Halloween Horrors- PARANORMAN

PARANORMAN  (2012)
Directed by Chris Butler and Sam Fell
Featuring the voice talents of: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Tucker Albrizzi, Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Casey Affleck, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, John Goodman, Bernard Hill
PG for scary action and images, thematic elements, some rude humor and language. 
SCAREmeter: 4.5/10
GOREmeter: 3.5/10
OVERALL: 4 out of 4 stars 

Although it was moderately successful overall, thanks largely to a relatively small budget, Laika Studios' PARANORMAN failed to connect with mainstream audiences, and while critics were favorable, few felt it matched the stop-animation studio's previous film, CORALINE.  Of course, Laika, of their three released feature films to date, cannot be mistaken for a producer of mainstream entertainment, and beginning with their first feature film, Tim Burton's CORPSE BRIDE, they've claimed a strong foothold on the limited audience for hard-PG family horror movies.  In comparison to CORALINE though, I disagree with the assessment that PARANORMAN is the lesser film, and believe that it is by a sizable margin, superior.  CORALINE is a very good movie, but it's also very cold, in way that is entirely opposite from PARANORMAN.
Norman Babcock (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee) who possesses the power to see and communicate with the ghosts that never passed on to the "other side," but this ability has made him a social pariah, and he doesn't always have a strong grip on what he's seeing, occasionally resulting in embarrassing situations.  With his disapproving family, Norman lives in the quaint New England town and minor tourist attraction of Blithe Hollow, which continues to coast on its 300-year history in which the town's Puritan founders were cursed by an accused witch before she was hanged.  Unbeknownst to Norman and the rest of the town, the so-called "Witch's Curse" is, in fact, very real, and it is only thanks to Norman's crazy uncle Mr. Prenderghast (voiced by John Goodman), that it's been staved off for so many years.  But Mr. Prenderghast's health is failing, and Norman is the only one who can continue to prevent the curse from raising the dead, because one who can speak with the dead must read from a book in Prenderghast's possession at the witch's grave.  Before Mr. Prenderghast can adequately elaborate on the process to Norman, he dies in his forest cabin.  With what little about the curse that Norman does know, he sets out to find a permanent solution to it, picking up allies along the way, including Neil (voiced by Tucker Albrizzi), his only (living) friend and fellow social outcast; his sister Courtney (voiced by Anna Kendrick), who previously disbelieved in Norman's abilities and enjoys tormenting him; Mitch (voiced by Casey Affleck), Neil's hunky, athletic and dimwitted older brother whose affections are sought by Courtney; and Alvin (voiced by Christopher Mintz-Plasse), a moronic bully who comes to rely on Norman.
Although marketed at the children and families audience, PARANORMAN is refreshingly bold, seemingly unaware of commercial necessities, and instead just concerned with being an entertaining and edifying experience that trusts its audience.  That said, for the children and families to whom it is offered, it is likely to give pause to many parents, both for genuinely scary moments and for mature, and sometimes very morbid, themes.
Spoiler warning applies to the remainder of this article-

There's an unmistakable socio-political commentary to PARANORMAN as well, as has been an important factor of the great films of the horror genre since the beginning of the medium, and before that in the horror genre of earlier storytelling mediums.  What actually ruffled the most feathers though about this particular film was the comedic revelation at the film's resolution that Neil's hunky older brother Mitch, who has been romantically pursued by Norman's shallow teenage sister, Courtney, throughout the film, is actually gay.  Various "Christian and family values" and politically-conservative publications online and in print were disgruntled with this revelation, with some of the more amusing complaints revolving around the fact that Mitch's sexual orientation was kept secret until the end, so that the audience had "developed a real affinity for him" then "[catching] the audience off-guard."  Many other dissenters were, weirdly, even more upset that the gay character was the jock (?!).  But that story element, for all the attention it received, it was only very small piece of the morals woven throughout the entirety of the film.  That message is one of tolerance and understanding; a highly-relevant message for our time and for many times, and while depending on the time and place, it could directly apply in many ways.  For today though, admittedly, there is a natural pathway from a message of tolerance (complete with the element of religiously-motivated fear) into the realm of the "gay rights debate."   Even still, PARANORMAN is not so specific and has many applications.

While the Witch's Curse has been warped into a big tourist attraction, it turns out to have a far more disturbing history than has been told; in the town square stands a statue of a hunched-over old crone holding a broom and wearing a pointy hat; a welcoming billboard shows a smiling and waving cartoon witch hanging from a noose with the slogan, "A Nice Place to Hang!" and a billboard advertisement for "The Lucky Witch Casino" features a ridiculously busty witch with dollar bills stuffed into her ample cleavage.  In fact, by way of a disturbing vision of the past, Norman learns that the so-called witch was Agatha Prenderghast, a little girl who'd been discovered in the forest communicating with the dead, just like Norman, but was condemned as a witch and hanged.  Those that she cursed to be raised from the dead are the judge and town council who passed sentence on her, their curse to be tormented in their horrific form by the living.  Agatha, "Aggie", had hidden herself, and the town did not understand, so in their misunderstanding-induced fear, they acted mistakenly with severe consequences.  The zombies, being the re-animated corpses of the Puritan town council, are forced to live a cursed existence in their remorseful purgatory, unable to take back the action that they now know they suffer for.  In comparison, Norman's father also fails to understand the circumstances of his morbid son, and when Norman defends himself by saying, "I didn't ask to be born this way," Norman's dad replies, "Funny, neither did we."  As Norman's mother attempts to comfort Norman, she points out that his dad is afraid for him; not of him.  It's no big stretch to leap from necromancing to sexual orientation politics here.
And while Norman is able to enlist the assistance (such as it is) of his primary tormentor, Alvin, PARANORMAN is clear that bullies are an unfortunate but irrefutable fact of life, and while you shouldn't be a bully, it's just as important to fortify yourself from the misunderstandings of others.  This is a valuable point that is far too often neglected in family entertainment that consistently returns to the same well of easily-digestable morals.
By now, it's become fairly clear that stop-motion animated films are on the less family-friendly side of family-friendliness, with the slight exception of Aardman (which still dabbles in sexually-suggestive humor), so PARANORMAN is definitely better-suited for older children, around 10 or so.  Even with the mitigating effects of stylization and and humor, it straddles the boundary between PG and PG-13, and if you're not receptive to its liberal moralizing, it'll probably piss you off.  But it's refreshingly intelligent, whimsical entertainment, dark as hell, funny as hell and hugely satisfying.