Frankenweenie (2012)
Directed by Tim Burton
When a car hits young Victor's pet dog Sparky, Victor decides to bring him back to life the only way he knows how. But when the bolt-necked "monster" wreaks havoc and terror in the hearts of Victor's neighbors, he has to convince them that Sparky's still the good, loyal friend he was.
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8 films that influenced Frankenweenie
What critics say influenced Frankenweenie
More Beetlejuice than Alice in Wonderland, more Ed Wood and Edward Scissorhands than Planet of the Apes, this delightfully twisted story about a boy and his (dead) dog showcases precisely what Burton excels at: blending the macabre and the heartfelt in a perfect, if oddball, union.
And the ghoulishness is in the details, the most charming of which are the perfectly lugubrious line readings by Ed Wood's Martin Landau as a science teacher by way of every role Vincent Price ever played in every movie that inspired Tim Burton to become the wonderfully strange filmmaker he is.
In fact, Frankenweenie may be right up there with Ed Wood as Burton’s most visually accomplished work, further indicating that the man should probably abandon color altogether.
It's an infectious labor of love, crystallizing the theme of creative rebirth and the look of yesteryear schlock that elevated Burton's live-action "Ed Wood" and his animated "Corpse Bride."
Burton hasn't employed so many references to old films since Ed Wood .
When Sparky is killed, Victor -- inspired by the demonstrations of dead-frog galvanism performed by his science teacher (a Vincent Price caricature voiced with an Eastern European accent by Martin Landau, who, of course, won an Oscar for playing Bela Lugosi in Burton's "Ed Wood") -- decides to restore his dog to life.
The references extend from the 1931 Boris Karloff version of Frankenstein to 1965’s Gamera to Burton’s past work, and they invade every aspect of the film: the black-and-white color palette, character designs, scenes, shot setups, gags, dialogue, casting, and even a sequence where the protagonist’s parents watch the Peter Cushing/Christopher Lee feature Horror Of Dracula on TV.
The film also tosses in visual references to dozens of vintage horror and sci-fi pictures, from the Universal Studios classics of the 1930s to monster flicks of the ’50s and ’60s (and at one point, Victor’s mom and dad cuddle on the couch as they watch Christopher Lee in Horror of Dracula).
Whatever the explanation for this burst of "Creature Features" nostalgia, it's unlikely any upcoming "monster kid" movie will be as devoted to the genre as "Frankenweenie," a work that interrupts the animation only to share a live-action clip of Christopher Lee stalking a neck in Hammer's "Horror of Dracula" (1958).
When Victor sneaks into the house after disinterring Sparky, his parents are watching Horror of Dracula of their own accord, contently.
This is only one of many references to everything from Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935) to The Mummy (1932) to Invasion of the Saucermen to Gamera (1965) — with a lot of other nods along the way.
There's a kick to be had out of Frankweenie's remodelling of Mary Shelley's classic tale, as well as the many references to bygone scary cinema including Godzilla, Village Of The Damned, and The Mummy, among others, and such familiar faces as Boris Karloff, Vincent Price and "Igor".
Frankenweenie is a dark tale for kids – and possibly too much for the very young – but older kids and adults will appreciate the tongue-in-cheek scares, while buffs can play spot-the-references (which include everything from The Mummy, Godzilla and The Addams Family to Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff).
The black and white colour scheme is richly evocative of Frankenstein, but also other classic titles The Mummy, Gamera and, in one hilarious sight gag, Bride of Frankenstein.
Mayor Burgemeister, ahem, lives next door with his niece Elsa Van Helsing ( Winona Ryder ), whose poodle Persephone has a Madeline Kahn in "Young Frankenstein" -styled pouf.
Mel Brooks may have squeezed laughs out of audiences with “Young Frankenstein,” but in “Frankenweenie” Tim Burton gives us a mildly comedic younger version of the mad scientist—so young, in fact, that his reanimation experiment could be a contender for his elementary school science fair.
Burton has created a literal “Young Frankenstein,” and . . .
Burton has opted to present this story in black and white, not only because the original was filmed that way but also because, like Mel Brooks' b&w Young Frankenstein, it pays the proper respect to the horror classics of the 1930s and '40s, specifically Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein.
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For years now, Tim Burton has made a comfortable living off the art of revamping someone else's ideas and giving them his own stamp: "Planet of the Apes," "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "Alice in Wonderland" and, most recently, "Dark Shadows."
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory marks Tim Burton's second remake (following Planet of the Apes), and to call this an improvement is quite an understatement.
Working with his frequent screenwriting collaborator John August ( Dark Shadows Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ), Burton has expanded the original story to incorporate a fond, frantic homage to monster-movie mayhem.
He lost his sense of joy during the years he churned out the reconstituted “Planet of the Apes,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “Dark Shadows.”
It is a tad shameless for two separate projects from the same director borrowing so heavily from one another, and even worse that one"Edward Scissorhands"led to a bittersweet, beautifully poetic ending, and the other inferior one leads directly into the fatal error that ruins the pic's lasting impression.In adapting a 30-minute short into an almost 90-minute feature, screenwriter John August (2005's " Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ") has wandered too far away from what "Frankenweenie" should be about: a simple, touching love story between a boy and his dog.
The mechanical, commercial Burton of Alice in Wonderland or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is not visible at all here, and that alone is a reason to celebrate; it's too early, of course, to call it a sustained return to form, but the warped energy of the earlier, better Burton, complete with a nastily black sense of humor for a Disney-released family movie (cat lovers will be especially traumatised), hasn't been this prominent in a long time, and it is a keen reminder for those of us who used to love the man, just what it is that made us love him.
His cult of hardcore fans will give a free pass to just about anything he puts his name to, even if it happens to be complete and utter garbage (see Alice in Wonderland or Corpse Bride for reference).
A homage to James Whale’s 1931 classic Frankenstein , this is his spryest, most consistently enjoyable - and refreshingly Johnny Depp-less - film in years, especially after the leaden miscalculations of Alice in Wonderland and Dark Shadows .
For Disney to put out a 2012 animated 3D family picture in black-and-white can only mean one thing: the megahit Alice in Wonderland wasn’t a complete waste, after all—it allowed studio bosses to trust their artist-in-residence enough to look past the chiaroscuro and see green.
But recently, his live action projects -- " Dark Shadows ," "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," and " Alice in Wonderland " -- have been visually engaging but hollow.
Applying his gothic look to literally everything he does, he developed his own brand of hackdom, often partnering with Johnny Depp and putting that spin on a variety of properties, from the “Planet of the Apes” franchise to “Alice in Wonderland.”
There’s been Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Frankenweenie, Frankenhooker, and my favorite, Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein.
The story has been moulded into numerous adaptations, parodies and spoofs, including Young Frankenstein (1974), Blackenstein (1973), Frankenhooker (1990), Frankenweenie (2012), and, most recently, Lisa Frankenstein (2024).
It’s enchanting, and mostly hilarious, especially if you’re familiar with the vintage horror flicks Burton and screenwriter John August (“Big Fish,” “Dark Shadows”) relentlessly reference over a fast-paced 87 minutes.
Essentially a greatest hits exercise, it has animated characters resembling those from The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride, a squeaky suburban setting that recalls Edward Scissorhands, and father-son schmaltz straight out of Big Fish.
Though it's not quite his best work (that remains Pee-Wee's Big Adventure), Big Fish does mark Tim Burton's most accomplished and (for lack of a better word) grown-up movie to date.
Easily his best movie since “Big Fish,” Tim Burton’s black-and-white, stop-motion animated “Frankenweenie” does not represent a new idea.
It’s amusing to see the petty escalation of a science fair, of all things, serve as the main plot thrust this time, and even though screenwriter John August ( “Big Fish,” “Corpse Bride” ) worked to expand a 30-minute short thrice over, there’s very little apparent strain to show for it.
The stop motion animation uses 3D to pull us further into Burton's gothic blend of innocence and horror and screenwriter John August ("Big Fish," "Dark Shadows"), adapting the short's screenplay with Burton's characters and story, branches out from the original's "Frankenstein" influence to encompass more horror icons of Burton's childhood years.