ParaNorman (PG)

i wish i had one

I want a paranorman toy soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo bad

Saw this again (in 3D) on Sat 22nd Sep. 3 girls around 12 were sitting in my favourite seats (front row center) so me and bro, who hadn't seen it and is a student, so £7.50 is a lot to him, sat by the entry aisle, feeling a bit peeved, but hey! I love the front row, why shouldn't they? Indeed, how nice to see kids that obviously want to concentrate fully on this spellbinding film....WRONG! Half hour in they just couldn't sit still so, about half way through I had to politly request they did so....apologies aplenty. Silence to the 75 min mark, then the ULTRA annoying glow of a mobile & JUSTIN BIEBER (so much younger bro informed me) starts warbling! I saw red and near ordered them out, as I did many a time in my younger day during 6 years at a cinema. Silence for the rest of it, but it had been ruined by now. Despite tuts directed at them from other customers, no one dared challenge them, I suppose through fear of getting thumped by their dad in the foyer (?) How sad. One small crumb, got 2 "free" 3D tickets which bro will use in the West End with his lady this Xmas, saving him big £....but what a sad indictment that a film of THIS quality can only hold many kids attention for half hour tops.

Agree with Ian. It's well worth seeing but the rave reviews are way over the top. I do firmly believe- the more I read their work- that some reviewers are seriously flawed. It's not about taste it is about general , worldwide standards and setting benchmarks. A cynic would say that some London reviewers are,how shall I put it, primed to give favourable reviews. It's not a great career move to be seen trashing films of certain film-makers, pricking a few inflated egos and reputations in doing so. Not that this as I said a bad film. It's very good. Not great. Not Toy Story.....

Far be it from me to rain on everyone's parade but this is not the total some make it out to be. It is well made, very well acted and in places goes beyond very good to become really excellent. However it is at time rather dulll and just tries too hard. Yes there are the cliches about how in bred and dumb most American's are but I left the film happy but not ecstatic that you should do with a 5 star film. Its a good four star film but not the greatest thing since sliced bread.

By these comments this film looks good

Some lovely visuals but the script felt generic from the outset and the plot lacks ingenuity. The film has some attractive notions and performances, notably Elaine Stritch's ghostly grandma, but they don't really interconnect; the film's literally inconsequential. To get through the story, Norman deduces without reason and then simply states/dictates too much. The climax come so close to being narration that it could be taken from a talking book. There are some enjoyable moments and some stupendous lighting but its words and thoughts are underworked.

SUCH a good film - the plot has just the right amount of Scooby Doo, the characters are predictably excellent, the scene with the uncle's tongue is just laugh out loud barfy, and for me the scene with the witch is just cry your eyes out - :o)

Beautifully animated film, progressing from real to surreal to supernatural. Lovely engaging characters. Saw this after the Sweeney, this one is definitely the film for grown-ups.

The best stop motion since Curse Of The Were rabbit. Oscar here too, please. 9/10