Hey everyone, after my absence, welcome back to the theater!
To finish (For now at least) looking at more family- friendly monster movies, I'll be looking at the now- playing stopmotion film 'Frankenweenie.'
Directed by Tim Burton, it features the voices of several veterans from his past films, such as Martin Short, Winona Ryder, Martin Landau, and Catherine O' Hara, among others.
'Franknweenie' was originally a 30- minute live- action short that Burton made back in 1984 back when he was working at Disney, starring Daniel Stern and Shelley Duvall. The Disney execs hated it, refused to release it, and fired Burton for making it. It would eventually get a direct- to- video release, after Burton became more popular through the success of 'Edward Scissorhands.' Burton lost the battle, but won the war, as Disney released this new feature- length stopmotion film of it.
It's basically a greatly extended version of that live- action short. A boy named Victor is brilliant but lonely, his only friend is his loyal bull terrier Sparky. Sadly, Sparky is hit by a car and killed, and Victor is of course devastated over it. However, a lecture by his eccentric science teacher (Landau) gives him the idea that electricity can stimulate nerve activity in dead things, and by borrowing a whole host of electric appliances from his house as well as harnessing the electricity from a bolt of lightning, he is able to revive good old Sparky. The experiment mostly works well, as Sparky is largely his same old self again in terms of personality (Other than certain body parts occasionally falling off). He of course has to try and keep Sparky hidden from everyone, as most of the other people in his town, with the exception of an equally lonely yet charming girl named Elsa (Ryder), are not very open- minded, though his parents (Short and O'Hara) come to grips with the new Sparky pretty quickly when they inevitably find out about him.
The real trouble begins when several of Victor's classmates discover what he did. There's a school science fair coming up, so motivated by a combination of jealousy, competition, and good old- fashioned stupidity, the other kids each decide to try and copy Victor's experiment using their own dead pets. These results are definitely not as successful as Victor's, as the resurrected animals turn into violent, uncontrollable monsters (i.e. a roadkill rat that's brought back to life turns into a vicious werewolf- life creature, an overachieving Asian boy's pet turtle upon being resurrected turns into a Godzilla- esque giant monster, etc.), which then go on a rampage at the town's Dutch Festival, leading to a climax with an angry mob, a windmill, lots of monster vs. monster fighting, and a quite tender finale.
'Frankenweenie' does have a couple problems. One main problem is how some of the supporting characters are handled. Specifically, the science teacher basically just leaves about halfway into the film and is never seen again after that, and Victor's friendship with Elsa could have been developed a lot more. Also, similar to 'Corpse Bride,' 'Frankenweenie' ends a bit too suddenly, the could have done a little more to wrap everything up.
That being said, I was really impressed with how 'Frankenweenie' turned out, it was much better than I expected. Initially, out of the three spooky animated films that came out over the last couple months (This film, 'Paranorman,' and 'Hotel Transylvania'), I thought 'Frankenweenie would end up being the worst, but it ended up being imo the best of them! It wove a story which was funny, scary (Mainly for the monstrous pets in the climax), and also a genuinely touching and heartfelt "Boy and his dog" story. It definitely pays homage both to Burton's past films, and to monster movies in general. In the climax at the Dutch Festival alone, there are references to 'The Birds,' 'Godzilla,' 'The Mummy,' 'Gremlins,' and 'Jurassic Park,' among others.
The stopmotion animation looks great, as do the character designs (Although Victor looks too much like Victor Van Dort from 'Corpse Bride,' maybe they could have included something in the film to suggest the two of them were related or something), especially for the kids and the various monster- ized animals. They all look awesome, just like the sorts of characters that Burton would create.
Victor makes for a pretty good hero. All of his emotions you find yourself feeling with him: Sorrow over losing Sparky early in the film, happiness and joy upon reviving him, and anxiety and fear over what will happen in the end. Burton's always been quite good at making characters that are outcasts in some way, but still very likable and sympathetic, and Victor in 'Frankenweenie' epitomizes this. Young Elsa is also a loner, so the connection she develops with Victor (They live next door to each other) is very nice.
The supporting characters are mostly a lot of fun to watch, especially the eccentric but brilliant science teacher. Martin Landau does an awesome job with his voice, and most of his scenes are freaking hysterical. The other kids are a hoot to watch, as well, such as a boy with the fitting name of Edgar "E" Gore (Easily one of my favorite characters in the film) who looks and talks exactly like Peter Lorre, another boy named Nassor who's a dead ringer for Boris Karloff (Seeing the pet he resurrects in the film's climax is hilarious), and a creepy, giant- eyed girl known simply as 'Weird Girl" who steals every scene she's in. Just a really enjoyable supporting cast.
And so, there you have 'Brankenweenie,' a great movie and proof that Tim Burton officially got his mojo back. Check it out. Talk to you guys later!
