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PRETTY PLEASE, IT IS THE DAY 374 WAITING FOR THE ,,G-force " MOVIE REVIEW BY THE ,,Nostalgia Critic" HIMSELF (After Nostalgiaween, of course)! PLEASE SEE THIS Doug!
I like how Judge Hopkins and the zombies of the old townsfolk realize how cruel they were to Aggie after experiencing mob mentality from her perspective. Hopkins knows what he did was unforgivable, but still does and do what he can to make it right so they can all rest in peace.
Best part of the zombies feeling bad is its historically accurate. After the salem witch trials when the people came to there senses they apparently deeply regretted what they did with one of the judges writing a public confession and fasting annually in atonement for his role in it.
I liked that Mitch was hesitant to let Neil befriend Norman, not because he was a bully, but because he didn't want his brother to be bullied alongside Norman.
possibly the first sign that Mitch was gay, a big muscly guy who looks alright understands that kind of thing? he was being bullied for some reason and it wasn't his intelligence, he seems to be fine with that.
@@hiddendesire3076 "Good looking, muscular gay guy might've been bullied for being gay and doesn't want his brother to get bullied." "Oh yeah, way to act like straight guys wouldn't understand that!" says presumably straight guy failing to understand exactly that. Good job chump you played yourself.
What a film. It always cuts me up when he says, "The longer it stayed, the less there was of the little girl." Hatred can make us into monsters. Kindness makes us human.
That reminds me of the RPG horror game Misao. Where a bullied Japanese school girl came back and put a curse on her whole school after she was quite literally harassed and bullied to death. And there’s a scene in one of the endings where you go to her grave, hold up a mirror and show her her face and she’s turned into a horrifying monster cause of it. The scene were Agatha surrounds Norman and starts pushing and shoving him reminds me of the part of the game where Misao surrounds one of her bullies with clones of herself and start pushing and kicking them. And you have to throw salt on them to make her stop.
@@chasehedges6775 Not only did she lash out at people who hurt her, she also ended up raising the dead much like Agatha. The whole school was flooded with ghosts and zombies. There was even a ghost girl who you gotta avoid in the one of the restrooms. Which coincidentally reminds me of Norman’s uncle coming out the toilet.
Something I really like is when Aggie asked Norman if he wanted to see his tormentors suffer, instead of saying “no that’s evil” or “no because- (insert cliched speech about forgiveness here)” He actually says “yes” without much hesitation
This movie had surprisingly deep messages about discrimination, mob mentality, and how we deal with the past. Note that the whole town has turned the horrific hanging of a little girl into a tourist attraction so they can profit off it. However, just like the ghosts that Norman can speak to, the past will not stay buried forever, and we as people need to learn how to live with that.
I think ParaNorman was more of a reflection on society and how people working together can do both great and awful things. Coraline was more of a personal story, pitying Coraline not just up against the Other Mother, but her own fears and the self-centeredness that hopefully, most of us grow out of.
That bit where they cut all the sound, and she whispers in his ear, "I don't want to go to sleep, and you can't make me" that is one of the best moments in a kid's creepy film.
“All of us can get lost in our own extremism and lose our humanity to it, as well as destroy the humanity of others.” I needed to hear this quote. Thanks for reviewing one of my favs ❤️
This film is so damn good. That whole sequence at 19:30 with him trying to get through to her, her screaming at him and herself and splitting apart and screeching - followed by the calm when she lets go of her hatred makes me cry every time
A Post Credits Scene Fact: There is an after-credits scene showing in time-lapse the designing and construction on a workbench of the Norman character, which ends with Norman coming to life as if waking up from sleep and leaving the scene.
Sometimes I somehow missed seeing post-credits scenes during movies when I was younger. But the end credits song "Little Ghost" by The White Stripes is a banger!
The twist reveal is extremely dark for a kids' film, and I remember being shocked to my core as a child. Also, they causally had a gay character admit that he had a boyfriend, showing how it's no big deal.
@@ToxicCatt-y7c I don’t know about you, but I always wondered what the economy or culture of Blithe Hollow was like after Norman redeemed Aggie’s image. I wondered if the statue of her as a stereotypical witch was changed in to a memorial for her, while the judges were disgraced (like I’d imagine Judge Hopkins wanted). Maybe all the witch-themed memorabilia suddenly became inappropriate & the townsfolk distance themselves out of respect for Aggie’s suffering, with witch outfits being banned (even for Halloween itself) & maybe that play Norman, Neil, & Alvin were participating in was also banned from being performed ever again. If that was the case, I always imagined if someone started harassing the Babcock family for ruining the town’s tourism business by turning the witchcraft myth into a real life tragedy, maybe they would personally give Perry (Norman’s dad) death threats in person, only to end up living in Mr Prendergast’s remote hut for life after having a restraining order against them.
Fun Fact: During the last few weeks leading up to the film's release, Laika sent 49 packages to 49 people (including Neil Gaiman and Kevin Smith and Jenny "The Bloggess" Lawson). Each package consisted of a wooden crate from "Blithe Hollow" full of "grave dirt" which recipients had to dig through to unearth a coffin. Inside the coffin was one of the seven cursed zombies, complete with background information and name.
Going to start flagging these as spam. You've been warned about cluttering up the comment section with copy-paste after copy-paste but you keep doing it. It's not AS bad as the repetitive spam bots but it's getting too close to that point.
"What about the people who hurt you? Don't you want them to suffer?" "Well, yeah. But what good would that do?" That is my favorite line in the entire film. Even when Norman was bullied, he knew that even if he fought back, nothing was gonna change the situation. It is better to forgive and understand then to just let the hate continue. A true masterpiece!
@@thomastakesatollforthedark2231 One of my favorite games of all time, Xenoblade Chronicles, did something similar, with that being the main theme of the game: revenge can sound a lot like justice to the man who has lost the light on their chosen path.
The most disturbing part about the reveal with Aggie is that the movie makes it very clear how she was executed. Hanging. She's even buried under the tree they hung her from. Because hanging relies on body weight to break the neck, there's a good chance Aggie was too small and they botched it. It probably took her a long time to die. Just horrible.
One of the scenes in ParaNorman that sticks with me the most is during when he goes to talk to her. At one point, she rises up from the ground. Pay close attention to *how* she rises: from her neck, as if she's being suspended by something and her head is hanging down, her feet are limp and turned inwards, like a doll. And if you listen closely, you can hear a deep sigh, which many fans have attributed it being her last breath. th-cam.com/video/xeRtXFSYLlU/w-d-xo.htmlsi=sJ12rkso6bav4Pwi At 3:11, you can see it; seeing her being dragged up like that. feels reminiscing of a hanging, which is how they killed her. you can even hear her breath, as if it’s her last. and the music serves to show just how tragic the whole situation is. For me it's the pose; how she comes out of the ground with her neck down like that and, of course, the feet and arms being limp. I've always seen that as a reference to her death. 78.media.tumblr.com/f059e0b99e67e863d12f5c0bc0704f76/tumblr_nsbogulnsi1qbm6vyo1_500.gif
Hanging wasn't even designed to break the neck at the time she was killed, it was designed to kill you via strangulation. She would've suffered no matter what.
@@Octopugilist and the fact that her hanging was practically recreated when she rose from the ground with her head down. A common theory within the paranormal community is that ghost repeat the things they did before dying. Hence why you’d see ghost sitting in chairs, dancing, or reading something in movies or cartoons.
I mean when you think about it beeing a zombie is pretty sad. Like you are a living corpse with no brain, you are barelly a treat since you are easy to take out unless you are with a legion, you do nothing but looking for food wich is not that much and you are basically an infected freak. Beeing a zombie is a pretty sad story compare to monsters who are aware of their doings and do awfull things.
@@motor4X4kombat Very true! Imo, another great zombie movie that really showcases how tragic and sad being a zombie would be is Return of the Living Dead. It's the movie that popularized zombies going after brains - but something people forget about why the zombies go after brains is because they're in constant pain, seek living people's brains for relief from that pain. Definitely recommend the movie - it's full of 80s-ness and has some dark comedy moments, but also has some moments that made me, tear up in my experience.
@@nicholassims9837 A large portion of zombie films actually has zombies as the red herring. The main point of zombies as a sub genre/villain is not the zombies themselves, more often than not, but that other people, specifically desperate people, are much more monstrous than the monsters.
Still blows my mind a kids movie had the main antagonist be a literal child that was hung in the 1600s. Yeah we never see it, but we're told multiple times the Witch was hung.
"I’ll punch you in boobs. " "I don’t have boobs. These are pectorals. " (Alvin punches Neil in the chest) "Ow! My boobs! " This is one of my favorite Halloween movies to watch every year, and I'm so glad you talked about it 🧡
A Behind the Scenes Fact: Animating the cheesy horror film that Norman is watching at the start of the movie was reportedly very difficult for the filmmakers, as they had to intentionally make a bad film (bad camera angles, poor focus, bad "acting" etc) while still working in the very technically demanding confines of stop motion animation
@Logitah as the old joke goes "anyone can make it look easy, but they make it look hard". Just a shame that's a joke to mock people instead of recognizing a unique talent
Mitch being gay was actually an idea from the director to stay true to the film's message of not judging people. Plus, I love how Courtney's reaction to "You're gonna love my boyfriend" wasn't something like "What? He's gay?!" and instead was something like "What? He's taken?!"
I’m not sure if they weren’t allowed to explicitly have Mitch “come out” to Courtney. This was only 3 YEARS before gay marriage became legal in all 50 American states.
I disagree. I always took her expression at the end as sort of bit pissed off because despite everything she did he would've never been interested in her anyways. The joke does come from the fact that he's gay but not at his expense.
I do like the story with the judges, the reason Agatha tried to rise them up every time was for the same reason she died, because they're different, and thus will be killed by the town, just like she was, and the fact their souls only went away once Agatha passed on means that they had no choice but to wait in their graves for decades, hoping one day to either be killed or able to move on, they were bad people, but back then they weren't sure how the world worked, and compared to modern times, it's just another story, but for them this is a nightmare, and that's exactly what Agatha wanted. And them not smiling really shows just what they thought of all this, regret and sorrow, they can move on, but after what they've experienced, it's difficult to truly be happy, because they know what they did.
I wouldn't even say they were "Bad" people. They were scared, because they didn't know what to make of Agatha, and that fear drove them to do something terrible. The whole message of 'Paranorman' is that, while experiencing fear now and then is perfectly normal and nothing to be ashamed of, we shouldn't let it take control of us and change who we are. What happened with Agatha, the judge and the older townspeople shows what can happen when people let their fear override their common sense and compassion.
Another Behind the Scenes Fact: The chase scene was incredibly difficult for various reasons. "If you think about this van racing down these roads then the roads physically have to be built," said director Chris Butler. "And we had a road that was seventy feet long I think, and that, of course, is flanked on either side by hand-made trees, hand-made road, and the van has to be animated by hand with all these characters inside it."
ParaNorman was such a shock. The entire time I was pretty convinced the witch would be typical 'old hag' in the woods sort of monster because that's what everyone in town thought, revealing Agatha as a little girl genuinely hit hard. People might protest that it was too dark but this kind of thing happened a lot when people thought witches were a threat to their lives. It's a wonderful film, perfect for Halloween, and every time I watch I notice something new in the background.
Such an underrated masterpiece that Im glad more people are recognising. Norman is a character I can relate to; while I can't see ghosts, I understand the feeling of being isolated as a special outcast because of mental or psychological conditions you are born with that others have a hard time understanding, and for me personally Im autistic and mental psychosis. The scariest part of the entire movie is that accusing a child of being a witch and them executing her is DEFINITELY something that happened during that time period. I do appreciate how the zombies realise what they did was wrong and genuinely feel remorse after being cursed for decades, coming to understand the era of their ways. This movie has so many deeper themes, and the twist with the witch being a little really recontextualises the movie in the best way and makes its themes all the more poignant
Paranorman, Frankenweenie, and Hotel Transylvania were the trifecta of animated horror theme movies for kids in 2012, unless you count Ooogie Loves and the Great Balloon Adventure.
I think a part of the reason movies like this gain more of a following as time goes on is because they've become rarer and rarer. Not just stop motion, but movies in general where they try to put actual heart into the characters and plot. We do still get some of course, but with movies in general getting larger and larger budgets, studios are less and less willing to take chances, and try so hard to make what movies they do create "appeal to everyone", which tends to end up with them appealing to no one. Of course, there's a lot more to it than just that, as nothing is ever truly simple, but I do think it's a big part of why as time goes on, we get less and less that people will look back on in the future and think of as "classics".
15:46 I literally ha same reaction, I swear the truth reveal of this film is one of the best twists I ever seen in cinema! To say I was shock, jaw dropped and a grey is sugarcoating it. This film should have gotten an Oscar.
I agree with you. While Wreck-It Ralph did deserved an Oscar win over Brave, it should've have won (especially with non-Disney animated films in the recent years).
Enforced Method Acting (from TV Tropes): Kodi Smit-McPhee (the voice of Norman) has recalled in interviews that for certain scenes (such as the bathroom scene and car chase scene) he would have to shake himself in his chair or even stand up to achieve the desired effect.
Norman and Agatha being related was something that I only pieced together after seeing the movie a 3rd time. The fact they trust the audience enough to figure that out on is a mark of a great movie.
Another small detail which could mean something or not is that Agatha, when she passes on, turns into yellow dust which floats upwards. To me it reads positively, as if she "went to heaven". The judges don't turn into yellow dust and it doesn't float upwards either. It's more like they just disappear. Could be nothing, but I'm glad they didn't get the same animation as Agatha.
7:18 Fun fact: The teacher is voiced by Alex Borstein, the voice of Lois Griffin in Family Guy. 24:21 Gotta love that subtle “It’s Randy.” from the James and the Giant Peach review. XD
People get freaked out about killing a child in a horror film, and here you have a kid's film doing it. But it's done in a deep and respectful way to show the cruelties in the past and how to help someone who is hurting. And I like the twist of the zombies not being bad people, they were people who did a horrible thing and wish to rectify it somehow. It's a really well done plot and theme.
"I didn't ask to be born this way." "Funny; neither did we." I'm on the autism spectrum. Parents who say things like that are not "afraid for" their special-needs kid; they wish their kid was "normal" so they wouldn't have to deal with their problems. That's how the Dad treats Norman throughout the whole film, and is the sole reason I find it unwatchable.
Ehh honestly as an autistic guy myself I can't help but sympathise. Like... Sometimes it can be too much if you aren't used to folk that are "different" you know? And that can slip out, it happens. They're only human, and I think we shouldnt hate people for that
@@thomastakesatollforthedark2231 We should hate parents who tell their children that they're ashamed that they're special-needs. "I raised my son for 11 years, but I'm still not used to him being so different." Hearing your own parents treat your existence as a failure can be scarring for a child.
@@thomastakesatollforthedark2231 No; be careful what you say around your kids, and immediately apologize when you aren't. It takes a thousand "I love you" 's to build a bond, and only a few wrong words to damage it.
Regarding the Agatha twist, the film gave some really subtle foreshadowing at the beginning. During the play rehearsal, the know it all girl says “isn’t the idea of a witch being a green old hag on a broom historically inaccurate” and low & behold we get a historically accurate one. And even without that foreshadowing the twist still doesn’t come out of nowhere, if you have any knowledge on the Salem witch trials the twist isn’t random/makes complete sense
The sister's reaction to discovering the himbo is gay is honestly delightful--she's disappointed, but then switches rapidly to being supportive. The best part is that this wouldn't have been as plausible at the beginning of the movie, because of her characterization; it's only by being one of the folks touched by Norman's adventure that she changes enough that she can roll with that ego-blow and come up smiling.
Say NC, I got some ideas of Stop Motion films I would like you to review: -Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Wererabbit -Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio -Corpse Bride -The Lego Movie
Just want to say off the bat that I *loved* "Mary & Max" - I stumbled across it on Netflix one night and put it on thinking it'd be a good one to fall asleep to. Cut to 4 AM and I'm still awake and thinking about how impactful the movie I'd just finished was.
Knowing that Norman and Aggie are related had me thinking that, either Aggie’s family line had powers that dwindled with each generation until the only powers left were seeing ghosts and prophetic visions, or Norman could one day develop more powers and maybe unlock Aggie’s lightning and storm magic, or her general command over nature like how she summoned spikes from the ground and blocked the way with trees. Since Aggie only mentioned her mom, maybe her mom and dad were separated somehow, and one or the other carried on having kids with witchy genes after Aggie’s death. Cuz Aggie died as a child, she wasn’t having any direct descendants, it would have to be siblings or half siblings who carried on the powers after she died.
To quote the late great Norm Macdonald and something i'm sure John Goodman might be thinking about right now is “It is often better to be restricted to necessity than unconfined in the measure of our desires: prosperity destroys more individuals than adversity ruins.”
I fucking love Norm. It doesn’t seem like something he would say but also seems exactly like something he would say. He was able to straddle the line between brilliant and seemingly ignorant so effortlessly. He’d convince Larry King that he doesn’t know how to pronounce “iron” on one day, then school Neil deGrasse Tyson on cosmic existentialism on another.
Adversity definitely ruins more but some people don't handle prosperity well. I can only think of people who drugged himself to death while being really rich. Maybe with less money it would have been harder but that seems like a bell curve issue.
9:12-9:16 Dad here, it’s not quite the same as chicken little. Chicken little’s dad was cruel and abusive towards his son because all he cared about was what other people thought about him. Norman’s dad has been trying and trying to help his son get over his ghost issues because he wants to help him but nothing works. I doubt it started with him being angry, I bet it started with kindness and compassion that didn’t work at fixing the issue. And he progressively got angrier. And it’s probably extra painful because the ghost of his own mother got involved. Those feelings of being useless to help your son can compound into being angry and saying things that shouldn’t be said. I know from personal experience.
That would actually make sense for Norman’s dad, that would make him the lesser of 2 evils compared to Buck Cluck (who only cared about HIMSELF on the other hand.
4:14 -At least people remember the stop motion Frankenwenie! People have tried calling BS on me when I bring up the original live action short version from decades before and insisted it never happened. Lol The clay version was an attempt to bring THAT back from the dead but since no one remembers so the irony is lost..
A messed up thing that gets me more is how she died. (If you don't wanna think about this depressing fact, dont read) I mean, they hung her. A child. When people are hung, their necks are meant to break and give them a quick death. If it doesn't break, then you are left there to suffocate to death.... Kids aren't heavy enough for the quicker option, meaning she was left to suffer, so she had to wait and watch as the townspeople continued to condemn her and celebrate that the ‘witch’ is perishing.
16:37 when I first saw the scene revealing Aggie, with her crying as she was sentenced for witchcraft, I thought her tears were like blood because of how the colored cheeks tinted the tear lines down her face, and it was a feature of her being a witch, but only much much later did I realize those were just regular tears that looked red because of the blush they added to the face model for the scene
Funny at the 2013 Oscar's we had no only 2 horror stop motion (paranorman, frankenweenie)for Best Animated Feature but make it 3 whole stop motion films nominated (The pirates)
ParaNorman is one of the few stop motion films that I like, Next to Coraline. Other than that I'm not that big a fan of stop motion stuff, I mean I don't hate it but I can certain appreciate it because like all animation stop motion is an art.
Does anyone else get the impression that Mr Babcock maybe had a less than stellar relationship with his mother? He seems very awkward at the end upon realising that Norman was right, she is still living with them after he (Dad) had apparently been content to just say "Mom got sick and she died - end of story".
I have to admit I HATED him when I first saw this movie, especially when he said “Funny, neither did we.” about Norman being born “that way”. I wish that he became the only adult in town who joined Norman & company to defend the Puritan zombies, that could definately have redeemed him in Norman’s eyes. Such a missed opportunity.
It is an interesting thing to think about, is either extreme right? where is the right spot on the range between no action and hundreds of years of torture. Also considering that to inflict that pain on them she deprived herself of being with her mother in the afterlife. Is the rest of your life and possible eternity a reasonable exchange to make for it? definitely not. Should the judges have been punished also certainly. Now if their ends were as painful as her own is that enough? Is the crime of ending a little girl repaid with the lives of middle aged people? There is no right answer to any of this and if he had said "Well sure but what about you Agatha? Why not move on and be with your loved ones?" it would have been just as true and correct.
You know, this is my favourite type of Review from Doug, not too many jokes, his points are well thought out, there isn’t really a skit besides at the start and end. It’s what I think of when I remember Nostalgia Critic.
I really appreciated this movie as a homosexual male because the Jock character is gay They don't beat you over the head with it, they don't shove it down your throat or anything She hits on him and asks him to go to a place with her and he responds with "I don't think my boyfriend would be all that interested going there" and that was it as he was not realizing she was hitting on him because he had no interest in girls and since that line she stopped for the rest of the movie trying to flirt with him
Agreed! It was also a silly joke. I miss when writing was like this. Characters were just characters and had unique characteristics. Then I’d say around 2018 things started getting shoved down the watchers throats and in our faces.
@@PointsMaster There’s honestly still cartoons with humor and such. Heck even Amphibia and The Owl House, despite their overarching stories, still had some excellent humor. And TBH both of those shows are the few examples of LGBTQ+ in fictional media written well and done right. Luz, Amity, and Sasha Waybright, while having specific sexualities, have amazing personalities and character outside of their sexualities, same thing goes with the Steven Universe cast (I mean as flawed as that show is, it’s honestly overhated), they may have started the train of LGBTQ+ becoming more common in animation, but at least the characters had more character and personality outside of “being their sexuality.” What I’m trying to say is, it’s ok if a character is a certain sexuality, but they also need to have a more interesting character and personality than just that. That’s honestly why shows such as Steven Universe, The Owl House, and Amphibia for example handle the LGBTQ+ aspect in media right.
Yeah, I really appreciate they gave him solid characterization beyond being gay. Like, he is obviously the dumb jock character but he isn’t just that/not overblown moron “duhhhhh” dumb, he is more than just that. He’s very responsible for his brother neil/acts like a good older brother, and his dumb nature does follow a logic like his obsession over sports (kicking the zombie head a distance) or his hilarious love for his car.
If this movie was made today, the movie would be 100% on Agatha’s side, and say she’s perfectly justified. Norman says screw that and calls her out for the bad she does. She’s causing pain to people she doesn’t know, and that’s bad.
That twist about the “Witch” of the town was amazing, & this movie was more mature than many “adult” animated shows. It was a good example about the corruption of mob mentality on par with McCarthyism. Speaking of stop-motion movies, Doug should DEFINATELY review Guillermo Del Toro’s take on “Pinocchio”! ❤
4:33 I do really hope he review Mary and max, it dark but possibly one of the greatest movies that touches on a certain sensitive subject and respects it to it’s core which not many movies do on that subject, beautiful and emotional no other word for it
Another Fun Fact: The film company Laika used 3D printers to generate all of the different faces needed for the characters. Except the zombies, which had mechanical faces with silicone skins.
Great! Now review these movies: * The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It * Young Frankenstein * Dark Shadows (2012) * The Dead Zone (1983) * Spiral: From the Book of Saw * Sleepy Hollow (1999) * The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) * Mickey's House of Villains * The Omen (1976/2006) * Scream (1996)
Was not expecting Mary and Max rep but that made me so happy, definitely under-appreciated and an emotional roller coaster. ParaNorman looks phenomenal as ever - the behind the scenes for the angry Agatha effects are SO COOL!
I thought it was weird that the older brother wasn't a jock bully stereotype we casually see with older brother tropes in movies and TV shows. That was also awesome besides not being a gay stereotype either.
I know right, like he was kinda dumb but not overly moronic and infact was generally responsible for his brother as well as aware he isn’t that smart (“why am I in charge” “your the oldest” “not mentally”)
all the stop motion movie references in the opening skit...i didn't realize i was such a nerd for this medium lol. i screamed when i heard mary and max get a shout-out, i ADORE that movie! i'm team coraline personally but you really can't go wrong with any of laika's movies. i love the creativity and energy their stuff always has
6:45 Aren't you glad movies like Fright Night exist? That last scene with Agatha's ghost is one of the most beautiful and ambitious scenes I've seen in an animated film. I even put it as an entry for a character design challenge on Facebook one October ago, when the theme was "ghosts". I consider it one of my most ambitious works. The ghost was actually a sculpted puppet and all those exaggerated faces she made were sculpted too, the CGI only enhances her appearance to add spectrality. It is the ultimate marriage of stop-motion and CGI in this film. And I love every last bit of it.
The PowerPuff Girls had the same message where people are afraid of things they don’t understand and do and say things cause they’re scared. And that also involved innocent children who were just playing tag.
The twist being that the witch was actually a kid like Norman was a very dark, but nice touch. I kept expecting the little girl to actually turn out to be a wicked witch that was just tricking Norman, but the actual ending turned out to be just as interesting.
This movie has a lot of messages about how society can discriminate due to ignorance, how these actions can end up in grim ends, and why is not wise to judge others without knowing them, that truly has left a huge impact, and people still remember those moments.
This movie is soooo underrated, I have a hard time deciding if this or Coraline is better. I love the overall message of this movie and I feel that it has truly aged well, thanks for talking about this movie
The issue I had with this film, was that for me it felt very preachy. Not in the message itself, but with the delivery and how much it was being chewed throughout the movie. It lacked subtlety, which made it feel like the writers didn’t trust the audience to be smart enough to get the message without saying it out loud.
Agreed! Mary and Max is amazing! 2009 was one of my favorite years for film, especially with Coraline, Fantastic Fox and Where the Wild Things Are. I was starting my senior year in August and I could feel something shifting as we entered the 2010’s
I like the ambiguous fate of the puritans, they didn't get dragged to hell, but they also looked very cautious and weary when they passed on, so it's not clear if they atoned for their sins and went to heaven, or if something less-than-stellar awaited them in the afterlife.
16:45 I have to disagree. What happened to the natives in the US is one of the most horrible massacres and tragedies in human history. And it's covered up as a good thing by thanksgiving. John Wayne was so awful he actually liked what they did and said the natives deserved it. And he's celebrated. By covering up these tragedies in such a way. You let it go unpunished and they get away with such cruelty. Worst part is the natives are still ousted and attacked. The institutions to destroy their culture including what the mormons did still exists. And making light of it only makes these atrocities go on without any real consequence. Real cowboys were like the bad guys in the Lucasarts game Outlaws. Hired murderers to get rid of anyone not selling their property. And this lives on. In the mafia and in gangs. Same methods, same terror, different skin. And making light of it undermines the damage it's still doing. And it stops anything to be done about it cause people don't understand the true cruelty being done right in front of them.
Hello super ParaNorman fan here! Here’s some fun facts Norman has 278 hair strings on his hair that are all goat hair so they can put hair products on the hair and during the finale they used what is called a “stunt wig” so they can manipulate strains of hair to make it look like it’s blowing in the wind Angry Aggie is a hybrid animation between Stop Motion, CG, and traditional animation. Almost all the departments at the studio team up to make her. Another fact about Aggie. A concept artist (Ross Stewart, one of the directors of Wolfwalkers) used ink and a straw to make concept art of Aggie! I think it’s already said in the video, but ParaNorman is the first ever movie to use a color 3-D printer! Norman has almost 8,000 facial expressions! And the most random and obscure of all! There was going to be a ParaNorman TV show. …ummm… ALL RIGHT BYE TIME TO RETURN BACK TO MY GRAVE!
I love both Paranorman and Coraline! Both films are amazing in their own right and I’m also a huge fan of the “Normaline” crossover pairing! These two films are both incredible delights with amazing storytelling and characters. However, one thing that does stand out about Paranorman to me is how cool it is to see his friends stand behind him at the town rally in the third act. I love that Norman made so many good friends along the way of his journey.
One Last Couple of Facts: The story is set in the town of Blithe Hollow, whose name is a mash-up of two other ghost stories: Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit and Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Norman's ring tone is the Halloween movie theme song, At the beginning of the movie, Norman is watching a "scary movie". The "actress" is modelled after Jamie Lee Curtis in 1978's Halloween, while the plot is a spoof of 1968's The Night of the Living Dead, The brand name seen on Mr. Prenderghast's underwear is 'Mr. Fell', after co-director Sam Fell. Mitch wears 'Mr. Butler' underwear, after co-director Chris Butler, Jeff Garlin based his performance of Perry Babcock on his best friend Judd Apatow, The singular compromise the directors made was in cutting an early variation on Mr. Prenderghast's introduction. The finished version shows him hacking and coughing as he reaches for some medication, but the filmmakers originally had him reaching for a cigarette. They decided that would be frowned upon in a children's movie these days, The film is loaded with homage, including name references (Clive Barker, Tobe Hooper and Day of the Dead's Bub) and visual ones (John Carpenter's Halloween, Sam Raimi's camerawork from Evil Dead, Scooby Doo ) but there are also a handful of inside jokes. Two, for some unexplained reason, involve the directors' names sewed into Mr. Prenderghast's and Mitch's respective underwear. Both directors claim they've seen no residuals from the product placement, This is the first Laika film to be produced in a 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio; all of that company's previous films were produced in 1.85:1, Laika's 2nd Film, and first film of the 2010s, When the bar patrons come out and see the zombies, one of the couples look like Sonny and Cher, Jeff Garlin's 4th Theatrically Released Animated Film, after WALL·E, Toy Story 3, and Cars 2, as well as Garlin's first Animated Film to not be from Disney/Pixar, and his first animated film to be Rated PG by the MPAA, Christopher Mintz-Plasse' 2nd Animated Film, after How to Train Your Dragon, Leslie Mann's 2nd Animated Film, after Rio, Stars Anna Kendrick and Christopher Mintz-Plasse who also star together in the Trolls franchise, The title is a play on word of "paranormal", John Goodman (Mr. Prenderghast) and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Alvin) shares the same birthday (June 20th) but were born in thirty seven years apart from each other. Goodman was born in 1952 and Mintz-Plasse was born in 1989.
I watched "Paranorman" for the first time last year, and my jaw dropped at how good it was. I, personally, love the pacing of the first bit of the movie, because it's a little slower and builds up to the tension, then ramps along towards the end. And the animation is STUNNING. Just small details like Norman's ears getting lighter when the sun is at his back, alongside the others you mentioned, plus how every character is distinct and instantly recognizable. The off-putting appearances work really well with the story being told.
ParaNorman or Coraline? Which wins?
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PRETTY PLEASE, IT IS THE DAY 374 WAITING FOR THE ,,G-force " MOVIE REVIEW BY THE ,,Nostalgia Critic" HIMSELF (After Nostalgiaween, of course)! PLEASE SEE THIS Doug!
Also, first here!
Coraline
NOSTALGIAWEEN 2024 Continues & P.S (haven't seen this yet till now so let's strap in!)
Coraline but it's really close but movies are amazing and so fantastic
I like how Judge Hopkins and the zombies of the old townsfolk realize how cruel they were to Aggie after experiencing mob mentality from her perspective. Hopkins knows what he did was unforgivable, but still does and do what he can to make it right so they can all rest in peace.
Agreed. Sometimes, all it takes to become better is a little change in perspective.
@@watershipup7101 the third act of this movie is awesome!!
@@watershipup7101 Tell that to Marleyans.
Best part of the zombies feeling bad is its historically accurate. After the salem witch trials when the people came to there senses they apparently deeply regretted what they did with one of the judges writing a public confession and fasting annually in atonement for his role in it.
"We thought we knew our way in life... But in death... we are lost."
I liked that Mitch was hesitant to let Neil befriend Norman, not because he was a bully, but because he didn't want his brother to be bullied alongside Norman.
possibly the first sign that Mitch was gay, a big muscly guy who looks alright understands that kind of thing? he was being bullied for some reason and it wasn't his intelligence, he seems to be fine with that.
@@liamnehren1054🤡🤡🤡
@@liamnehren1054Way to act like straight guys don’t or are unable to understand that.
@@hiddendesire3076
"Good looking, muscular gay guy might've been bullied for being gay and doesn't want his brother to get bullied."
"Oh yeah, way to act like straight guys wouldn't understand that!" says presumably straight guy failing to understand exactly that.
Good job chump you played yourself.
@@hiddendesire3076That's not what they meant and you know it.
What a film. It always cuts me up when he says, "The longer it stayed, the less there was of the little girl." Hatred can make us into monsters. Kindness makes us human.
💯💯💯Exactly
@@chasehedges6775 so true!!
That reminds me of the RPG horror game Misao. Where a bullied Japanese school girl came back and put a curse on her whole school after she was quite literally harassed and bullied to death. And there’s a scene in one of the endings where you go to her grave, hold up a mirror and show her her face and she’s turned into a horrifying monster cause of it.
The scene were Agatha surrounds Norman and starts pushing and shoving him reminds me of the part of the game where Misao surrounds one of her bullies with clones of herself and start pushing and kicking them. And you have to throw salt on them to make her stop.
@@ToxicCatt-y7c Interesting
@@chasehedges6775 Not only did she lash out at people who hurt her, she also ended up raising the dead much like Agatha. The whole school was flooded with ghosts and zombies. There was even a ghost girl who you gotta avoid in the one of the restrooms. Which coincidentally reminds me of Norman’s uncle coming out the toilet.
Something I really like is when Aggie asked Norman if he wanted to see his tormentors suffer, instead of saying “no that’s evil” or “no because- (insert cliched speech about forgiveness here)” He actually says “yes” without much hesitation
@@hpfan2007 I liked that to and the message he had after.
@@Jarod-vg9wq seriously this movie needs as much love as nightmare before christmas
@@hpfan2007 YESSSSS
This movie had surprisingly deep messages about discrimination, mob mentality, and how we deal with the past. Note that the whole town has turned the horrific hanging of a little girl into a tourist attraction so they can profit off it. However, just like the ghosts that Norman can speak to, the past will not stay buried forever, and we as people need to learn how to live with that.
Unfortunately, this stuff still happens in 2024 no thanks to social media. Just without the lynching.
@@ToxicCatt-y7c You're sure about that?
@@arlenfreeman3439 considering the many cases of people being falsely accused online…yes
@@ToxicCatt-y7c I meant the lynchings.
I'm not sure if the townspeople knew Aggie was a little girl, it could be a detailed lost to history (wouldn't be the first time that happened).
I think ParaNorman was more of a reflection on society and how people working together can do both great and awful things.
Coraline was more of a personal story, pitying Coraline not just up against the Other Mother, but her own fears and the self-centeredness that hopefully, most of us grow out of.
That bit where they cut all the sound, and she whispers in his ear, "I don't want to go to sleep, and you can't make me" that is one of the best moments in a kid's creepy film.
“What’ch you watching?”
“Sex and violence.”
This line deserves far more love
Yea the Muppets are great
@@Handlelesswithme I was referring to what was said in the movie but that's pretty cool too
@@shotaaizawa1206 I was joking. Their was a show called that which was Jim Henson attempting to use Muppets for an adult audience
@@Handlelesswithme oh
sorry, I didn't know
also, cool fact, I didn't know that
Chris is out of control!
I know! It must be all the Violence in movies and Sex on TV!!
“All of us can get lost in our own extremism and lose our humanity to it, as well as destroy the humanity of others.”
I needed to hear this quote. Thanks for reviewing one of my favs ❤️
GOOD LINE! ❤
That quote is necessary considering what’s going on today.
sasuke be like
This film is so damn good.
That whole sequence at 19:30 with him trying to get through to her, her screaming at him and herself and splitting apart and screeching - followed by the calm when she lets go of her hatred makes me cry every time
Soooo true.
As I’ve discovered, it’s one of the best films of 2012. FOR A DARN GOOD REASON!
THAT ENDING IS SO AMAZING! 😭😭😭
@@Stopmotionfanartist IKR
Just watching this lil re-cap had me tearing up
A Post Credits Scene Fact: There is an after-credits scene showing in time-lapse the designing and construction on a workbench of the Norman character, which ends with Norman coming to life as if waking up from sleep and leaving the scene.
I always adore the post credits of Laika movie show the wonder and hardwork of Stop Motion.
wtf?? Your comment had the tiktok thing where a phrase turns searchable when you tap it
Sometimes I somehow missed seeing post-credits scenes during movies when I was younger. But the end credits song "Little Ghost" by The White Stripes is a banger!
The twist reveal is extremely dark for a kids' film, and I remember being shocked to my core as a child. Also, they causally had a gay character admit that he had a boyfriend, showing how it's no big deal.
This film was really good. 💯
It’s dark until you realize that a lot of the accused were young women and slaves.
Most of the accused were young women so, it’s not surprising they chose a young girl for the twist part.
There were some legit jump scares in this movie
Agnus (Aggie) was trying to kill him!
@@ToxicCatt-y7c I don’t know about you, but I always wondered what the economy or culture of Blithe Hollow was like after Norman redeemed Aggie’s image. I wondered if the statue of her as a stereotypical witch was changed in to a memorial for her, while the judges were disgraced (like I’d imagine Judge Hopkins wanted). Maybe all the witch-themed memorabilia suddenly became inappropriate & the townsfolk distance themselves out of respect for Aggie’s suffering, with witch outfits being banned (even for Halloween itself) & maybe that play Norman, Neil, & Alvin were participating in was also banned from being performed ever again. If that was the case, I always imagined if someone started harassing the Babcock family for ruining the town’s tourism business by turning the witchcraft myth into a real life tragedy, maybe they would personally give Perry (Norman’s dad) death threats in person, only to end up living in Mr Prendergast’s remote hut for life after having a restraining order against them.
Fun Fact: During the last few weeks leading up to the film's release, Laika sent 49 packages to 49 people (including Neil Gaiman and Kevin Smith and Jenny "The Bloggess" Lawson). Each package consisted of a wooden crate from "Blithe Hollow" full of "grave dirt" which recipients had to dig through to unearth a coffin. Inside the coffin was one of the seven cursed zombies, complete with background information and name.
So that’s where Gaiman got the grave he likes to roll in, but where did George Lucas get his?
@@mattphillips3537 George Lucas probably got a lightsaber
Going to start flagging these as spam. You've been warned about cluttering up the comment section with copy-paste after copy-paste but you keep doing it. It's not AS bad as the repetitive spam bots but it's getting too close to that point.
@@chasehedges6775 a special lightsaber that cuts and alters film reel?
"What about the people who hurt you? Don't you want them to suffer?"
"Well, yeah. But what good would that do?"
That is my favorite line in the entire film. Even when Norman was bullied, he knew that even if he fought back, nothing was gonna change the situation. It is better to forgive and understand then to just let the hate continue. A true masterpiece!
And it doesn't condemn him for *wanting* revenge because, hey that's human
@@thomastakesatollforthedark2231 One of my favorite games of all time, Xenoblade Chronicles, did something similar, with that being the main theme of the game: revenge can sound a lot like justice to the man who has lost the light on their chosen path.
@@bluestreaker9242 *xenoblade mentioned*
Shulk's arc was so good
@@thomastakesatollforthedark2231 Too right it was! :D
Wait, you're saying it's bad to fight back to defend yourself?
The most disturbing part about the reveal with Aggie is that the movie makes it very clear how she was executed. Hanging. She's even buried under the tree they hung her from. Because hanging relies on body weight to break the neck, there's a good chance Aggie was too small and they botched it.
It probably took her a long time to die. Just horrible.
One of the scenes in ParaNorman that sticks with me the most is during when he goes to talk to her. At one point, she rises up from the ground. Pay close attention to *how* she rises: from her neck, as if she's being suspended by something and her head is hanging down, her feet are limp and turned inwards, like a doll. And if you listen closely, you can hear a deep sigh, which many fans have attributed it being her last breath. th-cam.com/video/xeRtXFSYLlU/w-d-xo.htmlsi=sJ12rkso6bav4Pwi At 3:11, you can see it; seeing her being dragged up like that. feels reminiscing of a hanging, which is how they killed her. you can even hear her breath, as if it’s her last. and the music serves to show just how tragic the whole situation is. For me it's the pose; how she comes out of the ground with her neck down like that and, of course, the feet and arms being limp. I've always seen that as a reference to her death.
78.media.tumblr.com/f059e0b99e67e863d12f5c0bc0704f76/tumblr_nsbogulnsi1qbm6vyo1_500.gif
@@Octopugilist actually I never thought about that… holy shit Aggie is a tragic character, and I want to hug her so much she deserves so much more…
Hanging wasn't even designed to break the neck at the time she was killed, it was designed to kill you via strangulation. She would've suffered no matter what.
@@Octopugilist and the fact that her hanging was practically recreated when she rose from the ground with her head down. A common theory within the paranormal community is that ghost repeat the things they did before dying. Hence why you’d see ghost sitting in chairs, dancing, or reading something in movies or cartoons.
Funny how both Parnorman and Scooby Doo Zombie Island as zombies be a red herring
I mean when you think about it beeing a zombie is pretty sad. Like you are a living corpse with no brain, you are barelly a treat since you are easy to take out unless you are with a legion, you do nothing but looking for food wich is not that much and you are basically an infected freak.
Beeing a zombie is a pretty sad story compare to monsters who are aware of their doings and do awfull things.
That’s actually kind of funny because one of ParaNorman inspirations is Scooby Doo!
Now if you only had two nickels due to how weird that it happened twice.
@@motor4X4kombat
Very true! Imo, another great zombie movie that really showcases how tragic and sad being a zombie would be is Return of the Living Dead. It's the movie that popularized zombies going after brains - but something people forget about why the zombies go after brains is because they're in constant pain, seek living people's brains for relief from that pain.
Definitely recommend the movie - it's full of 80s-ness and has some dark comedy moments, but also has some moments that made me, tear up in my experience.
@@nicholassims9837
A large portion of zombie films actually has zombies as the red herring. The main point of zombies as a sub genre/villain is not the zombies themselves, more often than not, but that other people, specifically desperate people, are much more monstrous than the monsters.
Still blows my mind a kids movie had the main antagonist be a literal child that was hung in the 1600s. Yeah we never see it, but we're told multiple times the Witch was hung.
It’s disturbingly brutal for an animated film.
@@chasehedges6775 agreed
Hanged*
Hanged.
I mean, I can't say for sure that she wasn't also hung, because I cannot and would rather not check, but she was definitely hanged.
What's hangin'?
"I’ll punch you in boobs.
"
"I don’t have boobs. These are pectorals.
"
(Alvin punches Neil in the chest)
"Ow! My boobs!
"
This is one of my favorite Halloween movies to watch every year, and I'm so glad you talked about it 🧡
A Behind the Scenes Fact: Animating the cheesy horror film that Norman is watching at the start of the movie was reportedly very difficult for the filmmakers, as they had to intentionally make a bad film (bad camera angles, poor focus, bad "acting" etc) while still working in the very technically demanding confines of stop motion animation
That is understandable! When you are good at something, it honestly takes a lot of effort to be bad.
It was worth the effort. I love the boom mic coming into frame and the lady pushing it away. Lol
@Logitah as the old joke goes "anyone can make it look easy, but they make it look hard". Just a shame that's a joke to mock people instead of recognizing a unique talent
Mitch being gay was actually an idea from the director to stay true to the film's message of not judging people. Plus, I love how Courtney's reaction to "You're gonna love my boyfriend" wasn't something like "What? He's gay?!" and instead was something like "What? He's taken?!"
I’m not sure if they weren’t allowed to explicitly have Mitch “come out” to Courtney. This was only 3 YEARS before gay marriage became legal in all 50 American states.
I wish modern entertainment handled such subject matter half as well as they did with Mitch.
I disagree. I always took her expression at the end as sort of bit pissed off because despite everything she did he would've never been interested in her anyways. The joke does come from the fact that he's gay but not at his expense.
That doesn't make it good
No it was the opposite. It was to show that anyone is capable of prejudice including those who belong to a persecuted group
I do like the story with the judges, the reason Agatha tried to rise them up every time was for the same reason she died, because they're different, and thus will be killed by the town, just like she was, and the fact their souls only went away once Agatha passed on means that they had no choice but to wait in their graves for decades, hoping one day to either be killed or able to move on, they were bad people, but back then they weren't sure how the world worked, and compared to modern times, it's just another story, but for them this is a nightmare, and that's exactly what Agatha wanted.
And them not smiling really shows just what they thought of all this, regret and sorrow, they can move on, but after what they've experienced, it's difficult to truly be happy, because they know what they did.
Exactly
The epitome of a fate worse than death.
I wouldn't even say they were "Bad" people.
They were scared, because they didn't know what to make of Agatha, and that fear drove them to do something terrible.
The whole message of 'Paranorman' is that, while experiencing fear now and then is perfectly normal and nothing to be ashamed of, we shouldn't let it take control of us and change who we are. What happened with Agatha, the judge and the older townspeople shows what can happen when people let their fear override their common sense and compassion.
@@Adamguy2003 Sometimes, you(the judges) are your own worst enemy.
And I thought Pixar Mom's had ridiculous proportions. The cheerleader and the cop specifically might have them beat.
There is some serious thickness in this movie, especially the workout video lady. The women in this movie definitely have Pixar moms beat! 😉
“You’re got to meet my boyfriend.” That statement just saddens her and it was hilarious.
15:28 the reveal about who Agatha really was, that truly makes this film stand out
Another Behind the Scenes Fact: The chase scene was incredibly difficult for various reasons. "If you think about this van racing down these roads then the roads physically have to be built," said director Chris Butler. "And we had a road that was seventy feet long I think, and that, of course, is flanked on either side by hand-made trees, hand-made road, and the van has to be animated by hand with all these characters inside it."
ParaNorman was such a shock. The entire time I was pretty convinced the witch would be typical 'old hag' in the woods sort of monster because that's what everyone in town thought, revealing Agatha as a little girl genuinely hit hard. People might protest that it was too dark but this kind of thing happened a lot when people thought witches were a threat to their lives. It's a wonderful film, perfect for Halloween, and every time I watch I notice something new in the background.
Such an underrated masterpiece that Im glad more people are recognising.
Norman is a character I can relate to; while I can't see ghosts, I understand the feeling of being isolated as a special outcast because of mental or psychological conditions you are born with that others have a hard time understanding, and for me personally Im autistic and mental psychosis. The scariest part of the entire movie is that accusing a child of being a witch and them executing her is DEFINITELY something that happened during that time period. I do appreciate how the zombies realise what they did was wrong and genuinely feel remorse after being cursed for decades, coming to understand the era of their ways. This movie has so many deeper themes, and the twist with the witch being a little really recontextualises the movie in the best way and makes its themes all the more poignant
Paranorman, Frankenweenie, and Hotel Transylvania were the trifecta of animated horror theme movies for kids in 2012, unless you count Ooogie Loves and the Great Balloon Adventure.
Sooooo true
Not to mention coraline
*PARANORMAN😊
@@chasehedges6775 The spellchecker is evil
The Oogieloves in the big balloon adventure is live action not animated but still scary for kids
The reveal of the witch being a little girl haunts my creative mind.
Happy Leif Erickson Day!
hinga dinga durgen!
Yingin-hinga-dinga!
Hinga dinga durgen
Hinga Dinga Durgen!!
Vinland ho!
I think a part of the reason movies like this gain more of a following as time goes on is because they've become rarer and rarer. Not just stop motion, but movies in general where they try to put actual heart into the characters and plot. We do still get some of course, but with movies in general getting larger and larger budgets, studios are less and less willing to take chances, and try so hard to make what movies they do create "appeal to everyone", which tends to end up with them appealing to no one.
Of course, there's a lot more to it than just that, as nothing is ever truly simple, but I do think it's a big part of why as time goes on, we get less and less that people will look back on in the future and think of as "classics".
15:46 I literally ha same reaction, I swear the truth reveal of this film is one of the best twists I ever seen in cinema! To say I was shock, jaw dropped and a grey is sugarcoating it. This film should have gotten an Oscar.
I agree with you. While Wreck-It Ralph did deserved an Oscar win over Brave, it should've have won (especially with non-Disney animated films in the recent years).
Enforced Method Acting (from TV Tropes): Kodi Smit-McPhee (the voice of Norman) has recalled in interviews that for certain scenes (such as the bathroom scene and car chase scene) he would have to shake himself in his chair or even stand up to achieve the desired effect.
Interesting
There's actually footage of it.
Ooooo. That's interesting.
I once said, "The misunderstood are sometimes the ones rejected, and some can show they are not the ones to be feared but loved and cared."
Soooo true💯💯
The right way to do a sympathetic antagonist RIGHT! And properly.
Shrek would approve.
@@estebangutierrez160 Onions have layers.
@@chasehedges6775 Truer words have never been spoken
Norman and Agatha being related was something that I only pieced together after seeing the movie a 3rd time. The fact they trust the audience enough to figure that out on is a mark of a great movie.
Another small detail which could mean something or not is that Agatha, when she passes on, turns into yellow dust which floats upwards. To me it reads positively, as if she "went to heaven". The judges don't turn into yellow dust and it doesn't float upwards either. It's more like they just disappear. Could be nothing, but I'm glad they didn't get the same animation as Agatha.
Their souls are now in limbo. Ironically, just like the souls Norman (and possibly Agatha) always see.
7:18 Fun fact: The teacher is voiced by Alex Borstein, the voice of Lois Griffin in Family Guy.
24:21 Gotta love that subtle “It’s Randy.” from the James and the Giant Peach review. XD
People get freaked out about killing a child in a horror film, and here you have a kid's film doing it. But it's done in a deep and respectful way to show the cruelties in the past and how to help someone who is hurting. And I like the twist of the zombies not being bad people, they were people who did a horrible thing and wish to rectify it somehow. It's a really well done plot and theme.
"I didn't ask to be born this way."
"Funny; neither did we."
I'm on the autism spectrum. Parents who say things like that are not "afraid for" their special-needs kid; they wish their kid was "normal" so they wouldn't have to deal with their problems. That's how the Dad treats Norman throughout the whole film, and is the sole reason I find it unwatchable.
@@365ral I really like this film but did not like the dad. I feel like they made him TOO unlikeable, like, even more so than Buck from Chicken Little.
Ehh honestly as an autistic guy myself I can't help but sympathise. Like... Sometimes it can be too much if you aren't used to folk that are "different" you know? And that can slip out, it happens. They're only human, and I think we shouldnt hate people for that
@@thomastakesatollforthedark2231 We should hate parents who tell their children that they're ashamed that they're special-needs. "I raised my son for 11 years, but I'm still not used to him being so different." Hearing your own parents treat your existence as a failure can be scarring for a child.
@@365ral okay but that's just unfair. It's not a good thing to do but again... What, should our parents always be perfect and never slip up?
@@thomastakesatollforthedark2231 No; be careful what you say around your kids, and immediately apologize when you aren't. It takes a thousand "I love you" 's to build a bond, and only a few wrong words to damage it.
7:25 of course, you'd gotta bring up the ol' Agatha All Along meme. 😂
Regarding the Agatha twist, the film gave some really subtle foreshadowing at the beginning. During the play rehearsal, the know it all girl says “isn’t the idea of a witch being a green old hag on a broom historically inaccurate” and low & behold we get a historically accurate one. And even without that foreshadowing the twist still doesn’t come out of nowhere, if you have any knowledge on the Salem witch trials the twist isn’t random/makes complete sense
The sister's reaction to discovering the himbo is gay is honestly delightful--she's disappointed, but then switches rapidly to being supportive. The best part is that this wouldn't have been as plausible at the beginning of the movie, because of her characterization; it's only by being one of the folks touched by Norman's adventure that she changes enough that she can roll with that ego-blow and come up smiling.
The animated kid film to features an openly gay character.
That we don’t even know is such until the last 5 minutes
@@silashurd3597 one of the best jokes in the whole movie!
@silashurd3597 Not explicitly but there's some great subtle hints to pick up on for those in the know.
Finally a true threat and horror to children!
And it was handle it greatly
Say NC, I got some ideas of Stop Motion films I would like you to review:
-Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Wererabbit
-Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio
-Corpse Bride
-The Lego Movie
The Lego Movie is CGI. Just REALLY WELL DONE CGI.
Just want to say off the bat that I *loved* "Mary & Max" - I stumbled across it on Netflix one night and put it on thinking it'd be a good one to fall asleep to. Cut to 4 AM and I'm still awake and thinking about how impactful the movie I'd just finished was.
Knowing that Norman and Aggie are related had me thinking that, either Aggie’s family line had powers that dwindled with each generation until the only powers left were seeing ghosts and prophetic visions, or Norman could one day develop more powers and maybe unlock Aggie’s lightning and storm magic, or her general command over nature like how she summoned spikes from the ground and blocked the way with trees. Since Aggie only mentioned her mom, maybe her mom and dad were separated somehow, and one or the other carried on having kids with witchy genes after Aggie’s death. Cuz Aggie died as a child, she wasn’t having any direct descendants, it would have to be siblings or half siblings who carried on the powers after she died.
To quote the late great Norm Macdonald and something i'm sure John Goodman might be thinking about right now is “It is often better to be restricted to necessity than unconfined in the measure of our desires: prosperity destroys more individuals than adversity ruins.”
I fucking love Norm. It doesn’t seem like something he would say but also seems exactly like something he would say. He was able to straddle the line between brilliant and seemingly ignorant so effortlessly. He’d convince Larry King that he doesn’t know how to pronounce “iron” on one day, then school Neil deGrasse Tyson on cosmic existentialism on another.
Adversity definitely ruins more but some people don't handle prosperity well. I can only think of people who drugged himself to death while being really rich. Maybe with less money it would have been harder but that seems like a bell curve issue.
That reminder that I hope Burton and Selick make a stop motion film of Medievil.
Pretty sure they stopped making stop action movies after that one movie about the girl and those 2 demons
9:12-9:16 Dad here, it’s not quite the same as chicken little. Chicken little’s dad was cruel and abusive towards his son because all he cared about was what other people thought about him. Norman’s dad has been trying and trying to help his son get over his ghost issues because he wants to help him but nothing works. I doubt it started with him being angry, I bet it started with kindness and compassion that didn’t work at fixing the issue. And he progressively got angrier. And it’s probably extra painful because the ghost of his own mother got involved. Those feelings of being useless to help your son can compound into being angry and saying things that shouldn’t be said. I know from personal experience.
That would actually make sense for Norman’s dad, that would make him the lesser of 2 evils compared to Buck Cluck (who only cared about HIMSELF on the other hand.
4:14 -At least people remember the stop motion Frankenwenie! People have tried calling BS on me when I bring up the original live action short version from decades before and insisted it never happened. Lol The clay version was an attempt to bring THAT back from the dead but since no one remembers so the irony is lost..
A messed up thing that gets me more is how she died. (If you don't wanna think about this depressing fact, dont read)
I mean, they hung her.
A child.
When people are hung, their necks are meant to break and give them a quick death. If it doesn't break, then you are left there to suffocate to death....
Kids aren't heavy enough for the quicker option, meaning she was left to suffer, so she had to wait and watch as the townspeople continued to condemn her and celebrate that the ‘witch’ is perishing.
16:37 when I first saw the scene revealing Aggie, with her crying as she was sentenced for witchcraft, I thought her tears were like blood because of how the colored cheeks tinted the tear lines down her face, and it was a feature of her being a witch, but only much much later did I realize those were just regular tears that looked red because of the blush they added to the face model for the scene
Funny at the 2013 Oscar's we had no only 2 horror stop motion (paranorman, frankenweenie)for Best Animated Feature but make it 3 whole stop motion films nominated (The pirates)
And they picked the worst possible option for the winner
At least 10 years later, another stop-motion movie would actually WIN best animated feature: “Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio”! 😊
@@aidanredding8058 the next year was worts seariusly frozen over ernest and celestine or the winds rise, even the croods have more merit
ParaNorman is one of the few stop motion films that I like, Next to Coraline. Other than that I'm not that big a fan of stop motion stuff, I mean I don't hate it but I can certain appreciate it because like all animation stop motion is an art.
Well said. It’s a great Film
Does anyone else get the impression that Mr Babcock maybe had a less than stellar relationship with his mother? He seems very awkward at the end upon realising that Norman was right, she is still living with them after he (Dad) had apparently been content to just say "Mom got sick and she died - end of story".
I have to admit I HATED him when I first saw this movie, especially when he said “Funny, neither did we.” about Norman being born “that way”. I wish that he became the only adult in town who joined Norman & company to defend the Puritan zombies, that could definately have redeemed him in Norman’s eyes. Such a missed opportunity.
My favorite quote
Agatha - Don't you want to hurt them for hurting you?
Norman - Well... what good would that do?
Thought-provoking
A lot of people need to watch it for that line alone.
@@MidnightSonnet Definitely
It is an interesting thing to think about, is either extreme right? where is the right spot on the range between no action and hundreds of years of torture.
Also considering that to inflict that pain on them she deprived herself of being with her mother in the afterlife.
Is the rest of your life and possible eternity a reasonable exchange to make for it? definitely not.
Should the judges have been punished also certainly.
Now if their ends were as painful as her own is that enough? Is the crime of ending a little girl repaid with the lives of middle aged people?
There is no right answer to any of this and if he had said "Well sure but what about you Agatha? Why not move on and be with your loved ones?" it would have been just as true and correct.
Is Norman’s dad worse than Chicken Little’s dad?
Then again Little’s dad never directly said he hated him. 🤔
The whole movie's premise is better than the actual Chicken Little film itself. Even tho, he's not as bad as Buck Cluck.
I love ParaNorman, that movie brought back stop motion animation towards 80s PG movies like Return to Oz! This is what animated PG movies should be!
Coraline and ParaNorman are one of my favorite laika studio movies
Especially Box trolls
Kubo as well is amazing.
@@chasehedges6775 indeed, I still have a soft spot for Corpse Bride too
You know, this is my favourite type of Review from Doug, not too many jokes, his points are well thought out, there isn’t really a skit besides at the start and end. It’s what I think of when I remember Nostalgia Critic.
I really appreciated this movie as a homosexual male because the Jock character is gay
They don't beat you over the head with it, they don't shove it down your throat or anything
She hits on him and asks him to go to a place with her and he responds with "I don't think my boyfriend would be all that interested going there" and that was it as he was not realizing she was hitting on him because he had no interest in girls and since that line she stopped for the rest of the movie trying to flirt with him
Agreed! It was also a silly joke. I miss when writing was like this. Characters were just characters and had unique characteristics. Then I’d say around 2018 things started getting shoved down the watchers throats and in our faces.
@@PointsMaster There’s honestly still cartoons with humor and such. Heck even Amphibia and The Owl House, despite their overarching stories, still had some excellent humor. And TBH both of those shows are the few examples of LGBTQ+ in fictional media written well and done right. Luz, Amity, and Sasha Waybright, while having specific sexualities, have amazing personalities and character outside of their sexualities, same thing goes with the Steven Universe cast (I mean as flawed as that show is, it’s honestly overhated), they may have started the train of LGBTQ+ becoming more common in animation, but at least the characters had more character and personality outside of “being their sexuality.”
What I’m trying to say is, it’s ok if a character is a certain sexuality, but they also need to have a more interesting character and personality than just that. That’s honestly why shows such as Steven Universe, The Owl House, and Amphibia for example handle the LGBTQ+ aspect in media right.
Yeah, I really appreciate they gave him solid characterization beyond being gay. Like, he is obviously the dumb jock character but he isn’t just that/not overblown moron “duhhhhh” dumb, he is more than just that. He’s very responsible for his brother neil/acts like a good older brother, and his dumb nature does follow a logic like his obsession over sports (kicking the zombie head a distance) or his hilarious love for his car.
If this movie was made today, the movie would be 100% on Agatha’s side, and say she’s perfectly justified. Norman says screw that and calls her out for the bad she does. She’s causing pain to people she doesn’t know, and that’s bad.
That twist about the “Witch” of the town was amazing, & this movie was more mature than many “adult” animated shows. It was a good example about the corruption of mob mentality on par with McCarthyism. Speaking of stop-motion movies, Doug should DEFINATELY review Guillermo Del Toro’s take on “Pinocchio”! ❤
4:33 I do really hope he review Mary and max, it dark but possibly one of the greatest movies that touches on a certain sensitive subject and respects it to it’s core which not many movies do on that subject, beautiful and emotional no other word for it
Another Fun Fact: The film company Laika used 3D printers to generate all of the different faces needed for the characters. Except the zombies, which had mechanical faces with silicone skins.
PARANORMAN! Underrated gem! Called it! Happy spooky season 🎃
It’s fantastic and Happy Halloween🎃🎃🎃
Great! Now review these movies:
* The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It
* Young Frankenstein
* Dark Shadows (2012)
* The Dead Zone (1983)
* Spiral: From the Book of Saw
* Sleepy Hollow (1999)
* The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
* Mickey's House of Villains
* The Omen (1976/2006)
* Scream (1996)
Was not expecting Mary and Max rep but that made me so happy, definitely under-appreciated and an emotional roller coaster. ParaNorman looks phenomenal as ever - the behind the scenes for the angry Agatha effects are SO COOL!
I thought it was weird that the older brother wasn't a jock bully stereotype we casually see with older brother tropes in movies and TV shows. That was also awesome besides not being a gay stereotype either.
I know right, like he was kinda dumb but not overly moronic and infact was generally responsible for his brother as well as aware he isn’t that smart (“why am I in charge” “your the oldest” “not mentally”)
all the stop motion movie references in the opening skit...i didn't realize i was such a nerd for this medium lol. i screamed when i heard mary and max get a shout-out, i ADORE that movie!
i'm team coraline personally but you really can't go wrong with any of laika's movies. i love the creativity and energy their stuff always has
Okay, using Candyman as the intro is absolutely brilliant and terrifying 😂😂 I'd recognize that piano music anywhere - that film traumatized me bad bad
6:45 Aren't you glad movies like Fright Night exist?
That last scene with Agatha's ghost is one of the most beautiful and ambitious scenes I've seen in an animated film. I even put it as an entry for a character design challenge on Facebook one October ago, when the theme was "ghosts". I consider it one of my most ambitious works. The ghost was actually a sculpted puppet and all those exaggerated faces she made were sculpted too, the CGI only enhances her appearance to add spectrality. It is the ultimate marriage of stop-motion and CGI in this film. And I love every last bit of it.
The PowerPuff Girls had the same message where people are afraid of things they don’t understand and do and say things cause they’re scared. And that also involved innocent children who were just playing tag.
100% agree
Another Fun Fact: A vending machine is shown to sell "Cujohs", a direct reference to Cujo. It even has a dog as a logo.
Yup, Doug mentions it in this review
First killer clowns THEN paranorman? Best nostalgiaween yet
The twist being that the witch was actually a kid like Norman was a very dark, but nice touch. I kept expecting the little girl to actually turn out to be a wicked witch that was just tricking Norman, but the actual ending turned out to be just as interesting.
ParaNorman was stop-motion? ...I always thought it was CG... Damn, they did a good job.
This movie has a lot of messages about how society can discriminate due to ignorance, how these actions can end up in grim ends, and why is not wise to judge others without knowing them, that truly has left a huge impact, and people still remember those moments.
This movie is soooo underrated, I have a hard time deciding if this or Coraline is better. I love the overall message of this movie and I feel that it has truly aged well, thanks for talking about this movie
IMO, Kubo and the Two Strings is the most impressive stop-motion film I've ever seen.
Malcolm has that Tony Todd impression down pat.
The issue I had with this film, was that for me it felt very preachy. Not in the message itself, but with the delivery and how much it was being chewed throughout the movie. It lacked subtlety, which made it feel like the writers didn’t trust the audience to be smart enough to get the message without saying it out loud.
Agreed! Mary and Max is amazing! 2009 was one of my favorite years for film, especially with Coraline, Fantastic Fox and Where the Wild Things Are. I was starting my senior year in August and I could feel something shifting as we entered the 2010’s
Agreed!!
I like the ambiguous fate of the puritans, they didn't get dragged to hell, but they also looked very cautious and weary when they passed on, so it's not clear if they atoned for their sins and went to heaven, or if something less-than-stellar awaited them in the afterlife.
16:45 I have to disagree. What happened to the natives in the US is one of the most horrible massacres and tragedies in human history. And it's covered up as a good thing by thanksgiving.
John Wayne was so awful he actually liked what they did and said the natives deserved it. And he's celebrated.
By covering up these tragedies in such a way. You let it go unpunished and they get away with such cruelty. Worst part is the natives are still ousted and attacked.
The institutions to destroy their culture including what the mormons did still exists. And making light of it only makes these atrocities go on without any real consequence.
Real cowboys were like the bad guys in the Lucasarts game Outlaws. Hired murderers to get rid of anyone not selling their property.
And this lives on. In the mafia and in gangs. Same methods, same terror, different skin.
And making light of it undermines the damage it's still doing. And it stops anything to be done about it cause people don't understand the true cruelty being done right in front of them.
Hello super ParaNorman fan here! Here’s some fun facts
Norman has 278 hair strings on his hair that are all goat hair so they can put hair products on the hair and during the finale they used what is called a “stunt wig” so they can manipulate strains of hair to make it look like it’s blowing in the wind
Angry Aggie is a hybrid animation between Stop Motion, CG, and traditional animation. Almost all the departments at the studio team up to make her.
Another fact about Aggie. A concept artist (Ross Stewart, one of the directors of Wolfwalkers) used ink and a straw to make concept art of Aggie!
I think it’s already said in the video, but ParaNorman is the first ever movie to use a color 3-D printer! Norman has almost 8,000 facial expressions!
And the most random and obscure of all!
There was going to be a ParaNorman TV show.
…ummm… ALL RIGHT BYE TIME TO RETURN BACK TO MY GRAVE!
Well, we got a 'spiritual' (heh) successor with The Owl House, so...
@@matthewmccoyd2578 HELL YEAH (screw Disney canceling that show too early)
To be honest it’s ultra rare for an animated film to take place in Massachusetts
I love both Paranorman and Coraline! Both films are amazing in their own right and I’m also a huge fan of the “Normaline” crossover pairing! These two films are both incredible delights with amazing storytelling and characters. However, one thing that does stand out about Paranorman to me is how cool it is to see his friends stand behind him at the town rally in the third act. I love that Norman made so many good friends along the way of his journey.
One Last Couple of Facts: The story is set in the town of Blithe Hollow, whose name is a mash-up of two other ghost stories: Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit and Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Norman's ring tone is the Halloween movie theme song, At the beginning of the movie, Norman is watching a "scary movie". The "actress" is modelled after Jamie Lee Curtis in 1978's Halloween, while the plot is a spoof of 1968's The Night of the Living Dead, The brand name seen on Mr. Prenderghast's underwear is 'Mr. Fell', after co-director Sam Fell. Mitch wears 'Mr. Butler' underwear, after co-director Chris Butler, Jeff Garlin based his performance of Perry Babcock on his best friend Judd Apatow, The singular compromise the directors made was in cutting an early variation on Mr. Prenderghast's introduction. The finished version shows him hacking and coughing as he reaches for some medication, but the filmmakers originally had him reaching for a cigarette. They decided that would be frowned upon in a children's movie these days, The film is loaded with homage, including name references (Clive Barker, Tobe Hooper and Day of the Dead's Bub) and visual ones (John Carpenter's Halloween, Sam Raimi's camerawork from Evil Dead, Scooby Doo ) but there are also a handful of inside jokes. Two, for some unexplained reason, involve the directors' names sewed into Mr. Prenderghast's and Mitch's respective underwear. Both directors claim they've seen no residuals from the product placement, This is the first Laika film to be produced in a 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio; all of that company's previous films were produced in 1.85:1, Laika's 2nd Film, and first film of the 2010s, When the bar patrons come out and see the zombies, one of the couples look like Sonny and Cher, Jeff Garlin's 4th Theatrically Released Animated Film, after WALL·E, Toy Story 3, and Cars 2, as well as Garlin's first Animated Film to not be from Disney/Pixar, and his first animated film to be Rated PG by the MPAA, Christopher Mintz-Plasse' 2nd Animated Film, after How to Train Your Dragon, Leslie Mann's 2nd Animated Film, after Rio, Stars Anna Kendrick and Christopher Mintz-Plasse who also star together in the Trolls franchise, The title is a play on word of "paranormal", John Goodman (Mr. Prenderghast) and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Alvin) shares the same birthday (June 20th) but were born in thirty seven years apart from each other. Goodman was born in 1952 and Mintz-Plasse was born in 1989.
0:49 ooh, Nintendo Power
This movie hits a special place in my heart. Saw this in theaters when I was a kid
I watched "Paranorman" for the first time last year, and my jaw dropped at how good it was. I, personally, love the pacing of the first bit of the movie, because it's a little slower and builds up to the tension, then ramps along towards the end. And the animation is STUNNING. Just small details like Norman's ears getting lighter when the sun is at his back, alongside the others you mentioned, plus how every character is distinct and instantly recognizable. The off-putting appearances work really well with the story being told.
4:35 You guys are aware that Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio won the Oscar for Best Animated Film, right?
Yes I am, & I ADORED IT! ❤
21:06 I love how they see the curse is removed but are still unfazed because they will still carry that guilt even in the afterlife
He's finally doing it, I feel like this has been getting review requests for years...and it should!
Stop motion is literally how a lot of film school students put stuff together with no budget 😂
14:38 skip the ad.
This movie is so good that I legitimately started tearing up as you were talking about and showing the clips between Norman and Agatha.
Laika movies are way too underrated, heck stopmotion doesn't get enough love
They’re brilliant and perfect for animation as an art form. Especially Laika.