October 16, 2012 -- Director Tim Burton has flirted with Mary Shelly's Frankenstein story (first published in 1818) at least three times now, most notably with his masterpiece, “Edward Scissorhands” (1990). His latest film, “Frankenweenie” is an expansion of his short film of the same name released in 1984. His new film is a stop-motion animation effort which looks similar to his well-known animated tale “A Nightmare Before Christmas” (1993). This one might have a shot at an Academy Award next year.

Frankenweenie is based on Frankenstein, but is not tragic and is far less threatening in tone than the original. A young boy, Victor Frankenstein, lives with his parents and beloved dog, Sparky. Victor is an outsider, shunned at school by most. When Sparky is killed by a speeding car, Victor feels he has lost his best friend. Then he gets the idea of bringing Sparky back to life from a very strange school teacher who shows children an experiment where electricity causes a dead frog legs to twitch.

Victor succeeds in bringing his pet back to life, but the secret gets out and other children in the neighborhood duplicate Victor's experiment with scary results. A giant turtle that looks like it came from an old Japanese horror film (Gamera) causes a lot of damage, and a large, menacing combination of bat and cat chases the kids around as well. It is up to Victor and his friends to try to stop these monsters from destroying his town.

There are many references to the old Frankenstein films and other old horror and science fiction films in this movie, including “Bride of Frankenstein,” “Dracula,” “Gamera” and others. In one funny scene, the neighbor's dog gets a shock and gets the distinctive Bride of Frankenstein streaks in her hair. The burning windmill scene, of course, is straight out of “Frankenstein.” Another scene is reminiscent of the cartoon classic “Bambi Meets Godzilla.” The general theme of the story is that people can overcome their fears and pull together. This story reminded me of another film that came out earlier this year, “ParaNorman.”

While the film may be a bit too intense for young children, it will certainly be enjoyed by older kids, teens and adults. It looks like this film might well get an academy award nomination for best animated film of 2012. From what I've seen it looks like one of this year's best. It is funny, a bit creepy and it has some heart, too. This film rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2012 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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