I”m quite keen on a good animation. As anyone who has met me will attest, I have

a small fixation with Wall-E, and hold many of its peers in high esteem – few higher than one of my all time favourite films “Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs”. As such, when it comes to animation, I have been around the block. Having only recently caught Paranorman I am happy to say that this surpassed whatever few expectations I had of this. What was a release that slipped past me last year as some loveless film for kids has become my surprise kids film of the year – filling the void left by my disappointed expectations of Brave.

Paranorman echoes much of the knowing humour of CWACOM, and similarly manges to balance it with a cracking, easy to watch masterpiece that kids will enjoy too. The story of Paranorman subverts the traditional children”s narrative while keeping thoughts critical. A child, Norman, is born in a world in which he does not fit. He is peculiar in his difference, and finds that his difference makes him special, but struggles to really his individuality into something positive.

The subversion comes in that his gift is that he can see dead people, sharing a peculiar skill that only his Uncle – a reclusive oddity that is shunned by the rest of the town – dares mention, and in a town built on a history of ghosts and witchcraft. Believing

him to be deluded, his family hope he will break from his phase, and fail to see the truth that was staring at them all along – just how special he is.

The look of Paranorman is magical – managing to capture something of the ghostly quality of stop motion animation into an aesthetic that looks clean, and crisp – and is put to good use in a distinctive online casinos australia world. Filled with humour, Paranorman manages to amuse horror fans while keeping Kids interested with a tale that is just as dark as they could hope to cope with, while never overstepping or abusing its position. A very intelligent, funny and beautiful film that I would be happy for my kids to fall in love with.

Oscar Hopes

There is only one nomination and that is for Best Animated Feature, alongside Brave, Frankenweenie, Wreck-it Ralph and Aardman”s Pirates!, a collection of films which all have their charms. The category is such an oddity that it seems hard to try to rationalise how any decision can be made – are we looking here for animation and style, or should we be focusing on the best film which happens to be animated? The look and feel of Paranorman is so utterly distinctive that comparison seems impossible, but it certainly surpasses the almost clumsy Pixar offering of Brave, and Burton”s Frankenweenie unfortunately lags behind Paranorman while attempting to do something similar, but with a more tired invention. Wreck-it Ralph, still technically unreleased in Britain, promises to be as equally well written and different which means it may be the biggest competitor, if judged with this kind of criteria – in fact, both attend to fans of different cultures – Wreck-it Ralph indulging the fantasies of avid arcade gamers, while Paranorman is soaked in reference to trashy horror films and other low-art films, it might be worth considering which offends the Academies” sentiments the most! As it is, I would personally love to see Paranorman win, but almost all of the films in this category are equally deserving but for different reasons – but are unfortunately inseparable offerings due to their diversity (bizarre as that sounds). Potentially a very difficult category to predict.