ParaNorman 3D Blu-ray (2012) [Region Free]

[Zivouhr]

ParaNorman 3D Blu-ray

ParaNorman (as in Paranormal) is in theaters now. I'm considering seeing it as the trailer has some really nice 3D to it. Has anyone seen this yet? I ask, as it just came out but doesn't have many time slots for it at my Cinemark, with Expendables 2 and other movies crowding the theater.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1623288/

I'm guessing the Blu Ray 3D will be out December 2012.

It's got some good reviews and is about a kid who fights zombies in a town or something like that from what I saw in the trailer, where he's the only one who can stop them.

I'm pretty sure it's made by the same company that made Coraline 3D, though this 3D looks stronger from the trailer anyway.

[BD3Dfan]

There's a trailer for ParaNorman on Sony's 3D Experience app on their BD players. I watched it and, while it did have good 3D, it seems to be going for the same route as Coraline IMO (i.e. less depth and volume when 'normal', more when 'strange').

[BleedOrange11]

The 3D YouTube trailers looked incredibly weak to me, expanding depth from super subtle in normal life to less subtle when ghosts were around. I'm sure it would look better on a theater screen than my 42" TV.

CinemaBlend really liked the 3D though, and the story is getting great reviews. 3D impressions would be appreciated from anyone who goes to see it.

3D Trailers:

[Show spoiler]

Paranorman 3d trailer in 3d - YouTube

Paranorman 3D (Official Trailer in 3D) - RUSSIAN - YouTube

[Zivouhr]

Thanks. It's this or Expendables 2 (though I wasn't a big fan of Expendables 1).

The 3D trailer in theaters might have been amped up and created separately from the movie.
EDIT: Yeah, that scene with the fence with Norman walking out of his house IS 2D. I hate when they do that. It's a 3D movie and we're paying to see it in 3D, but they present it in nearly flat 2D with other scenes in 3D. I think I might give this a try today even so, and hope for the best. They mention "Eye Popping" 3D so here's hoping when I saw the trailer in theaters, it'll look just as good compared to this flatter looking online 3D trailer.

One reviewer suggested this company also made "9" the movie (which should've been in 3D but isn't), which I liked. But yes, Coraline 3D was a let down for the 3D IMO. Just way too conservative.

[Paul H]

Went to see ParaNorman 3D when it started Friday. Was very impressed by the degree of the "Horror" genre the movie was emitting.

[Show spoiler]It has a scene that is intense in nature of a disturbing situation with a dead body;

Definitely not meant for children and IMO, teenagers would need an adult mentality to grasp the humor of the experience.

The 3D was very good. The movie ran quite a talented experimental gamut of different depths. Loved the beginning flow to the story and the ending had a great message IMO, comparable to the essence of Coraline, but the middle of the story really slowed down. Wasn't quite sure what was happening or where the plot was purposely going in a few scenes.

Need to see it again and wouldn't hesitate to get the Blu-ray 3D.

[Zivouhr]

Originally Posted by Paul H

Went to see ParaNorman 3D when it started Friday. Was very impressed by the degree of the "Horror" genre the movie was emitting.

[Show spoiler]It has a scene that is intense in nature of a disturbing situation with a dead body;

Definitely not meant for children and IMO, teenagers would need an adult mentality to grasp the humor of the experience.

The 3D was very good. The movie ran quite a talented experimental gamut of different depths. Loved the beginning flow to the story and the ending had a great message IMO, comparable to the essence of Coraline, but the middle of the story really slowed down. Wasn't quite sure what was happening or where the plot was purposely going in a few scenes.

Need to see it again and wouldn't hesitate to get the Blu-ray 3D.

Thanks for the review Paul.

I also just saw ParaNorman 3D today, just got back. Cinemark Theater, trailers included, to give you some perspective on how I value 3D:
"Story of Pi" (live action weak 3D) by Ang Lee (forget the exact title of preview, but interesting Tiger and Human story)
Despicable Me 2 (really good 3D but it was only the teaser trailer of the yellow pills singing and honking a party whistle).
Hotel Transylvania (bare minimum 3D, but interesting story)
Rise of the Guardians (really good 3D, interesting story)
Hobbit 3D (live action, close to strong 3D, a must see for me)

The first half of ParaNorman 3D I really enjoyed, thanks to the light humor, colorful scenery, beautiful expressive animation and the whole theme of Halloween, along with the hero and his chubby friend who provided some funny moments kind of like those in Monster House. Nice hints of ghosts, goblins and zombies with a few tributes to horror movies.

The humor was good, though from the audience reaction, the kids laughed during the previews, while the adults laughed during ParaNorman. This movie clearly doesn't cater to toddlers, and for that it really stands out. I laughed a few times, but the audience out-laughed me once I started to lose interest in the story later on. Paranorman the movie, had me intrigued during the first half, but lost me once the car chase started and his older sister took over a lot of the dialog, taking the focus off Norman and his funny friend, focusing on less likeable characters, which to me, was a big mistake for the story writer.

As far as the 3D, it was actually good for the first half and fairly consistent, average 3D (which I consider good, but not strong 3D). It wasn't weak as it was for the 2nd half onward excluding some stand out 3D shots thrown in once every few scenes. Otherwise, I was watching this and would flip up my 3D glasses to confirm, there was nearly ZERO image separation during the flat shots. I don't get it. Maybe they made the 2nd half first, and then learned how to do 3D by the first half, which had better 3D.

Best pop outs were the bugs flying out in his uncle's house. Best 3D was the first half of the movie in daylight.

For me, and this is just one opinion of someone who really enjoyed Monster House 3D and prefers the strong 3D of Avatar, ParaNorman was great for the first half of the movie, but like a balloon running out of air, the 3D and the story seemed to deflate as things progressed.

It's still a well made, very stylized movie with some very creative and enjoyable moments, but I'll be passing this one up as I did with Coraline Blu Ray 3D.

I need much stronger 3D to be satisfied and this movie never took that chance. Very conservative (3/10) 3D in the 2nd half (almost 2D in some shots). Good 7/10 3D in the first half. = 3D.

I hate to be harsh on the 3D, but that's what I saw as a fan of strong 3D.

[mseeley]

Originally Posted by Zivouhr

ParaNorman (as in Paranormal) is in theaters now. I'm considering seeing it as the trailer has some really nice 3D to it. Has anyone seen this yet? I ask, as it just came out but doesn't have many time slots for it at my Cinemark, with Expendables 2 and other movies crowding the theater.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1623288/

I'm guessing the Blu Ray 3D will be out December 2012.

It's got some good reviews and is about a kid who fights zombies in a town or something like that from what I saw in the trailer, where he's the only one who can stop them.

I'm pretty sure it's made by the same company that made Coraline 3D, though this 3D looks stronger from the trailer anyway.

It is indeed from the studio behind Coraline( which I thought had AMAZING 3d when I first saw it a long time ago! I still want it soo badly on bluray 3d!) know as "Laikia" if I'm correct I've very happy that ParaNorman has been getting good reviews, as I thought it looked fantastic when I first saw the teaser trailer and some other trailers a long time ago xD Plus I've been surprised at 3d reaction by critics, which seems to be mostly positive from what I've seen, which is fantastic! Can't wait to catch this in 3D in the theater(that and I gotta still see Expendables 2, which is pretty much what everyone is going to be talking about lol)

[mseeley]

Originally Posted by Zivouhr

Thanks. It's this or Expendables 2 (though I wasn't a big fan of Expendables 1).

The 3D trailer in theaters might have been amped up and created separately from the movie.
EDIT: Yeah, that scene with the fence with Norman walking out of his house IS 2D. I hate when they do that. It's a 3D movie and we're paying to see it in 3D, but they present it in nearly flat 2D with other scenes in 3D. I think I might give this a try today even so, and hope for the best. They mention "Eye Popping" 3D so here's hoping when I saw the trailer in theaters, it'll look just as good compared to this flatter looking online 3D trailer.

One reviewer suggested this company also made "9" the movie (which should've been in 3D but isn't), which I liked. But yes, Coraline 3D was a let down for the 3D IMO. Just way too conservative.

Yeah those 3D trailers online were kind've weak, and I remember the ones in theater at times looked stronger. Wonky encodes perhaps? :shrug*

But I have to disagree on Coraline. I thought that movie for alot of the time had very strong 3d. But then again, it's been years since I've seen that in 3d, so I'll have to rewatch it to be sure. But I remember alot of it being strong I think

[Zivouhr]

Originally Posted by mseeley

Yeah those 3D trailers online were kind've weak, and I remember the ones in theater at times looked stronger. Wonky encodes perhaps? :shrug*

But I have to disagree on Coraline. I thought that movie for alot of the time had very strong 3d. But then again, it's been years since I've seen that in 3d, so I'll have to rewatch it to be sure. But I remember alot of it being strong I think

Definitely check it out when it's on sale and feel free to write a short review of the 3D if you can. Yes, I also saw Coraline 3D in theaters.

I tend to compare everything to Avatar 3D or the strongest 3D I remember seeing, and then determine how it falls on the 3D strength scale from weak to strong.

[BleedOrange11]

Thanks for the reviews, Paul and Zivouhr. I'm probably most disappointed hearing that Life of Pi has a weak 3D trailer. That is one I am really looking forward to. Hopefully, it gets uploaded to YouTube soon.

[Carboooon]

I saw a Life of Pi preview a while ago and thought it was pretty good. The 3d seemed relatively strong to me with some nice depth and a fair amount of pop out.

[BleedOrange11]

Good to hear! Thanks. I'll have to see it for myself now.

[armandxp]

I really enjoyed Paranorman. I watched it in 3-D, but thought it was totally unnecessary. Now when it hits bluray it may look better on my projector. The story was cute, was funny, but the ending was a little stretched out. Overall it was as good as Coraline. Don't waste the extra money on 3D at the theater, 3D always looks better at home IMHO.

[mseeley]

Originally Posted by Carboooon

I saw a Life of Pi preview a while ago and thought it was pretty good. The 3d seemed relatively strong to me with some nice depth and a fair amount of pop out.

I thought so too. I got a special preview in 3d attached with Prometheus and it showed a big scene involving this crazy-flying fish. Annoyingly though, the image was cropped in a full-screen ratio( big black bars on the left and right side of the image), which made the 3D a bit uncomfortable to view. Then again, I also thought the 3d image wasn't fully stabilized and it created the uncomfortable effect of the 3d being their, but the image being out of focus. I'm guessing it was a faulty and unfinished encode of the footage they had exclusively attached to Prometheus previews

[Gae]

Thanks for the reviews guys.

With regards the 3D, I really wish studios would either do the 3D properly (and get a proper stereographer involved in the shoot) or else just shoot the film in 2D.

Gae

[keb33509]

Look up the process on how they shot ParaNorman. It was a long process. They used Canon DSLRs and they had a mount that would swivel back and forth between each shot to take the left and right eye captures. Stop animation is not easy to work with. I think their 3D in both Coraline and this is extraordinary for the technological boundaries they had to go around.

[joenostalgia23]

I saw it yesterday and I really really liked the film.

As far as the 3D went, it was very subtle. But I think 3D is great for films like this and Coraline because they really help you appreciate the textures and sculpting that goes into the models.
It rarely has things stabbing into your eyes, but it's very natural.

As far as trailers went, Life of Pi had exceptional 3D!
IMO, the trailer for Life of Pi looked better than all of Paranorman and the rest of the trailers. The image was very bright and colorful, the shots and angles were very creative, especially for 3D. There's a lot of depth and dimensionality and a bit of pop-out as well... but none of the shots ever look gimmicky for 3D. I thought the trailer for Life of Pi looked even better than The Hobbit's.
I don't know what sort of theater Ziouhr went to, but I'm surprised that he wasn't impressed. Then again, we've disagreed about 3D in the past(I personally consider Coraline and Tron: Legacy to be two of the best 3D Blu-rays). no offence.

[atomik kinder]

I was watching a short thing about this movie on FearNet, I think it was, and the director was saying they "printed" the characters. Does anyone have any idea of what he was talking about? He was particularly talking about the faces of them. I think they actually used replaceable faces, as in Nightmare before Christmas with Sally and Jack instead of mechanical heads with moveable features like the ones in Corpse Bride. It had something to do with the freckles and features on the faces and how everything was on the faces in the exact same spot on every replacement.
I know this has nothing to do with the 3D discussion, but I find stop motion animation interesting, much more so than CG animation, especially since they have to physically make everything.

[Paul H]

Originally Posted by atomik kinder

I was watching a short thing about this movie on FearNet, I think it was, and the director was saying they "printed" the characters. Does anyone have any idea of what he was talking about? He was particularly talking about the faces of them. I think they actually used replaceable faces, as in Nightmare before Christmas with Sally and Jack instead of mechanical heads with moveable features like the ones in Corpse Bride. It had something to do with the freckles and features on the faces and how everything was on the faces in the exact same spot on every replacement.
I know this has nothing to do with the 3D discussion, but I find stop motion animation interesting, much more so than CG animation, especially since they have to physically make everything.

If and when you see the movie, stay in your seat until the credits are finished and it will show you in a quick segment with time-laps photography how the mechanics are put together. Don't remember seeing replaceable features, but I wasn't looking for it. There was a lot to take in showing interesting pictures about physically making a character.

Paul

[Trogdor2010]

Originally Posted by Carboooon

I saw a Life of Pi preview a while ago and thought it was pretty good. The 3d seemed relatively strong to me with some nice depth and a fair amount of pop out.

You know I was at a screening last friday (terrific film) and never seen a trailer for it. I have recalled Hotel Transylvania and Frankenweenie trailers though.