However, Frankenweenie takes the well established route that these literal monsters are not monstrous at all. They are simply misunderstood.
Frankenweenie is a feature-length version of a previous Tim Burton short film released in 1984. This version follows a similar path, where young Victor Frankenstein (Charlie Tahan) loves his dog Sparky to bits. His parents (Catherine O'Hara and Martin Short) are worried that he is falling behind the rest of the boys his age and need to brush up on his sports, namely baseball. Unfortunately, when a rogue balls flies across the street, Sparky runs to get it but is run over and killed. When being told about the power of Science by his teacher, Mr. Rzykruski (Martin Landau), Victor has a sudden idea of how to bring back his beloved dog, Sparky. When the local creepy boy from school, Edgar E. Gore (Atticus Shaffer) catches wind of what Victor has been up to, he forces him to bring back a dead fish to life, so Edgar can present it in the school science fair and win first prize. However, the dead fish comes back to life invisible, something that didn't happen to Sparky. Soon all the children become aware of what has happened and bring back old pets of their own for the science fair. However, when Victor realises that pets that if pets are being brought back for greed rather than love, they don't actually come back completely as you remember them. Needless to say, chaos ensues and it's up to Victor and friends to save the town from being overrun.
First things first, Frankenweenie is arguably Tim Burton's best film in a looooong time. With recent duds Alice in Wonderland and Dark Shadows leaving a bitter taste in audience's mouths, Frankenweenie shows exactly what Burton is capable of when his heart is fully behind a project. The care and attention paid to the characters, their story arcs, mannerisms, Tim Burton-esque style, and even the stop-motion filming all harks back to previous films that Burton has been involved with like Corpse Bride and The Nightmare Before Christmas. It almost felt like Disney let go of their strangle-hold grip on Burton and granted him full artistic direction over this film. The result is the most un-Disney like film I have ever seen in my life, but it was extremely refreshing to see something so different. While the film is not for younger viewers, it's an absolute delight for older children and aficionados for the traditional horror monster films from the 1930s.
As mentioned, it's largely the filming style and direction that largely makes Frankenweenie stand out from the crowd. While the theme of the story is very similar to the recent kids horror stop-motion film, ParaNorman, the two films almost couldn't feel any more different. While ParaNorman liked the throw horror film nods to it's audience without going into too much depth, Frankenweenie decides to emulate the horror genre, while still making it suitable for older children. A prime example is when the proverbial hits the fan at the end of the film and monsters such as a cat/bat hybrid, sea monkey gremlins, a giant monstrous rat and a humongous turtle Godzilla hit the town of New Holland, they are genuinely quite freaky monsters. While the sea monkeys were quite humorous and reminded me of the Gremlins, the rat monster and the cat/bat hybrid genuinely provided some chills with their disgusting design and chilling roars/moans. At some points, I had to remind myself that I was watching a children's film!
However, the heart of Frankenweenie truly lies with the relationship between boy and his dog. The childhood innocence mixed with the raw emotions of loosing a pet meant that when Sparky 'sparked' back to life, it honestly felt like it was the right thing for the character to do. Usually with horror films, there is a constantly feel of paranoia from the audience and a feeling of knowing that a character should not do what they are doing - thus leading to stupid and annoying characters. However, Victor was a character that was not annoying, he was someone who simply wanted his dog back and when he did get Sparky back, he seemed very sensible and level-headed in how he looked after his dog who had a new lease of life! It was only when the other children stole his idea to bring back their own pets to life that the cliche stupid horror characters came back. However, this was OK, because the other children became the antagonists (the villains) to the story and so it was OK for us to hate them!
The only slight criticism that I can think of for Frankenweenie was that the start was a little bit slow to get going. When we are introduced to Victor, Sparky and Victor's Parents worry about his isolation from other children his age, it could have been a prime opportunity for Burton to introduce other characters fully and develop Victor's relationship with his peers visually, rather than us being told by his parents.
However, this is only a slight concern in a film that is otherwise a brilliant, loveable and sometimes scary throwback to the original horror creature features! While it's not a film for the very young, it's certainly a film that's full of heart and even some scares to test older children and horror fans alike.
****½ / *****
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