There used to be a time when Tim Burton was on top of the world. Ever since his Directorial debut with Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, the oddball director has brought out some instant classics in the late ’80s and early ’90s such as Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands. For whatever reason though, the movies he has been releasing during the late ’90s and beyond were unfortunately not as good as they used to be. Don’t get me wrong, not all of them were mediocre as there were a few diamonds in the rough, but they weren’t of the same quality as the director’s earlier efforts. This is where Frankenweenie comes in. Based on live-action a short film Burton made for Disney, this animated adaptation looks to bring the director back to his glory days, and thankfully it’s possibly one of Tim Burton’s better movies in years.
Victor Frankenstein (Charlie Tahan) is not your average kid as he spends most of his time making stop motion movies and hanging out with his one and only friend Sparky the dog. The two are an inseparable pair but all that changes when one day Sparky gets hit by an oncoming car which leaves him dead. Victor, who can’t stand the idea of his dog being dead gets an idea from his science teacher to use the power of electricity to bring Sparky back from the dead. He uses the lighting in the sky to bring sparky to life and miraculously it works. However, Victor has to keep Sparky a secret from everyone he knows. When Sparky is accidentally discovered by a student from Victor’s school, the other students think that victor is out to win a science fair project with Sparky as the experiment. The other students attempt to replicate Victor’s idea of bring dead things back to life but it all ends up with disastrous results that wreak havoc in the town of New Holland.
The story is wonderfully weird and twisted which harkens back to the early days when Tim Burton was in his prime. You never know what to expect as the story keeps throwing many curveballs that keep getting stranger and stranger. It’s almost fitting that this movie was adapted from a short that Burton made for Disney which unfortunately got him temporarily fired afterward because it was seen too dark and weird for the company at the time. One of the things this movie gets right is that many other modern Tim Burton projects failed at doing is to give the story heart and weight so the audience can care about the situation despite how outlandish it may be. The only thing I would criticize is the amount of filler they use to stretch out the movie. Some scenes kinda drag for a little while which may not ruin the movie in any way, but the film would have benefited if the story was more tightly handled. Still, compared to movie’s Burton has been realizing at the time, I would much rather see a movie like this rather than something like Dark Shadows
The characters, much like the story, are creepy and over-exaggerated in the best ways possible. The main focus of the entire journey is about Victor and Sparky’s relationship and it is what drives the majority of the narrative. Victor in particular is a likable but also a tragic character who is very easy to understand and has enough odd quirks to make him interesting. The student characters all have very crazy personalities which work great off of the somewhat normal Victor and their time on screen does not go unnoticed. They even got some great voice talent to fill in for some of the adults and children including Catherine O’Hara, Martian Short, and Wiona Ryder. The characters do carry the typical Tim Burton tropes, but they do it in a way that still feels fresh and entertainingly charming.
The stop-motion animation is very interesting as it takes a much different approach than most other stop motion films as it’s shot completely in black and white to mimic the style of old 50’s B-movies. The character designs in particular are downright outstanding as they have very exaggerated features that allow them to look slightly uncanny but still appealing. The designs in some cases can be compared to the ones in Corpse Bride which have similar design attributes. The 50’s suburban neighborhood reminds me of the one in Edward Scissorhands and there are plenty of visual references to many monster movies of the past. The real star of the entire animation lineup is Sparky himself as he looks very inspired by Brad Bird’s character designs and the way he moves and thinks is downright adorable. I hope we will be able to see Burton return to animation again because this movie proves he has what it takes to make an unusual but still convincing world full of life and uncertainty.
Burton’s most favored composer Danny Elfman is back and like always, he never disappoints in giving a wonderful and soothing music score. The score brings all the signature Elfman vibes with many soft choir music and over-the-top cartoony madness. Although the music is not as memorable as some of the other Tim Burton movies he has scored, the music still does its job and gets the emotions across effectively especially in the mellow moments.
In my opinion, is not only one of the most underrated films from “Disney” but I also think this is Tim Burton's most underrated film. The film wasn’t hated it did perfectly good with critics and audiences but after some time people just seemed to forget about it. Unfortunately at the time, it was sandwiched in between two other Halloween-oriented movies which were Lakia’s Paranorman and Sony Animation’s Hotel Transylvania. Still, this movie needs more attention and is one of Tim Burton’s better movies that he has made in a while. If you haven’t seen this movie and you love Tim Burton, give it a watch. You’ll be in for a real Halloween treat indeed.
(Final Grade: A-)