ParaNorman on 3D Blu-ray

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To be honest, I really had a lack of interest in seeing ParaNorman when it was released in theaters in August.  It took us a long time to see Coraline (which I found a little creepy).  Plus a story about a kid who could see dead people, meh I’d seen the Sixth Sense.

But when I was asked to review ParaNorman on 3D Blu-ray (it was also released in 2D on DVD this past week), I figured why not.  I’m sure my husband would be interested in seeing it, and I’d watch it objectively to write a review.

As I said, I paid little attention to ParaNorman back in summer, and so my only knowledge of the movie was the trailer spots in other movies we saw in the theater and on TV.  Here’s the thing…those trailers didn’t really tell you what the movie was about.  ParaNorman isn’t so much a movie about Norman being able to see dead people, it’s much more about a zombie invasion and a curse that needs to be broken. 

From the makers of Coraline comes the story of Norman, a boy who must use his ability to see and speak with the dead to save his town from a centuries-old curse. In addition to spooky zombies, he’ll also have to take on mysterious ghosts, wily witches and, worst, of all, clueless grown-ups. But this young ghoul whisperer will soon find his paranormal abilities pushed to their otherworldly limits. Featuring the voice talents of Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin and John Goodman, it’s a frightfully funny and magically thrilling adventure for the whole family in eye-popping stop-motion.

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That being said, I did enjoy the two main characters Norman and his new found friend Neil.  Together these two boys give hope to all the young ‘freaks and geeks’ out there, that friendship is just a locker graffiti cleaning away.  It’s a very positive aspect of the movie.  Their characters and relationships actually reminded me a lot of Greg and Rowley in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchise.

My husband thought ParaNorman was a good movie, but then he’s a fan of The Walking Dead, so I suppose his opinion wasn’t all that out of the ordinary 😉

ParaNorman carries a PG rating, which I will say — take in to consideration the personality of your child before you watch this with them if you haven’t already seen it.  I personally wouldn’t recommend it for children under 10, and know that our daughter would likely have been bothered emotionally by it even at 12 or 13, heck even now at 16 she’s sensitive enough to things like this she probably would have had bad dreams.  I think a PG13 rating would have been more appropriate, but then I am known to be conservative on issues like this.  Interestingly enough while I realize that timing to DVD is getting shorter and shorter, this would have been a better release around Halloween than Christmas — and in my opinion, a better release date for the DVD would have been earlier in November or after the holiday season…but that’s just me…

I was ultimately surprised by ParaNorman, I was enthralled by the whole animation process and have to say that in 3D it’s one of the most fluid movies we’ve seen to date on our TV.  I couldn’t stop verbally indicating during the movie how incredible the stop-motion animation was…had I not known in advance that’s how the film was made, I would not have believed it.  I completely enjoyed the bonus featurettes on the making of the movie from the puppets and the scene sets to the inspiration of Chris Butler in creating the story of the ‘weird 11 year old Norman’ and his ability to see dead people and save his town from a curse and zombies.

ParaNorman is available on Blu-ray DVD and 3D Blu-ray Combo packs, which both include a regular DVD in the package as well, plus a digital downloadable Ultraviolet copy for your computer or mobile devices.  It is available online and at retailers nationwide.

Have you seen ParaNorman with you family yet?  If so, what did you think about it?

I was provided the opportunity to review this DVD. I received the DVD courtesy of Universal Studios Home Entertainment, but the opinions in this review are 100% mine. Published by Tammy Litke.