In the new ParaNorman trailer, we hear for the first time the voice of the boy who can talk to the dead. "I like to be alone," Norman says, his thick, expressive brows bowing low over his eyes.
The hero of the upcoming stop-motion 3-D film is shy and serious, but with a sense of humor. Norman may prefer solitude, but he's rarely on his own – what with all the dead and undead floating around him in their green ectoplasmic clouds. The character is voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee, the talented 15-year-old Australian who's played similarly sympathetic outsiders in The Road and Let Me In.
This latest peek into Laika's off-kilter feature, in theaters Aug. 17, is rich in awesome new detail. From Norman's tombstone-skeleton-hand alarm clock and zombie-brain table lamp to the Friday the 13th theme music alert on his cellphone, this is a world as richly detailed as any we've seen on screen.
The crazy part is that Laika built it all: Every building, blade of grass, skeleton, lightning strike and freckle was made by hand in a studio in Portland, Oregon.
The new ParaNorman trailer (see it in HD on Apple's site) is as explicit as the first trailer was moody. It offers plot points (Norman's dad doesn't get him, bullies at school call him "AbNorman," his ability to talk to the dead will save his town) and introduces Norman's parents, sister and friends (living and dead).
It offers a significant taste of both the comedic and supernatural thrills that ParaNorman promises to deliver. The trailer won't keep us satisfied until August, but maybe if we watch it over and over ...
