MOVIE NEWS: ParaNorman

Hey, blog readers! As promised on Wednesday, OWL Assistant Editor, Kendra Brown, is back to tell us about the movie, ParaNorman. Take it away, Kendra!

Ghosts and zombies and witches… oh my! It may not be Halloween yet, but it actually feels like it here at OWL since since we’ve been working away on the October issue already (hint: it’s awesome). So, it was the perfect time for me to go see a creepy and cool movie like ParaNorman.

Norman Babcock is a boy that can see and talk to ghosts. No one in his hometown of Blithe Hollow believes him, though. But when an ancient witch’s curse threatens the small town, Norman may be the only one who can save everyone since he can communicate with the dead. With ghosts, ghouls, and zombies on the attack, can Norman go from “Abnorman” the outcast to hometown hero?

Here are two things you need to know about this movie:

1. It’s gloriously gruesome. There are zombies with rotting limbs, a ghost in a toilet, and plenty of other gross, gory stuff in this movie. And it’s all in 3-D stop-motion animation. The detail is amazing. Which is why, rather than just being completely freaked out, I found myself fascinated by how cool the movie looked.

2. It’s frightfully funny. This movie may gross you out, but I guarantee it will also make you giggle. There are so many funny scenes that had almost everyone in the theatre cracking up. One of the most hilarious scenes involves a man, a snack dispensing machine, a bag of potato chips, and a zombie. And that’s all I’ll say for now.

Overall, I liked this movie a lot. And if you’re a fan of Tim Burton or the movie Coraline, I think you’ll like it a lot, too. Normally, I’m not into zombies or gross stuff, but the humour and awesome animation in this movie definitely won me over. And, actually, so did Norman. He’s a pretty cool dude.

But just a warning: even though most of the frights in this movie are fun, there are some more intense scary scenes, which may be not be for everyone. In which case, you may want to skip this flick. (You can always go see The Odd Life of Timothy Green instead!)

So, who’s going to see this movie?

-Kendra, owlblog@owlkids.com