ParaNorman = ParaAmazing

I brought my kids to see this movie and being a horror/zombie fanatic I certainly enjoyed the film. I do think that it may be a little "dark" for some children however my kids loved it.

I'm curious about this movie. Out of all the 3D animated films coming out this fall (seems to be quite a few), this one looks the most appealing. I'll have to drag someone with me to see it.

Breitbart has objections.

Now, for the first time, an American animated feature features an openly gay character.

...<snip>...

Chris Butler, who is gay and wrote the script, said:

"It seemed like the best bookend to that whole tolerance thing and to do it as a joke, a kind of throwaway thing, but something that has NEVER been done before. I think we're telling a story about intolerance, so you have to be brave about it.”
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But my favorite quote:

It’s a time-honored technique of the gay community to hide the fact that a character is gay until the audience has developed a real affinity for him/her, then catch the audience off-guard by divulging that the character is gay.

If they really were “brave” they’d announce from the start that Mitch was gay and see just how many parents would take their children to see this movie.

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Yes. Because gay people NEVER wait to tell people they're gay.

I mean, why would they want too, considering how friendly and accepting the world is to them.

I haven't seen this movie, but I really want too.

I really enjoyed the movie. Took my kids to see it at the drive-in over the weekend. My five year old thought parts in the beginning were funny, but then got bored and fell asleep.

My daughter liked it (she is nine), but some parts were a little scary for her.

The only issues I had with it were a few things seemed a little adult for little kids. But I found it funny and entertaining, which is hard to find for an adult watching a kid movie. Doubt the kids want to watch it again, but I will.

amblack said:

And they want it upgraded to a PG-13 flick:
http://www.change.org/fr/pétitions/content-transparency-of-pg-pg13-movies-primetime-tv-and-upgrade-the-rating-of-paranorman (really. REALLY? :roll eyes They want an rating guide to: Sexual Orientation - OTHER Than Heterosexual. Disgusting.

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Augh. What makes it worse is that they couldn't be bothered to spell their argument properly. 'Movie trailor' is the worst, and 'sensor or not sensor our children' is just an ignorant, lazy mistake.

Unfortunately, as long as there are people roaming the earth, there will be people getting all offended over the simplest things, who can't just be satisfied by getting their ticket refunded. Oh, how I wish I could smack some sense into them, but those types never listen, anyway, so it's a waste of time. Alas.

Saw the movie, liked it, found it a little intense and my younger son (9) watched it and thought it interesting. Really, who gives a shit if there's a gay character in it? Pretty dumb for people to get outraged and I doubt any kid is gonna go flaming after watching this flick.

As long as the character is presented honestly as a true-life one and not a stereotype (of religion, race, creed or sexual orientation) then I think the audience would accept it and find it interesting/amusing/charming, etc.

Jeez, you'd think people have something better to do than to crap on a movie where the filmmaker's intentions were honest right from the start.

amblack said:

ttp://exministries.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/parents-paranorman-introduces-children-to-homosexuality/

http://www.nationalreview.com/home-front/314665/iparanormani-has-gay-sub-plot/nancy-french

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/french...anorman-introduces-children-to-homosexuality/

And they want it upgraded to a PG-13 flick:
http://www.change.org/fr/pétitions/...etime-tv-and-upgrade-the-rating-of-paranorman

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The first three links were all to the same story! But the Exministries site was interesting, thanks. Again, I shouldn't read the comments, but I always do.

The petition was entertaining. I hope it is every bit as successful as the one circulated to stop Peter Jackson from exploiting 9/11 by naming the second film in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy "The Two Towers".

I honestly didn't care about the gay character. That wasn't one of the issues I had with the movie.

As an animator, I can't geek out enough about Paranorman . The animation is actually a combination of CG art- 3D powder printers, traditional maniquettes, stop motion animation, and combined-composited practical & CG FX + some regular 2D painting and artwork to boot.
They made 40,000 faces for the project! It's 92 minuets long- so that's 132,480 images.
Any art geek should go see it, just for the art.

I don't have kids, and from what I've read my family isn't PG13 friendly (My sister and her wife are raising my sister's bi-racial babies.) So I don't feel qualified to offer rating advice.
The reveal of the gay character, however, did not seem shocking imho - In the Breitbart article the author writes as if someone's played a big trick on him:

Laika's stop-motion animated zombie comedy "ParaNorman" has a character named Mitch, who is, of course, a heavily-muscled jock who seems heterosexual until the end of the movie, at which time a girl named Courtney asks him if he wants to see a movie.

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I knew he was gay the second the sister was introduced to him. She hit on him and he didn't care/ notice. She threw herself at him bodily and he didn't care / notice - at least 4 times! That seemed pretty gay to me. Maybe it was because Mitch liked to work on cars- or didn't have the stereotypical lisp- or wasn't wearing a pink sweater vest? I dunno.

I don't think it's shocking to introduce kids to homosexuality because it exists- it's like hiding whales- oh, don't tell little jimmy about whales! - but what if he sees one while we're on vacation? We'll lie about it - trick of the light- the devil's going for a swim -lets go back to the hotel.

Anyways- before I get too ranty - go see the movie cuz it's awesome.

Rhubix said:

don't tell little jimmy about whales!

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This is going on a T-Shirt.

Paranorman has only just come out on dvd in the UK so I watched it last night.

Loved it. If you haven't seen it yet, do so. Can't recommend it enough.