- 87 minutes. Rated PG.
Bob’s mom: “What were you two boys doing up on the roof?”
Toshiaki: “SCIENCE!”
Twenty-eight years ago, Tim Burton made a short film based on an idea of his called Frankenweenie. He decided he could do it better.
In this stop motion animated film, young Victor Frankenstein (voiced by Charlie Tahan) is obsessed with science and is basically a loner, making his own Godzilla-type home movies starring his best friend, Sparky the dog. When Sparky is hit by a car and dies, Victor is inconsolable until his science teacher, Mr. Rzykruski (pronounced close to “rice krispie” and voiced by the brilliant Martin Landau), happens to do an experiment in class that shows a living body is simply electrical impulses. Victor is inspired to attempt to bring Sparky back to life, so in true Frankenstein fashion, he digs up his dog, hooks him up, and lets him be struck by lightning. Sparky is ALIVE!!!
But that is merely the beginning of the story. Victor tries to keep Sparky hidden, but he gets out and one of Victor’s classmates, Edgar Gore (Atticus Shaffer) sees him. Edgar (E. Gore. Get it? Igor?) threatens to tell everyone unless Victor shows him how he did the experiment (the science fair is coming up and there’s some big competition). Victor complies, and they not only bring a dead fish to life, but make it invisible. Naturally, Edgar can’t keep his mouth shut, and soon several other students know about Sparky and make their own preparations to bring animals back from the dead. It would be an understatement to say that things go terribly wrong (it is a Halloween monster movie after all).
Now, there isn’t much about this film that makes it out of the ordinary as far as the plotline goes. What makes it special is the way Burton goes about telling it.
This movie is a homage to the many classic horror films of the past. To begin with, it is in black and white. Although there are dialogue bits that place us in the present day, the rest of the setting gives us only the flavor of the 1950s. People dress (mostly) in that time period, the cars are big-finned, the television sets are heavy consoles, and small details like the local movie theater showing “Bambi” are numerous (and when is the last time you saw a phone booth with doors that closed?).
The characters are great horror film stereotypes. Edgar is a hunchbacked, striped shirt wearing, missing toothed Igor. Toshiaki (James Hiroyuki Liao) is your typical Japanese genius from Godzilla flicks. Catherine O’Hara voices the super-creepy yet unnervingly funny Weird Girl (O’Hara does triple duty, also embodying the characters of Mrs. Frankenstein and the gym teacher). Victor’s next door neighbor is the rotund mayor, Mr. Burgermeister (and we all remember the Burgermeister from the stop motion classic Christmas special Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, right? This guy looks just like him), with Martin Short bringing him grumpily to life (he also voices Mr. Frankenstein). All of the scenes with Mr. Rzykruski are hilarious, with his intense explanations of scientific concepts in his heavy Eastern European accent.
Then there are the details to consider. In the pet cemetery there’s a grave for Shelley, as in Mary Shelly, author ofFrankenstein. There happens to be a windmill, just like in the Frankenstein film. Of course, there is a scene including townsfolk carrying torches. The neighborhood (including scenes with hedge trimmers) recalls Burton’s classic filmEdward Scissorhands. Animals brought back to life recall scenes from the movies The Mummy, Godzilla (versus pick any of the other monsters) and Gremlins. It is quite literally a horror film fan’s reference dream.
Add to all of that a quite lovely heartfelt story of a boy who just loves his dog. That simple piece of story is quite affecting, even though you walk into the theater knowing more or less what is going to happen. The love for Sparky helps bring Victor out of his lab and into the rest of the world.
This movie doesn’t have any sort of light, sappy moments. True to Burton’s style, everything tends to be on the dark side with the moments of levity tending towards the twistedly humorous instead of straightforward comic relief.
My nine-year-old loved the movie, and she is firmly a Tim Burton fan. The dark and spookier bits didn’t bother her at all. Sensitive children may be looking for something brighter and funnier from a Disney-sponsored film, but I feel it makes up for that in heart. However, I don’t think I would recommend the film for children under eight, simply because while it isn’t a lengthy film, it also doesn’t feel fast-moving and may cause younger children to become antsy. I definitely believe that the many references were completely over the heads of every child in the cinema, and my chuckles were just for me. Tim Burton has never made a movie strictly aimed at children and adults who are fond of his work won’t be disappointed in this one. While it will never be considered the best animated film ever, most who watch this will walk away entertained.
