Co-directors Sam Fell and Chris Butler dedicate their new stop-action animated feature, ParaNorman, to the misfits of the world.
If they only attract moviegoers who felt they were different when they were growing up, their film will be a huge success.
As they put it during a recent promotional stop in Miami, they created this tale of a outcast kid with a talent for seeing ghosts ― which opens nationwide this Friday ― for themselves and for people like themselves.
Butler, who wrote the screenplay for ParaNorman and also served as storyboard supervisor for 2009’s Coraline, concedes that there is a lot of himself in Norman Babcock. “It’s true, I didn’t quite fit in at school and Norman doesn’t quite fit in. The kids kind of pick on him, so he just keeps to himself and that was definitely my way of getting through school, just to keep my head down.”
But unlike Butler, Norman has a paranormal ability. “Alas, I could neither see nor speak to ghosts,” he concedes. “But I could draw, and I suppose that helped me get through the pains of childhood.”
Fell, a United Kingdom native like Butler, is also no stranger to stop-action animation, having written and directed the award-winning Flushed Away (2006). He was attracted to Butler’s script, he says, because of the character of Norman.
“I think what I like is that he has a little bit of strength in him and he’s kind of sparky. He’s not beaten down by the bullying he receives,” says Fell. “He’s got a way of dealing with it.”
Both directors are used to easy comparisons between their film and The Sixth Sense, where Haley Joel Osment famously announced that he saw dead people, but they insist there is a difference between the two. “We were always quite adamant that Norman’s talking to ghosts, it doesn’t terrify him. He’s not angst-ridden, he’s not crying himself to sleep about it,” says Butler. “In fact, he’s pretty comfortable talking to ghosts.”
“His problem is the people around town,” chimes in Fell. “If it wasn’t for them, he’d be pretty happy-go-lucky.”
ParaNorman’s ghoulishness is decidedly tongue-in-cheek, but that had not stopped reviewers from questioning the film’s appropriateness for youngsters. Fell has become practiced at begging off from the question. “Every parent needs to answer that for themselves. They know best what their child can take in a movie theater,” he says. “We have a PG certificate, so a five-year-old could come. I think some five-year-olds would come to this and enjoy it. Other parents might feel their children are a little too sensitive.
“The scares are kind of like a fun roller coaster ride of a movie. The scares are there for excitement and fun and entertainment. We’re not bad men who want to terrify children. That’s not the point.”
Butler takes a more positive approach to the subject. “I think when I wrote this, it was aware of the tricky nature of the material, but it did not cause me any concern. I think a big part of really good fiction for kids, whether it’s books or movies, is the stuff that does have scares in it. A lot of the stuff that I remember from the time I was a kid, like those old Disney movies, the villains are terrifying.
“And in a way, I think that’s important,” Butler adds. “The reason you present something that’s monstrous to a child is to show that it can be overcome and that there’s a lesson to be learned from it. The best zombie movies make some kind of larger comment. I think the idea of doing a zombie movie for kids, and in this case using a zombie movie to explore the idea of tolerance and bullying, is pretty bold.
“‘ParaNorman’ is a parable, if you will, a message movie that is also a lot of jolly good fun.”
PARANORMAN. Directors: Chris Butler and Sam Fell; cast (voices): Kodi Smit-McPhee, Tucker Albrizzi, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Leslie Mann, John Goodman, Elaine Stritch, Tempestt Bledsoe; Rated: PG; opens Friday at area theaters.