What a delight.

When I set out to see all the Oscar nominated films this year, I lamented the recently-added category of Best Animated Film. "Why do I have to watch these children's films!," I wondered sourly. I mean, Brave was awesome but I wasn't interested in watching four more. Well, this weekend I Netflixed two of the nominees and I can only say: what a delight.

ParaNorman is the tale of a young boy who can see and talk to the dead. The people of his town treat him like a freak, but he uses his abilities to save them when they need him. It's clever, funny, and beautifully animated. It's really not appropriate for young kids, despite the animated format, but I enjoyed it immensely.

The Pirates! Band of Misfits is a claymation (oh, how I love claymation) film from the people who did Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run. It is, in a word, hilarious. It's full of clever, hysterically funny dialogue and marvelous characters. Hugh Grant plays the Pirate Captain and his delivery is spot-on perfect. If you have kids, it's a great movie to enjoy with them, but if you don't have kids, do yourself a favor and enjoy it anyway. It's wonderful.

Now I'm actually looking forward to checking out Frankenweenie and Wreck-It Ralph.