FRANKENWEENIE

US, 2012, 2012, Black and white.
Voices of: Martin Landau, Martin Short, Catherine O’ Hara, Winona Ryder.
Directed by Tim Burton.

A long time ago, Tim Burton made a short animated film about a resuscitated dog. Now he has been able to make it into a full-length feature.

It doesn’t take a mastermind to realise that this is a film in the Frankenstein tradition, tradition because it is not exactly about a monster, just a nice dog called Sparky. Vincent () is Sparkey’s master and friend. He is a young, rather introverted boy whose supportive parents wish he would be more sporty and outdoors-going. Vincent has proudly shown his parents the science-fiction film he has made with Sparky as the star. Vincent also loves science and has his laboratory. So, what makes more sense when Sparky is killed in a car accident and is solemnly buried than to exhume him and see if the Frankenstein experiment works. Of course, it does.

When Vincent tells his friend Edgar what he has done and to keep it a secret, Edgar promptly tells some of the kids at school who, like Vincent, want to win a prize at the science fair. And what do they do? Take some of their pets, including a turtle and do likewise. One takes the turtle who becomes a Godzilla-like giant monster. There is a risen rat. And an obnoxious cat assumes bat-monster characteristics.
The science teacher warns the school and parents not to underestimate children’s knowledge as he is fired from the school – he is voiced by Martin Landau who was Tim Burton’s Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood, and won an
Oscar for it.

Mayhem follows in the town. Vincent and his companion, Shelley, take refuge in a castle-like building from the rampaging crowd, just as in the original.

When order is restored, the bad monsters have to go, but Sparky lives another day – or more.

Burton has been able to indulge himself with the story, with sharp animation and black and white photography. A bit frightening for very young audiences, but older children might identify and enjoy it.

1. The imagination of Tim Burton? His short film? Tribute to horror films, Universal in the 1930s, Hammer horror in the 1950s with the excerpt from Dracula and Christopher Lee? Vincent Price? The imagination of Ed Wood? Amateur film-making? The spirit of horror imagination?

2. The Frankenstein story? Mary Shelley? Boris Karloff? Later versions? The Bride of Frankenstein?

3. The style of animation, black and white photography, stark, the town, the characters, echoes of horror films, the Edward Scissorhands suburbs? The musical score?

4. The title, the use of Frankenstein, the bride, applying to Sparky?

5. The picture of the town, American suburbia, the family, the family home, watching home movies? School, the range of students? Idiosyncrasies? Edgar, the fat boy, Shelley, the boys and girls? The ordinariness? The differences?

6. Vincent, his age, love for Sparky, making his film, the monster-style film? Showing it to his parents, their applause? Their concern about his being so quiet? Reading? Introverted? His going out, with Sparky, the accident, his grief?

7. Sparky, the visualising? Companion to Vincent? Enjoying making the film? Going out, the accident, his death, Vincent sad, the parents, the friends? The funeral?

8. The science fair, the competition, the competitiveness, the science professor, his appearance, voice, the experiments, the headmaster, his being fired? His speeches to the students, encouraging learning, his speech to the parents about learning?

9. Vincent, the plan to revive spiky? The laboratories, the equipment? Exhuming Sparky? the experiment, the lightning, the electricity, Sparky reviving, his Frankenstein form? Alive?

10. Shelly, her guardian, her pet dog? The menace of the cat? The comic-horror of the cat? Shelley finding a friend in Vincent? Sharing the experience? The electricity and her dog, the look of the bride of Frankenstein?

11. Edgar, his appearance, teeth, curiosity? Learning the secret? Talking? The other boys and their projects? Their experiments? The rat, the turtle, the cat? Turning into monsters? Gigantic? Terrifying people? Destruction? The reduction to their ordinary sizes?

12. Vincent, Sparky, Shelley and her dog, the threats from people, the castle on the hill, the parallel to the Frankenstein story and the siege?

13. The competition? The friends all together? Peace restored to suburbia? Victor and his future?

14. The film as an entertaining horror fable?