, Sam Fell
Written by: Chris Butler
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French, Spanish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Shout Factory
Rated: PG
Runtime: 93 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: November 14th, 2021

Recommendation: Fun Watch

 

[Asere]

Thanks for the review. I agree, it is a fun watch.

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I will have to check it out.