Frankenweenie review

By Luke Jones

The love for classic horror extends
even to the marketing campaign.

For every cinema-going generation, there is an animal death movie to call its own. The earthy grittiness of Kes. The Lion King and its regicide. Heck, even Marley and Me made some people cry. Frankenweenie may not be original in bumping off its lead canine, but it does score points for bringing it back in the second act...

Starting off life as a half-hour long short, Frankenweenie 2012 has been expanded with an extra hour of material but is still, at its heart, a story about a lonely boy and his dog. Filmed in black and white, Frankenweenie works as both a loving homage to the horror films that inspired director Tim Burton as a child and as a deeper consideration of loss. Sparky, the loveable dog who is knocked down by a car only to be resurrected by his grief-stricken owner, could ultimately be anyone's pet / childhood friend / space hopper. 

For Burton, Frankenweenie is something of a detox after the critical (if not commercial) failures of Alice in Wonderland and Dark Shadows. Both were both beautiful but soulless, suggestive of a director going through the motions. Frankenweenie, ironically considering its subject matter, is anything but soulless: intimate, personal and more emotional. Going back to the stop-motion techniques that brought The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride to life, everything in Frankenweenie feels handcrafted to perfection. The Burton-esque touches are there (50s suburban setting, Danny Elfman score, though no Johnny Depp) but there is a heart that has been missing since Big Fish. 

The sense of this being a return to basics extends to the cast. Apart from lead Charlie Tahan much of the voice cast is made up of Burton alumni from past classics: Catherine O'Hara from Beetlejuice and Nightmare, Winona Ryder from Beetlejuice, Martin Landau from Ed Wood... All embed their respective roles perfectly, and remind you of just how long Burton has had these characters in his head.

Burton may be calling the shots, but as with many stop motion projects the animators are the real stars. Sparky is instantly adorable as the tragic lead pooch, while his owner Victor is subtle and heart-breaking when needed. While lacking some of the invention of recent efforts from Aardman Studios or LAIKA, there is a charm throughout that is entirely due to the stop motion effects. The film loses its way slightly in the third act as events become more frantic and over the top, and the ending may seem like a cop-out to some (morally this is a strange story to process) but these criticisms do little to detract from the film as a whole. ‘The death scene’ (as it is sure to be known) is particularly effective, and as good as anything you will see in a cinema this year.

At this point it should be said that although Frankenweenie is presented in 3-D in many cinemas, the added dimension adds little to the experience. Audiences are fast getting wise to the increased cost of 3-D tickets, and with the glasses making the gorgeous black and white photography murky in places you may think twice before ponying up the extra money.

With Halloween fast approaching it’s worth noting that horror fans are in for a treat, with everything from British Hammer horror to Jurassic Park getting the nod (look out in particular for a classic death from the Omen). The tone may be too much for very young children, though in the screening I was in it was the adults who were crying the hardest.

Frankenweenie is a definite triumph for Tim Burton, and a reward for fans who have stuck with him through some dodgy releases. If this is what happens when Burton goes back to basics, then roll on Beetlejuice 2.