Film

ParaNorman (2012)

Director: Chris Butler, Sam Fell

Synopsis

When creepy little Haley Joel Osment whispered ‘I see dead people’ in ‘The Sixth Sense’, it was generally assumed to be a bad thing. Thirteen years later, and we have ‘ParaNorman’, a knockabout black comedy for kids in which our hero communes with the dead – with hilarious consequences! The setup of ‘ParaNorman’ sounds oddly akin to Peter Jackson’s brilliant but ill-fated Hollywood breakthrough ‘The Frighteners’: a young man who can chat to the deceased must take up arms to defend his town against rampaging ghosts and killer zombies. Directors Chris Butler and Sam Fell have worked on memorable animated fare such as ‘Coraline’ and ‘The Tale of Despereaux’ and the cast features stalwarts like Bernard Hill, John Goodman, Jeff Garlin and Casey Affleck, so expect this to be a cut above the usual family fare.