ParaNorman Movie Review

OK, I watched the movie opening night, and had to get to the theater a half hour before it started to make sure I have a good seat. I ended up walking straight into the theater, and was the first on there. Great, I could choose any seat I wanted. I was kind of surprised that no one else was there, but suspected that the theater would become more packed as the time went by. As the last half hour ticket by, maybe 5 other couples or families showed. That was it. The theater was bare. It could have been that it was the 3D showing, and parents didn't want to fork over the extra cash for it. It could have been the time slot, that parents where taking their kids to see a late showing. Whatever the reason, the turn out, was less than I expected. The movie had a great moral, of trying to teach kids that being weird is OK, and it was very anti-bullying, and over all wanted to get the point across that we should treat everyone with kindness and respect no matter their differences. That aside, I am not sure how I left about the movie as a whole. The visuals where great, the animation was fantastic, the world style was a little bit, well, I guess distracting. You could say that everything felt off, or weird. And that very well could be what they were going for. But, like I said, it was distracting for me. I left the theater thinking that I am going to have to see it again, not because I loved it and cannot wait to see it again, but because I need to come at it with a different mind set. Maybe it's a movie that has to grow on you. Like Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd. I wasn't a fan the first time I watched it, but the more I did, the more I grew to love it. Now, if I had to compare it to Coraline, I would vote Coraline was a better film. Oh, the other thought I had, was that ParaNorman is, in my opinion, a Halloween flick. It should have been released in October. Everything about it gave off 'Halloween' to me. I think it may have had a better turn out if it was released in October.

Got my Tickets

Purchased my tickets and got my 3D glasses. I will use another pair of 3D glasses so I can keep my ParaNorman glasses sealed in the plastic.

ParaNorman Foamposite Nike Contest

Contest alert, on the ParaNorman website, there is a link for a contest to win limited edition Nike Shoes. Go to Here for details. First, you need a twitter account. Second, FOLLOW @PARANORMAN. Last tweet a photo of yourself as a kid showing how weird of a kid you where with the caption #WEIRDWINS PARANORMAN FOAMPOSITES. I'm going to have to start digging through my old photos. Missed out on the Nike Dunks during the Coraline release, hopefully I can get a pair of these.

ParaNorman Trailer Review

I saw this trailer in theaters and was excited to see a longer trailer than the teaser. It got me really excited to see it, however I over heard a little boy some rows behind me say something like "Let's not see that one, too scary." The parents laughed, and said "OK, we wont see that one" Now I know that the writer was trying to make a zombie film for kids:
 
but since hearing that response from a kid, I got to thinking, are parents going to take their children to see ParaNorman?
Personally, I love Coraline, read the book maybe three or four times back to back, and I am a huge sucker for all things stop-motion, so I am definitely going to see this film, in 3D and will probably love it too. I can see lots of other stop-motion animation nuts seeing it as well. But this film is kind of geared towards kids, and like so many films that are, they always seem to have a few adult themes that are too intense for young kids to handle. For instance my sister who has young children, felt Coraline was too scary for her kids to watch. She also has an edited version of Wall-E 'cause of some scenes where too emotional for the kids (aka they couldn't watch the scene without crying). Having a child cry in emotional pain cause they are too sad, or 'cause they are too scared isn't what a parent wants in a film they show to their kids. I think I had this same feeling about the movie Rango, while I enjoyed the film, I felt it too scary for kids.
All that said, parents should always screen shows and movies before letting their kids see it so they know what to expect, and can judge weather the show is appropriate for their kid or not.

More ParaNorman

The movie comes out this Friday, and I am getting more and more excited about it. In my search for all things ParaNorman I have come across some fun little collectibles. First, is the set of 8 figures that were sold at Comic-Con, that you may be able to get now on eBay. It looks like the also handed out a pumper sticker, buttons, and other little odds and ends.
The second set of stuff are the Free Promo posters that where put up around town. I assume that if you found them, you could take a poster for yourself. These too are popping up on eBay.
Third is the Promotional Contest Giveaways that come with various cool odds and ends. Then there are the little miscellaneous things such as a Hotel Door key, Movie film cells, Theater cups and carriers,

ParaNorman Commercials

I just saw these commercials online and love them. Check out ParaNorman's youtube page for more videos, Here