When Norman’s small town of Blithe Hollow is in the throws of a witch’s curse about to be besieged with zombies, Norman is called to duty by his ghostly uncle.

‘ParaNorman’ brings the art of ‘stop-motion’ to a new age

By KEVIN CHILL HEARD

Managing Editor

When I was in grade school we took a field trip to a wonderful place called the Supplementary Center. While there, a group of students baked pottery, some developed photographs, my particular group of stalwart students made a “stop-motion” film.

It took us the entire day (with a lunch break) to make a 10-second film of our clay man riding a bike and then crashing into a rock – my first foray into film-making and critiquing.

Flash forward, the new film “ParaNorman” has taken the classic “stop-mo” animation to new heights. The film’s producer and lead animator Travis Knight suggests that while new technology is applied, all the stop-motion charm that we remember from classics like “Jason and the Argonauts (1963)” still exists. “The core of stop-mo doesn’t change, said Knight, adding, “‘Coraline’ was a seismic-shift [in how we began perfecting the art form of this type of filming].”

The Oscar-Nominated “Coraline” was Knight’s and his company LAIKA’s first expedition mixing stop-motion with 3-D. Knight calls it “Old school built on new technology.”

In “ParaNorman,” our reluctant hero has the uncanny ability to see and speak with dead people, including his grandmother who mostly sits on the couch and knits. The problem is that no one believes Norman and his parents encourage him to live in the real world.

When Norman’s small town of Blithe Hollow is in the throws of a witch’s curse about to be besieged with zombies, Norman is called to duty by his ghostly uncle.

Knight said of Norman, “This kid is a misfit on the fringe of society. We all as kids have special gifts. This gave us the [idea] to tell this story.”

“ParaNorman” is a fun romp of a ghost story that you and your kids should enjoy. “ParaNorman” is rated PG and opens in theaters nationwide Friday.

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