Film: Paranorman (PG)

Director: Chris Butler and Sam Fell

Chris Butler wrote this himself and co-directed it – both jobs for the first time, but having cut his film-making teeth on The Corpse Bride and Coraline, he has been learning from some of the best in unnerving family films.

Norman Babcock is an ordinary kind of kid, except that – like that other slightly less accessible movie child – he sees dead people. Norman sees ghosts, and he gets on with them every day as he goes to school, does his chores and generally lives his kid-life. The thing is, no one exept his new friend Neil believes him. Then his uncle tells him about an annual ritual that must be performed to save his town – Blithe Hollow – from a curse. After much cajoling he agrees to take part, but things don’t quite go to plan and Norman soon finds himself with a few unlikely allies, trying to save the town from the risen dead and the horrific truth of the curse.

Featuring the vocal talents of Kodi Smit-McPhee, Tucker Albrizzi, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Bernard Hill and John Goodman.

Released Friday 14 September,
Showing at Odeon and Cineworld