In the town of Blithe Hollow Norman Babcock is a boy who can speak to the dead but no one besides his eccentric new friend Neil believes his ability is real. One day Normans estranged eccentric uncle tells him of an important annual ritual he must take up to protect the town from a curse cast by a witch it condemned centuries ago. Eventually Norman decides to cooperate but things dont go according to plan. Now a magic storm of the witch threatens Blithe Hollow as the accursed dead rise. Together with unexpected new companions Norman struggles to save his town only to discover the horrific truth of the curse. With that insight Norman must resolve the crisis for good as only he can.
Review
This was a rather surprising movie. It's unlike any other modern animated movie and picks a new sort of approach that should work entertaining for both adults and kids.
There is plenty of 'simple' stuff to enjoy for young kids in this movie but also the adults shall have no complaints about it. Throughout the years animated movies often had both stuff for both kids and adults to enjoy in this movie but I feel that the line dividing the two different forms of entertainment is getting more and more blurry. Instead the two things more often get effectively combined with as a result more and more movies get released that aren't being too childish for adults or too mature for little kids. It's being perfect entertainment for just about everybody!
I do admit though that I was a bit surprised to see how horror orientated this movie was. Make no mistake about it this is a horror movie. It might be a bit frightening for some children but obviously most shall be perfectly capable of handling it. Fantasy and movies can be a great outlet and also stimulant for children's imagination this also includes horror orientated stuff. After all most kids are of course perfectly capable of making a distinction between real stuff and fantasy.
And I do applaud this movie for not being overly fluffy or careful and protective toward children. Not that that this is being a completely dark or scary depressing movie to watch but overall it's being a tad bit more dark and daring than just an average animated movie.
It's really having a style and approach of its own which just doesn't goes for its story or the fact that this is being a more genuine horror flick but also really for its comedy and characters. The characters all feel rich and very much alive (yes even the dead characters!) and the humor is more clever and often dialog orientated as opposed to having characters jumping around and falling and bumping into stuff. In that regard this movie also feels far more mature than just the average genre attempt.
And another important aspect about an animated movie it's a really good looking one! It's using stopmotion techniques and it shows that this genre is far from outdated or dead. It's really something that gives the movie an unique look and feel. I don't know it's perhaps pleasant that it's being something that allows the movie to feel 'fake' and true exaggerated fantasylike as opposed to CG animated movies that are getting more and more smooth and realistic to watch.
It's also a movie with a great underlying message in it that tells you it's OK to be different and there is nothing weird or wrong about it and you shouldn't just judge a book on its cover. It's still too bad this message was lost on some people and I'm talking about those who had a problem with its ending. It was perfectly suitable and fitted perfectly into what this entire movie was trying to tell you for the first hour and a half.
A surprisingly good movie in about every regard that above all things is being perfectly fun and entertaining to watch!
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