The Frights of the Boy Who Talks to Ghosts
Laika’s ParaNorman began production in 2012 after their first stop-motion feature, Coraline, met with success in 2009. Coraline closed at an impressive $16 million at the box office, and Laika’s reputation as a production company began to grow after the film. However, with ParaNorman, expectations were even higher as Laika’s reputation matured after successfully producing more intelligent children’s films. With Ghosts, Walking Dead of The Originals, and a rebellious misunderstood boy, the pre-release trailers set Laika critics and audiences on the edge of their seats in anticipation of an even more daring film.
Fans of animation couldn’t wait for another visual triumph, lovers of horror examined the film’s chilling tone, and parents all hoped Laika’s movie would capture that elusive mix of humor, warmth and thematic consideration all at once. Following Coraline’s great success, to say there was curiosity would be an understatement, as there were hopes that ParaNorman would be more than just another paranormal comedy. Perhaps a sentimental ghost story masquerading as an adventure for children.
A Story Told Through Shadows, Humor, and Heartbreak
ParaNorman features a kind, quirky protagonist, Norman Babcock, who has the unwelcome gift of that curse: the ability to see and converse with spectres. Most people would see that as a nightmare, but Norman has more empathy for the deceased than the living. This is particularly difficult in the town of Blithe Hollow, where there is a great deal of people who would just judge him: classmates who mock him, teachers who dismiss him, and family who misunderstand him.
But Norman’s life ultimately does change when he is given the responsibility by his weird uncle, Mr. Prenderghast, who tells Norman that he has to stop the 300-year-old witch’s curse from coming back to life. If he doesn’t, a horde of angry zombies will be unleashed in Blithe Hollow and he’ll be the only one there to deal with it.
At the climax of the adventure story, Norman finds himself, his sister, his friend, his friend’s brother, and the bully of his school racing to escape the swiftly rising zombies and the communal hysteria of the townspeople, all while coming to terms with the supernatural, and the age-old injustice of the witch persecution, Norman must confront the deep-seated inequities that have shaped the persecution of the undead in the community.
Norman’s story portrays the conflicting emotional states endured and the skeletal injustice of persecution, exemplified in the story of the deceased witch, a young girl named Agatha, who villagers feared, for she was a psychic, and who ultimately served as the anchor of the system. This storytelling is framed within the climax with the big specter of battles blindly fought, where the climax is resolved rather with a specter of big battles the story finds itself in a masterclass of emotion rather with a specter of big battles blind and rather with a bottomless expression of empathy and vulnerability instead, holding a quiet resolve and the long-overdue silence of a community who have finally been heard, Norman says to Agatha leaves as she carries a false oxide of anger, holding major screams, that does not heal.
At the core of ParaNorman, the story is a ghostly escape adventure, yet builds its climax on characters finding deep emotional resolve, mindfulness, and empathy, rather than diversion, a rare hallmark for its kind, and one that elevates the film deeper than the surface of adventure, to masterful storytelling.
Characters Who Develop Without Losing Their Complexity
While the side characters are stereotypes at first—the bully, the narcissistic sibling, the brute, the class clown—their characters are given more depth as the film progresses. Mitch, for instance, is one of the film’s most notable characters, as his calm and pleasant demeanor and his bodybuilding exterior hide a significant warmth. When he casually says that he has a boyfriend, he became a headline character for animated films: a same-sex character for a major title, and it wasn’t a big deal at all.
Even at first, Courtney’s irritation with Norman is solely for laughs, and yet she becomes his most defensive ally. And sweet Neil, the unwavering one, is that friend we’ve all wanted to have: someone who stays with you regardless of how weird you are.
When Actors are Surprising Casting Choices
A big part of what gives the film its emotional richness is the voice cast, who, as we discover later on, have a synchronicity with the characters they play that is truly shocking.
Kodi Smit-McPhee (Norman): A Sensitive Performer Playing A Sensitive Soul
Having played multiple serious and emotionally taxing roles before this (The Road, Let Me In), Smit McPhee gave the voice to shape the voice and personality of Norman to be as fragile, but at the same time, as determined, and to capture the character’s essence perfectly. Norman had to go through the tedious and often very chaotic process of navigating through adolescence in Hollywood in an era that was very different and often misunderstood self-absorbed kids – exactly the same as Norman in his attempt to be true to himself, all the while clear multi-faceted pressure to succumb. Norman’s character through his soft and suspected voice gave an unintended vulnerability to Norman, unlike the stereotypical portrayals of characters through voice acting, like cartoonish sadness.
Anna Kendrick (Courtney): The Perfect Mix of Sass And Softness
Getting in the middle of her Oscar nomination and elite before Pitch Perfect, Kendrick was able to add perceptive nimbleness to the character. The character that was originally stereotypical – a struggling teenager – was able to be converted from an unhinged chaotic teenager to a very assertive and loyal character. Kendrick herself was very different from the character – self-deprecating – a witty and chaotic person.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Alvin): A Comedic Bully Built From Self-Awareness
Having starred in Superbad, Mintz-Plasse is also a little awkward and very lovable. To play Alvin, he had to go huge self-heaped parody of himself, perhaps trying to portrait a character closest to himself in a very different contrast. In real-life, he was also not at all the bully, and he described voice acting a bully as very award due to the character being very therapeutic, but self-awareness parody trying to attempt humor makes it fine and adds layers to Alvin’s character.
Casey Affleck (Mitch): A Low-Key Actor Playing a Low-Key Hero
Mitch exhibits a detached oblivion and a deadpan obliviousness characteristic of a big brother, and Affleck fits the role perfectly as he delivers the lines with an understated and muted quiescence. At this stage of his career, Affleck was going through a sort of metamorphosis himself, like Mitch, from strictly indies to mainstream, a blend of hard and soft. Also, his participation in the film discouraged and contributed to the normalizing of the groundbreaking LGBTQ reveal in the film as it treated Mitch not as a billboard moment, but a character like any other.
The Craftsmanship: Why Laika Films Look Like Moving Paintings
Laika went deep with their signature look as they lovingly embraced tactile stop-motion and blended practical puppetry with 3D printing. Norman, alone of the main characters, was designed with over 8000 possible expressions. The exaggerated angular and unbalanced designs of the buildings and characters gave the blithe hollow excess of the crooked and unearthed haunting of the hamlet.
Some viewers were unbothered with the pacing of the mid act, particularly the dragged zombie chase sequences, but broadly, the combination and visual ambience with the lighting and the blend of comedy and terror were well received. The film is one of the few in children’s cinema which tackled the much discussed and boldly examined themes like fear, trauma, and the mob mentality.
Behind-the-Scenes Stories That People Do Not Stop to Mention
One lesser-known tidbit is that the film’s emotional peak was rewritten several times. Laika had originally mapped out an action-filled confrontation with Aggie, but the directors resisted. They wanted a more subdued, spiritual ending, which the animation executives feared might be, “too slow.” Fortunately, the creative team stood their ground. \
Another lesser-known detail is that there was mild resistance in the studio to the LGBTQ reveal for Mitch. Some marketers feared there was a backlash, but the filmmakers wouldn’t change the character. That decision became a remarkable milestone in the history of animation. \
There were internal disagreements over the appropriate scare level of the movie as well. Some of the early cuts were said to be quite a bit darker, particularly the ones that included Aggie’s execution. Laika softened the visuals but kept the emotional core.
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