In this animation movie, Norman (with the voice of Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a kid with an unusual ability. He can see ghosts and talk with them. His weird behavior causes him to be teased at school because no one believes that he can really communicate with dead people. The only one that believes him is a fat kid named Neil (with the voice of Tucker Albrizzi). Neil is bullied at school as well, so he feels sorry for Norman and becomes Norman's only friend.
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The little town is in Massachusetts and has a similar dark history, like the town of Salem, of having witch trials hundreds of years ago. It is said to be haunted by the ghosts of the witches killed by the townspeople. Each year the school puts on a play as a reenactment of the trials. During the practice for the play Norman sees the ghosts of the past and how they were hunted down. While on the way home from school Norman and Neil run into Norman's crazy uncle Prenderghast (with the voice of John Goodman) who tells Norman that he has come of age, and it is now Norman's responsibility to take over the long-standing ritual that is necessary to keep the town from harm and protect the people from the ghosts. After warning Norman of his fate, his uncle dies then suddenly reappears as a ghost surprising Norman in the bathroom to tell Norman he must get a special book to use to perform the ritual before the sun goes down, otherwise all with be lost.
Before Norman can perform the ritual, all the ghosts from the past come out of their graves. These are the townspeople from long ago that led the trials including the Judge that sentenced the falsely accused little girl to death. The ghosts come into town looking for Norman to convince him to perform the ritual, and when they encounter real people they get frightened and try to run away. They tell Norman that the curse is caused by the vengeful little girl. Norman finds the book but it is only full of children's stories so he does not understand the significance of it. It is just that the little girl is lonely and wants to be read a bedtime story to calm her down. Norman goes to the graveyard to talk to the little girl ghost to try to convince her to finally rest in peace and no longer curse the town.
Best part of story, including ending:
This animation film is a funny parody of the live action movie called “Sixth Sense” where the young boy in that film says that he can see dead people.
Best scene in story:
I like the way that Norman convinces his friend Neil in one scene that he can see ghosts by telling Neil he can see his pet dog that died. Then Neil plays with the ghost dog in a hilarious way using Norman's guidance as to where the dog is and what it is doing, because Norman is the only one that can see him.
Opinion about the main character:
Norman being shunned by his schoolmates and unfairly treated, is the only one that truly understands the feelings of the little ghost girl and how she was hurt so badly. It is a nice resolution when he finally convinces the ghost girl to give up the vengefulness, accept the sadness about what happened, and move on by thinking about better memories from the past.
