Frankenweenie

Frankenweenie (2012)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Tim Burton's excellent remake of his 1984 short about a young boy who suffers a heartbreaking loss when his dog is ran over and killed by a car. Inspired by a science experience, the young boy decides to use electricity to bring him back to life. FRANKENWEENIE was a pretty big disappointment at the box office but I guess this type of storyline would be a hard sell to certain parents plus the B&W might scare off a few as well. I can honestly say that this here is the best thing Burton has done in years as it really reminded me of his earlier days where the imagination was all over the place and it really delivered some fun, laughs and great emotion. I really, really loved the original movie and I really didn't think it would work when expanded to a longer running time but Burton and screenwriter John August has done a very good job with this. I think what makes this one so special are the various homages to earlier horror movies like BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, FRANKENSTEIN and there's no question that the scientist here is a homage to Vincent Price and we even got a great way to show off Christopher Lee. The entire look of the film is excellent as well because you really do feel as if you're watching a horror movie from their Golden Age because the sets are incredible, the humans are wonderful and once the animals start to come back at the end you can't help but smile. I really liked the way the other kids started to copy our hero here and we're left with a monster mash at the end including a giant turtle, which is obviously a wink to the Godzilla films. Catherine O'Hara, Martin Landau, Martin Short and Winona Ryder are all extremely good in their vocal work as is Charlie Tahan as the young boy. FRANKENWEENIE is certainly a terrific little gem that I think will play extremely well with the right child and of course the parents are really going to enjoy not only the charm but also the respect towards the films that came before it.

In 1984, when Tim Burton worked for Disney made a short film called Frankenweenie, which tells the story of Victor, a boy who after losing his dog Sparky in an accident decides to bring him back to life in the purest Frankenstein style, without considering the consequences this may cause. This work helps us to understand the basics of Burton's thematic and visual style, which became his trademark over the years: dark worlds with isolated and/or solitary characters faced to the reality of the world that confronts or rejects them.

It is almost 30 years later and a streak of quite irregular films that Burton returns to his roots and decided to resume the story of Frankenweenie to make an animated feature making use of the stop- motion technique, with which he created some of his best works such as the Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride, and Frankenweenie is no exception, as it represents a return to the best films of Burton.

On this occasion the original story remains intact and makes a bigger emphasis on the impact of the resurrection of Sparky among Victor's friends and as they'll try to emulate the feat with catastrophic results for the small town they live in. Likewise, the relationship between Victor and Elsa, her neighbor and school crush is explored, through which a great reference to The Bride of Frankenstein is made, although it'snot the only one, since along the film there are winks to classic monsters movies from the 30's as the Mummy, Creature from Black Lagoon, Cabinet of Dr. Cagliari and even classic monsters like Godzilla. And the film itself is a homage to this cinema being filmed in black and white and with music in perfect tone by Danny Elfman (Burton's closest collaborator).

An innate quality of Burton is the skill to create endearing characters out of the dark and grotesque and the best example of it is Sparky, a little dog now part of the most adorable creations on the burtonian universe, and that somehow reflects many of elements or themes that have remained constant in most of Burton's filmography: childhood, loneliness, friendship and a strange fixation with death and what happens after this.

Excepting the end that seems to betray the original concept, it is safe to say that Burton needs to do more films like Frankenweenie and much less like Alice in Wonderland.

It's inevitable to compare Frankenweenie to ParaNorman due to both being 2012 stop motion animated films centered around Halloween. I would say Frankenweenie is the lesser of the two, but not by too much. The story is heartfelt, the visuals are distinctive, and there's a peculiar charm to it. This seemed like a passion project for Burton and it shows. There's a lot of love and care put into this film, but it's classic Burton in that it's often weird, idiosyncratic, and grim. Frankenweenie is a fun homage to old school horror movies and should be a welcome return to form for fans of Tim Burton.

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After 26 years of the short movie, Tim Burton brings us a movie with his name written all over it. Creative and original, Frankeweenie illustrates its writer's original roots.

The concept is fascinating. Most of the characters are based on iconic horror movie characters, like Frankenstein and Van Helsing. In addition, the movie is set in black and white, trying to capture the old look of horror movies. And yes, I don't think this film is suitable for children, more like teenagers and adults, containing some scenes that may disturb children.

It's the story of Victor Frankenstein (voiced by Charlie Tahan), who, after losing his beloved dog Sparky, tries to revive him using lightning. The experiment is a success, but no one should know about what happened. Things start to get messed up when Edgar (voiced by Atticus Shaffer) discovers Sparky.

The animation is great. Tim Burton brings us a stop-motion masterpiece, paying attention to every detail from the movie's beginning to its end. The decent overall voice performance does the job just fine, giving us spooky character, Atticus Shaffer's voice gave me the chills. Tim Burton's fine job and the voice actors' performance give us the horror atmosphere necessary for the movie.

Burton is always highly imaginative and creative, but he's somehow missing something. Don't get me wrong, the movie's great, but something would've made it better. Frankenweenie will entertain a good percentage of its watchers, making it a must see 2012 movie.

With its cute, yet, decidedly creepy-looking characters, and all, I thought that Frankenweenie was a pretty darn good "Mad Scientist" story that's sure to be a hit with audiences of all ages.

Containing some very nice touches of warped humor, grotesque horror and several arousing moments of pathos (cleverly injected into its weird, but oddly wonderful, little tale), Frankenweenie has proved, once again, that director Tim Burton still has the master's touch when it comes to making stop-motion, animated films that seem to emerge from the very depths of the dark-side.

If nothing else, Frankenweenie certainly turned out to be a lovingly-charged homage to a variety of classic horror, monster, and Sci-Fi pictures from those glorious days of yesteryear.

All-in-all, Frankenweenie certainly had its share of flaws, but, just the same, I certainly hadn't expected to enjoy this film as much as I did.

Appropriately filmed in b&w, thank goodness that it didn't contain any musical numbers.