Part of Dastardly Difficult December: film nr.91

Definitive proof that Burton should never, ever work with Depp again, let alone other real people.

I know this is an easy criticism, but I really feel Burton has surrounded him with people that fit nicely in his comfort zone and as a result his last couple of films have been drab and not that good. It seems as if he just didn't challenge himself anymore, relying on routine.

I wonder if Burton felt the same as he now reanimates (.......I know, sorry about that) his first short film and turns it into a fun and very creative film.

The black and white cinematography, the production design and the insanely gorgeous stop motion…

For well over a decade now Tim Burton has seemingly been happy to coast along rehashing his kooky style and blandly re-imagining other people’s stories. However, I find it impossible to get excited by a director who simply appears to be going through the motions. Which is why his latest film, Frankenweenie, sounded potentially appealing. Based on a near-career ending short film and with autobiographical elements (Victor acting as an on-screen surrogate for Burton) this new stop-frame animated feature is his most personal and heartfelt work in years.

Essentially a simple story about a boy and his dog reimagined as a classic Universal monsters movie, Frankenweenie, lovingly homages the films that have influenced Burton throughout his long career. When Victor’s…

Part of...
Horroctober 2012

Your dog is aliiive!
-Edgar "E" Gore

Two stop-motion animated films that pay homage to horror films in the same year. We have entered a new golden age of cinema. While ParaNorman was clearly influenced by the horror films of the 70s and 80s, Frankenweenie is a full fledged love letter to the Universal Monsters era of horror. You won't even have to pay that much attention to recognize the nods to Universal's big names and even a huge nod to a sub-genre of horror of the same time period. It even manages to sneak in a cameo appearance from a legend of the genre. Having an unbiased opinion of the film is going to be…

"Frankenweenie" starts out as a leisurely paced film about a boy, Victor, who loves science and monster movies. Tragedy strikes when the boy loses his best friend, a dog named Sparky. Victor then calls upon the cinematic and literary legacy provided him by his last name to shock Sparky to existence.

That synopsis offers no surprises to anyone familiar with Tim Burton's original short film of the same name. Now, Burton expands his short to a feature-length film and the results are more than pleasing.

"Frankenweenie" is beautifully rendered. The melancholy, black and white, stop-motion animation is equally handome, grotesque, and humorous. The animated environs evoke horror films of the past and Burton's own oeuvre. The vocal performances are solid,…

Does Tim Burton even care anymore? Or is he lost in his own myth that he can't see when he's doing everything wrong? Frankenweenie is Burton's latest attempt to return back to his roots. Unfortunately he brought all his rotten ends with him.

I mean, is Burton actively trying to keep this from being great? This is a film about a boy who brings back his dog from the dead. Why am I so uninvolved with this film? Why am I so unengaged from this story that I don't care? Why am I not weeping when I'm supposed to be?

Most of the issues here, once again (as it is with all recent Burton projects) come down to the script.…

In 1984, Tim Burton directed a short-film for Disney titled Frankenweenie , a parody and homage to the 1931 film Frankenstein and as far back as 2005 had agreed to direct a remake of it.
Frankenweenie is a comedy horror film for children and adults alike, a tribute if you like to the Universal Monsters era of horror.

Victor Frankenstein loses his beloved dog Sparky in a tragic accident and after his science teacher demonstrates the effect of electricity on dead frogs, Victor is inspired to reanimate Sparky.
The result that follows when Victor's classmates learn of his successful experiment and fearing that Victor will win the upcoming science fair, they seek to discover his method and do better, madness…