ParaNorman Review - A Tale of the Dead, Full of Life

*This review is largely spoiler free, but read cautiously if you haven’t seen the film yet*

ParaNorman is the latest from Laika, the swiftly-rising stop-motion house who arrived on the scene with 2009's Coraline. Coraline was fantastic, a dark, refreshingly tensely paced, nuanced and stylish film that not only cemented its director Henry Selick's reputation as a fine-filmmaker, but that of Laika as an artistically inventive and narratively bold studio. ParaNorman continues that success, as it is an inspiringly original and thoughtfully ghoulish film, that's also surprising fun!

The Art and Making of ParaNorman Review - A Spookily Different 'Art of' Book

Confession: I only watched Coraline fully a few days ago. I'm not often a fan of spooky films, but I am a fan of Henry Selick, and adored The Nightmare Before Christmas, so I wanted to see Coraline, I just never got round to it. A couple of days ago, though, I decided to finally do it, and am very glad I did. Coraline is a fantastic, nuanced and refreshingly original film, with stylish direction and gorgeous animation; I only wish I could've seen it on the big screen. I watched it in anticipation of the latest film from Laika, the studio behind it, ParaNorman.

Coraline's animation was amazing, but ParaNorman's is apparently even better. Factor in that I've heard nary a bad review about it, and you end up with a film I'm pretty damn excited for (it's not out over here until 14th September). So, I was very excited to check out the accompanying 'Art of' book, The Art and Making of ParaNorman, which Chronicle Books were kind enough to send me a review copy of.