“Frankenweenie” is the new black-and-white, stop-motion animation film directed by Tim Burton, featuring performances by Martin Landau, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, and Martin Short. The film is based on a short film written and directed by Tim Burton in 1984 by the same name that kicked off his career. “Frankenweenie” is a parody of science fiction horror films of the 30’s like “Frankenstein” and “The Bride of Frankenstein”.
The film tells the story of a brilliant young boy named, Victor, and his dog, Sparky. Victor is an inventor, and the favorite to win his upcoming science competition. Despite offers to be partners from his disfigured and hunchbacked classmate, Edgar Gore, Victor tells “E” Gore he prefers to work alone.
After Sparky is hit by a car, the boy and his family must bury the beloved dog. Victor is miserable after the accident until his comically brash science teacher, Mr. Rzykruski, gives the young boy an idea of how he can bring Sparky back to life using a lightning bolt.
Victor digs up Sparky’s body from the cemetery and conducts his reanimation experiment with success. His canine friend is back and he is happy, until Edgar finds out about the little dog’s reanimation and threatens to tell others about it unless Victor shows Edgar how to complete the experiment himself.
As one might expect, before long the entire class knows about the reanimated Sparky and it is only a matter of time before the reaction to this news causes a series of reanimation attempts, leading to the destruction of the town fair and causing panic throughout the city.
There are several references to the Frankenstein story aside from the fashion in which Sparky is resurrected (the dog’s body is hoisted up through the attic’s moon roof during a thunder storm). For example, the neighbor’s poodle that sports a white-streaked beehive hairdo after being shocked by Sparky, Victor’s tall, flat-topped classmate quite reminiscent of the original Frankenstein monster, and one of the character’s pet turtle named Shelley (the novel “Frankenstein” was written by Mary Shelley).
The film works well in black-and-white and makes the characters eerier and adds to the 30’s feel. It also serves to give the characters a gauntness that adds a specific aesthetic to their world characteristic to many of Burton’s movies.
The film, however, relies on character stereotypes (a heavily accented Japanese classmate and his unintelligent and morbidly obese science partner) rather than substance, possibly leading to two fellow moviegoers loudly departing the theater about halfway through the film. I understand it might seem silly, accusing an animated Disney movie of lacking substance but I’m attempting to analyze it against other animated children-oriented films, not “Apocalypse Now”. The best children’s animated films are the ones that have a message accessible to adults and children alike.
“Frankenweenie” was a witty spoof of the classic horror stories that seemed to do little more than parody without reflection. There were no original themes or messages missing from the original novel and films but kept to the messages of, “people are scared of science who don’t understand it” and “science can be used for bad and good”. While an entertaining family film, ultimately the film offered little we have not already seen from Hollywood hundreds of times over.