ParaNorman 5*

"Leave me alone." "Sad and lonely and had no-one to turn to."

"Just like them, you're a bully."

"Stupid people who did something unforgivable because they were scared. Just like you."

Preview Vivid reds and blues pop from spooky ghost green goo. Country-western twangs amid plaintive sweet strings. Halloween fright is really about injustice, forgiveness, change, unexpected support.

NOT just a silly cartoon, rather a hopeful message lies beneath for people, especially children, who may feel they do not belong in this "real" world. Shock plot twist is a spoiler to tell. Also in the "Extras:", we learn that heroes can grow up from unusual "Norman"-style childhood.

Norman (Kodi Smit-McPhee), age 11, has more friends who shimmer corpse green than ball-caps on red-necks in small tourist town Blithe Holow ("a great place to hang"), even a dog. Ghostly Gramma (Elaine Stritch) says spirits "still have stuff to figure out or died in sudden or weird way". Killed as a witch by early puritan founders three centuries before, ancestor Agatha (Jodelle Ferland) cursed everyone forever.

Bubbly teen sister cheerleader Courtney (Anna Kendrick) bounces perky blonde ponytail. Flks Brenda (Leslie Mann) and Perry (Jeff Garlin) criticize. Uncle Prenderghast (John Goodman), insane "stinky old bum", expires wheezing "The witches' curse is real, and you're the one who has to stop it.", before the sun sets tonight, by reading from "the book".

His deceased grandmother (Elaine Stritch) hangs (out) on the couch. Portly classmate Neil (Tucker Albrizzi- real freckled red-hair tubby) extends a hand.

Norm: I like to be alone.

Neil: So do I. Let's do it together.

You can't stop bullying. It's part of human nature .. survival of the thickest.

"You never listen. No-one ever listens. I'm scared, too, but I've still got to do this."

Neil's deltoid-heavy jock brother Mitch (Casey Affleck), oldest "not mentally", Courtney's crush, drives van for the unlikely team to flee zombies. Bully Alvin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Fishlegs), aspiring hip-hopper, tags along at the crucial moment. "Now the geeks are in charge".

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Spoilers:

Roaring storm. Zombies. Chase. Crash.

Zombies like drunken casino and modern TV.

Battle. "The most fun night ever."

"Happy endings .. there's always someone out there for you somewhere." "How does it end?" "I think that's up to you." Sad. Sweet. Hopeful. Soft strings. Surprise, Mitch to Courtney: "You're going to love my boyfriend" ----------

Questions: 1 Why are Norman's blue eyes octagonal?

Bonus

1.0 Preliminary Animatic Sequences 3

- sketch sequences and dialog, cut for time? 1 Walking with ghosts 4'

2 Bromance 2'

3 Missing ghosts 2'

2.0 Peering through the Veil: Behind scenes 5*

1 That's ParaNorman - "the most ambitious stop-motion ever"

2 Creating a world - "cross between Concord and Salem... kitsch tourism .. some age" "crusty bits", characters "well-observed yet radical, slightly unhinged, messy, yet brutally honest" "beautiful and ugly like real people", "no straight line .. all askew", "insane detail" makes me want to go through again, scene by scene, "signature feel"

3 Voicing ParaNorman - "dream cast", improvised ad-lib, "one of the most times", got together in one booth, one page moan, scream, ah, pfft!

4 Building characters - physical puppets, tiny metal armature skeleton, guitar stringer belly mover for Neil, hair by hair, curl by curl, 275 spikes per Norman wig

5 Making faces - color print every expression onto mask, layer 7x thinner than human hair, baked surface reflects light like human skin, ears transparent like real

6 Rigging the game - 24 frames per second, in house rigs hold puppet up during pause, strings painted out later, toilet paper zombies took 1 person 1 year, tiny flying zombie snot and drool real rather than computerized = "live performance"

7 Bringing the undead to life - "performance art at the speed of a glacier", physically demanding, high, hot, sharp, still, "takes you somewhere else in your head", "a part of you has to do it", "promise to touch the world, to tell bold, distinctive and enduring stories"

8 Angry Aggie - rare cooperation, hand-drawn bridges stop-motion and computer, every department, fractured CDs, frenetic anger and innocence, silicon center, volatile "made of lightning bolts"

9 Wierd and wonderful - "magical place", human hand in every blade of grass, "mole people that play with dolls" "strarry eyed dreamers ..make emotional resonance"

3.0 Featurettes:

1 You don't become a hero by being normal - "artists in general are strange people", Laika as kids, "message behind .. you don't have to fit in", "outsiders .. playing together", "you can be yourself and get by .. and be accepted" #weirdwins

2 A Norman childhood "hated school . didn't fit in", "just get on", "the best years of your life are when you start to do what you want to do .. become who you wanted to be .. when you're a grownup you get to do whatever you like and be whatever you want"

3 Playing as a profession

4 Making Norman - build, paint, clothe, waken

5 This little light - all steps to build one small study lamp model

6 Have you ever seen a ghost? - experiences and beliefs of cast and crew

7 The Zombies of ParaNorman - homage to classic slow movement (On TV InnerSpace, Ajay joked zombies wouldn't invade our Canadian Parliament because they are looking for brains. Tee-hee.)

4.0 Commentary by writer/director Chris Butler, director Sam Fell

first shot grabs, brain missing bite stamped by red stiletto

sneak answer from start = sit down and talk

shot from Norman's eye level - who noticed?

no adult sees eye to eye with Norman

12 weeks for first walk with ghosts, added lens flare

whole back story in school play rehearsal

removed uncle smoking cigarettes and cigar

hat, beaver holds wrench, for crew

slow first act to care about people, contrast later action

many nods to horror movies, uncle behind bush is Michael Myers in Halloween, I'd miss all those inspired by real and horror movies

e.g. teen nudity, unusual, surface wrinkles unlike skin

iconic moments from other films - Jurassic Park, Lord of the Rings, Sam Remy-esque, John Hughes - who? van - Scooby Doo

Selma phoned in own bedroom, useless help, driver

300 yr old Puritans in 21st century would be terrified, mob is character, used "Day of Locusts"

goofy music, silly trombone, lighten mob severe fury

shock of witch being kid needs quiet time to soak in

"I'm Spartacus" (huh?) everyone on screen together

Angry Aggie looks like Norman's relative

deafening silence

emotional climax = time to move on

real reflection of one puppet in another's eyes

everyone sees as Norman does, zombies turn into Puritans and vanish

wrap up all loose ends

return to beginning, Gran on couch with Perry making awkward effort

end credits like old horror film posters

2 1/2 years work

Previews: Coraline 3D

Setup: Spoken - English, Espanol, Francais

Subtitles - English, Espanol, Francais

Pirates: Band of Misfits 2*

Pirate Band at play & Queen Victoria en garde Teaser. Preview. Clips

Stop-motion animated musical mania à la slapstick vaudeville style. Swords plunge bloodlessly, too easily, strictly for silly laughs. Despite too-acceptable cartoon deaths, lots of light-hearted songs make all cheery puffery. Based on "The Pirates in an adventure with scientists" by Gideon Defoe. Fun chases later, on bathtub, bicycle, then through steamship kitchen. The final lesson is "Is not about the treasure, it's about who you are inside" (Scarf).

Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton - Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter) impresses the necessity of her motto, engraved above her chair, is "I hate pirates", upon her navy admiral, Meanwhile, the pirate gang "briny rogues" argue about the "best bit of being a pirate". Crew root for looting, shiny cutlasses, the chance to catch exotic diseases, the Captain (Hugh Grant) chuffs grog, scurvy, and scantily clad mermaids, all for "Ham Nite (sic)", a meat ballet.

His crew include Number Two with Scarf (Martin Freeman), with Gout bulbous-nose (Brendan Gleeson), Albino (Anton Yelchin), , Surprisingly Curvaceous (Ashley Jensen), who likes Sunsets and Kittens (Al Roker), and fat "big-boned" Polly Parrot looks more like a dodo.

To win the Pirate King's "Pirate of the Year" Award, the ship crew dance their way to Blood Island ("so-called" for "the exact shape of some blood") via "plundering", to submit an entry. Captain ticks off Booty, Shanties, Roaring, and Beard. But PegLeg Hastings (Lenny Henry) brings in a sack of gold coins, Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek) brings the world's biggest diamond, and Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) brings a whale-full of coins.

Captain swings over to attack: plague ship, child geography field trip, naturists, ghosts, then Charles Darwin (David Tennant - does not sound like Dr Who #10), who promises first prize "untold riches" at the Royal Science Academy, for presenting 150-year extinct dodo Polly.

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Spoilers:

To avoid capture, the pirates disguise themselves as girl scouts, then next day as bespectacled boffins. That night, in a bathtub, chased by a giant Easter Island rock, down 12 flights of stairs, they pursue Mr Bobo kidnapping Polly, and demolish Chuck's house.

At the Science Academy, "priceless" turns out to be a personal audience with Queen Victoria, that goes awry when Captain's disguises dissolve. Guillotine raised, she pardons him, in order to get her hands on Polly. When she tempts Captain with her treasury, he has to choose between riches and family.

Captain is on the point of accepting the Award from an Elvis-type Pirate King (Brian Blessed), but Bellamy produces the newspaper announcing Vickie's pardon. The King demotes Captain to lubber status, and strips him to undershirt. When he admits to selling Polly, his crew desert too.

After a musical interlude of rain and tears, he breaks into the Royal Zoo to retrieve Polly. Chuck explains Victoria belongs to a secret society of rulers who dine on "the rarest and most endangered creatures" aboard her flagship QV1. This year's feature is Dodo à l'Orange. Regretful Chuck supplies the balloon, they fly to rescue Polly.

Mr Bobo rows "halfway across the ocean" to warn "the lads" in the nick of time. Vickie is an unusually capable sword fighter. Ballooning away, she unpardons Captain. They free the entire endangered menu, and sail away to plunder again.

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EXTRAS Drawings 1:25. Making of 3'. Puppets 9:46.

1 Commentary

with director Peter Lord, co-director Jeff Newitt, editor Justin Krish

Gout has badge on his hat for TV show "Blue Peter", "all kids are brought up with", in England or Britain, that is. Set very detailed, like harmonium behind Ham Nite sign. Foam off beer mugs is wax beads, hand animated. Polly is 3" high puppet. One shelf labelled Medicines and Poisons. Crows' nest jokes. I missed them all.

Tons of green screens. All exteriors. Ship all CG. Title music late "Hoorah hooray hey" by Tenpole Tudor Seafront built. Gout eats pork scratchings in pub, like all English people. Tiny background stories behind main action, bartender peeks above bar. Hard to animate female swivelling hips. Somersault and swaggery to set Captain up for a fall. Ghost tails are plasticine, made transparent and luminous via special effects. Cash register ka-ching inside Captain's head first, joke to show real. Girl guide costumes means whole new puppets.

"Sweet Neptune on a bike" & later "Kraken's biscuits" clever curses Light switch is private joke because candles in those days. No, first home gas lighting 1792, patented in 1801.

Motto above Science Society is "playing God since." Geek extras are all CG. "Thus Spake Zarathustra" 2001 song to reveal dodo. Applause-meter manufacturer U.E. Green refers to old British TV star Huey Green (NA audience not in on joke.)

When Vickie dumps Chuck into the kitchen trash, he picks up a card, reading, his mouth drops in shock. This puzzled me at the time, then I completely forgot. Turns out to have been the endangered menu. So why does Chuck not call for help then? Why wait till Captain finds him in the garden later?

Audience again in Awards Show is all CG (computer generated). Confiscate "your pirate badge with googly eyes", down to his knobbly knees beneath long-john underwear shirt, now beard unkempt, lost gloss. Weather reflects emotion: storm, rain, wind blows leaves. Chuck as tramp wears "West Ham" gun? gum? dunno

I did not understand where the foam comes that explodes the steamship, apparently from 50' vat of baking soda, after 50 casks of vinegar roll down and smash. Originally, end stories winding up each character was too long, was cut and interspersed with credits.

2 So you want to be a pirate Short

In talk-show format, Captain advises how to be "dashing yet sensitive Terror of the High Seas". He answers questions about treasure maps, with Pirate with a scarf (really Number Two, so why two names). Measure wind on the Beaufort scale, with Chuck and weevil "Stegobium paniceum", mortal enemy of biscuits everywhere.

Next skits are Lady Recruit (Sophie Laughton), Gout and Albino cook lemon squid leg, King treats Lubbermatosis (inability to say "Arr") and shouts. Beard gel turns King's beard green. Generically burly aka Kittens (Randolph Matthews) leads shanty on piano. another pirate with two names.

3 Mr Bobo's flash card challenge Translate 5 number-picture combinations into English from 3 answer choices, usually A. Play again has different set. I played 4 before tiring, improved with practice.

4 Printable activity pages "available for limited time". Insert disc into computer, probably links online.

Previews Hotel Transylvania. Arthur Christmas. Swan Princess Christmas. Smurfs. 12 Dogs of Christmas: Great Puppy Rescue.