ParaNorman

There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that ParaNorman should be one of the best animated films of the year. Made by LAIKA, the team behind Coraline, the stop-motion animated comedy has a brilliant voice cast led by Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In) as the eponymous Norman, alongside Casey Affleck, Anna Kendrick, Leslie Mann, John Goodman, Jeff Garlin, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.

The film’s official site has put up a batch of fifteen images, a few of which have surfaced before, but all of which now form part of a storybook that introduce the film and its excellent premise.

“The new 3D stop-motion comedy thriller from animation company LAIKA, reteaming the company with Focus Features after the groundbreaking Academy Award-nominated “Coraline.” “ParaNorman” is, following “Coraline,” the company’s second stop-motion animated feature to be made in 3D. In “ParaNorman,” a small town comes under siege by zombies. Who can it call? Only misunderstood local boy Norman (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee), who is able to speak with the dead. In addition to the zombies, he’ll have to take on ghosts, witches and, worst, of all, grown-ups, to save his town from a centuries-old curse. But this young ghoul whisperer may find his paranormal activities pushed to their otherworldly limits.”

Co-directors Chris Butler and Sam Fell (Flushed Away, The Tale of Desperaux) are working from Butler’s script, with Butler making both his writing and directorial debut.

ParaNorman will be released in 3D on 17th August in the US and a little later on 14th September here in the UK, and it definitely looks like this will be one you’ll want to see. As usual with these great images below, you can click to enlarge.