ParaNorman
{4/5} “There’s nothing wrong with being scared, Norman, so long as you don’t let it change who you are.”
Norman can see and talk to dead people, and there are a bunch of them in his town. Of course, everyone else thinks he’s strange and makes fun of him because of this. He does manage to make one new friend, Neil. When Norman’s uncle — who he’s not supposed to talk to — dies, Norman finds out that it’s now up to him to protect the town from a curse.
ParaNorman was released in 2012. It’s a stop motion animated movie.
It’s quite funny — this is what will keep you watching.
The story is fairly straightforward, but it’s worth telling — there are certainly still instances in real life where people treat other people badly because they’re different.
The animation is lovely, in a creepy sort of way — something like The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In) provides the voice of Norman. Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (How to Train Your Dragon), Jodelle Ferland (Tideland), Tempestt Bledsoe (the TV show The Cosby Show), and John Goodman (Trouble with the Curve) also provide voices.
The movie was directed by Chris Butler (storyboard artist on Corpse Bride) and Sam Fell (Flushed Away).