Frankenweenie
Director: Tim Burton.
Starring: Charlie Tahan, Winona Ryder.
Reviewed by Ben Carey.

[rating: 3/5]

Tim Burton is not only one of the most prolific directors of our time, but he is also one of the most consistently brilliant. Not only is he the man responsible for the original reboot of the Batman series, but he is also the man who created the amazing Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish, and Sweeney Todd, some of my all-time favourites. There is no question that he is and always will be one of the greats of cinema. However, since the turn of the millennium, Burton, while having produced some great films, has also delivered some real duds as well. Planet of the Apes and Dark Shadows coming in at the very bottom. Frankenweenie, then, could be Burton’s saving grace, his return to form.

Frankenweenie revolves around Victor (Tahan) who loses his beloved dog, Sparky, to a terrible accident. Victor, being a science wiz, tries his hand at resurrection with grand results. He is reunited with his dog and everything seems to carry on as usual. But disaster strikes when some of Victor’s over-ambitious classmates discover and try to replicate his experiment in order to win the school science fair.

Frankenweenie is of course a reimagining of the age-old classic Frankenstein by the brilliant Mary Shelley. I was glad to see that Burton kept both the first and the last name of the character, rather than just ripping off the idea and appropriating the title. Frankenweenie is actually a remake of one of Burton’s very first short films of the same name. His original short was released in 1984; Burton, an obvious fan of remakes, evidently thought he could do an even better job this time round.

First and foremost, the visuals of this film are just breathtaking. The animation and art design is wonderful (I was particularly fond of Sparky’s pen-scribble-rimmed eyes) and the gothic element which is so predominant pays tribute to Burton’s earlier works, Corpse Bride and to an extent The Nightmare Before Christmas (which he didn’t direct but had a huge artistic influence on). The black and white is also a great touch; it really draws attention to the set design and accentuates the contrast between the highlights and lowlights – in other words, it’s just really beautiful to look at.

I really appreciated the opening scene in which Victor plays a homemade stop-motion video to his parents, starring his dog Sparky as ‘Sparky-Saurus’. Here Burton eloquently pays homage to old films such as Godzilla and also his love of stop-motion filmmaking. Also I found the concept of a stop-motion film within a stop-motion film delightfully Inceptionary.

I do feel that the film drags a little during the middle. In fact, after Victor has successfully revived his dog, the film almost sits around waiting for events to happen and when they do they seem to come a little out of the blue. Perhaps the escalation of events is just slightly off. I also think that there is a decent amount of content in this film which would make it unsuitable for a wide range of children. Honestly I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Disney film push the boundaries quite so much as this, and I’m not so sure it’s a good thing in this case as many parents may not take their kids to see it.

Frankenweenie is a visual masterpiece backed by a good narrative. I think adult audiences and Tim Burton fans will absolutely adore this film. However, I think quite a few children are going to miss out on this one unfortunately.