Paranorman: Steelbook Edition - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Paranorman: Steelbook Edition



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
To follow up my review of the 1st Laika films production (Coraline) we bring you the 2nd Laika film as my 2nd review (say that 5x fast). Right after Coraline hit it big, the studio was hot on their trail to making another CGI created stop motion film. This time it went a little less creepy, and a lot more child like fun with a heavy infusion of horror movie homages thrown in for good mix. Out of all the titles, Paranorman is probably the weakest of the original 4 (as stated before, I haven’t seen The Weakest Link yet, and since that is attached to Fox Shout Factory won’t be re-releasing it). Not because it’s not a fun movie, but because it feels the most mainstream of the 4 titles. Coraline, The Boxtrolls, and Kubo all have a very esoteric vibe to them that makes them stand apart from mainstream cinema. Coraline is a creepy child’s tale that has very Tim Burtonesque vibes, Botxtrolls feels like a French flick, and Kubo is a great take on an ancient Japanese fairy tale. However, Paranorman feels like it would be right at home in the Saturday morning cartoon world, feeling a bit more average than the rest.

That being said, Paranorman is by no means a bad flick. It’s a fun film that uses horror tropes and humor to tell an age old tale of forgiveness. We meet our titular hero as he’s knee deep in a zombie movie, and Norman’s (Kodi Smit-McPhee) parents (Leslie Mann and Jeff Garlin respectively) not listening to him again. I guess Norman can see dead people (where have we heard that before), and nobody is keen to listen to an 11 year old that claims he can see his dead grandmother. Well, Norman just so happens to live in a Massachusetts town that once famously burnt a witch alive. A story that has been infused into their local pop culture about some evil witch who has cursed the town. The thing is, Norman can actually see the dead people he claims to, and has begun to see weirder and weirder things enter the world of the living. Things that shouldn’t be happening and reek of the ancient curse.

When his crazy uncle (played by John Goodman) gives him a dire warning of the future and claims that only Norman can fix it, things get even worse. The veil between the living and the dead becomes even more frail, soon Norman and his new buddy Neil (Tucker Albrizzi) are in over their heads trying to dodge zombies, read a spell to an ancient witch, and try not to get beaten to death by the local townsfolk as they go into full Beauty and the Beast mob mentality. Simple, right?

Paranorman is a simple tale of forgiveness and listening to one another. Norman is not listened to his whole life due to his gift of speaking with the dead, and this leads us straight into a misunderstood witch who is trying to make everyone around her suffer for condemning her. Nothing special, but fun. The real kicker here is the obvious winks and nods to pop horror culture in the unfolding of the story. Everywhere you turn is a different horror trope, a different take on a classic horror theme song, and even the ending is straight out of your typical horror movie…..just toned down for a saturday morning kids audience.

Kodi and Tucker take most of the acting bruntwork, but I have to admit that Norman’s sister Courtney (Anna Kendrick) and Neil’s brother Mitch (Casey Affleck) take the cake. Affleck in particular hams it up as the local hunky football player with more muscles than brains to a T. My favorite part of the whole movie is the bombshell he drops on Courtney at the very end, and fully admit to rewinding that scene a couple of times to laugh a bit harder.




Rating:

Rated PG for scary action and images, thematic elements, some rude humor and language




4K Video: Video:

As with Coraline, Paranorman arrives with what is advertised as a new 4K restoration (once again, I’m not sure if they’re just meaning remaster, as there wasn’t really much wrong to RESTORE on either film) and the results are quite nice. Paranorman thrives off of pastels and autumn colors most of the film. It’s a creamy almost hazy look that is still razor sharp and the 4K UHD uptick in quality is substantial. Fine details don’t really get MUCH enhancement, but the backgrounds are a lot more textured and cleaner, with more nuances and details seen in the line art. Once again (I feel like I’m repeating myself) the biggest winner here is from the upgraded colors due to the HDR/DV. Blacks are silky deep (look at that final battle between Norman and the Witch) and the few primary colors are just so well saturated that it’s awe inspiring (once again, that final battle with all the yellows spewing from Agatha). This is a fantastic little upgrade for sure.







Audio:

I gave Paranorman a solid 4.5/5 rating for the 5.1 DTS-HD MA track found on their Blu-ray release (which is a port of the 2012 Universal release) but this Atmos mix pushes it over the edge into the 5/5 rating territory. It’s a wonderfully textured and layered sound track, with creepy Halloween music, and a final “boss scene” with the wicked witch that will stretch your heights and surrounds equally. Depth of vocals is intense, and the dynamic range isn’t massive, but still wide enough to give you a wildly dynamic mix. All in all, I really like the upgrades made in this Atmos track. It just feels that more intense, and that more immersive in the sense of the listener feeling like they’re in the center of a globe, with all of the curved points of the glob sending sounds your way.








Extras:

• Feature-Length Storyboards
• Inside LAIKA Featurette
• Never-Before-Seen ParaNorman Animation Test Footage
• Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Chris Butler and Co-Director Sam Fell
• "Peering Through the Veil
• Original Featurettes

Final Score: ​

As I said, Paranorman feels more at home as a Saturday morning cartoon than as one of the typical Laika Production films. Sure it’s got horror elements, but they’re mainly humorous ones vs. actual creep and disturbing imagery that the rest of their films thrive off of. Still, the movie is quite enjoyable as a popcorn animated kids flick, and is probably the most accessible of the films to younger audiences. The new 4K UHD definitely improves upon the 2012 Universal release (and the nearly identical Shout Factory release from last year) and with the Atmos mix makes it a very solid upgrade for fans. Just like Coraline we were given the steelbook to review, but there is also a standard packaging release out on the same day for those of you who want the cheaper and less damage prone packaging. Definitely a fun watch

Technical Specifications:

Starring: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Chrstopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, Jodelle Ferland
Directed by: Chris Butler, Sam Fell
Written by: Chris Butler
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), French, Spanish DTS 5.1, English DVS
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Shout Factory
Rated: PG
Runtime: 93 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: December 13th, 2022

Recommendation: Fun Watch