Viewed in
2012
Formats
IMAX 3D
Premise
Based on Tim Burton's short, a young boy decides to reanimate his dead dog.
Liked
Characters, artistry, themes, shoutouts to monster flicks.
Disliked
Conventional ending.
Thoughts
Very cute and sweet with some interesting themes.
The characters were very charming, in animation and performance. It did a very good job of capturing the joy and love of boy and dog, lending much heart to the film. Burton's fingerprints were all over the character designs, with their bizarre but fun shapes and sizes. What got the biggest laughs from me was the psycho psychic girl with botoxed/goldfish eyes, and her equally hilarious cat.
Similar to ParaNorman, this had a ton of hilarious horror genre shoutouts, mainly in the monster flicks category, from Godzilla to Gremlins. The black and white cinematography and immersive 3D definitely enhanced the experience.
Story-wise, it was pretty strong. Not only was there the sweet plot of boy and dog, but it took risks to question the questioning of current science education in America. It was never preachy, but clearly the film makers worry if we're doing enough to inspire kids to embrace science. In addition, there was a nice allegory about using knowledge/technology for the right reasons. All in all, the writing appealed to my inner child and adult brain.
I don't think it was intentional, but this also felt like a tribute to Burton's legacy. The artists (and the director himself) probably couldn't help but to interject aspects reminding us of the visual wizard's career, including windmills, offbeat grotesque characters, goth eye shadows, idyllic small town, and holiday themes. You can't help but think of his works, from Edward Scissorhands to The Nightmare Before Christmas to Ed Wood.
My biggest problem was the ending. Clearly one of its themes was letting go of loved ones. The movie set things up perfectly for a very smart and potentially powerful ending, but instead it went the Hollywood route of playing safe.
Also, I was bugged by the unresolved subplot of the invisible fish. The screenwriter, John August, had a really cool thing of allowing fans to ask him questions directly via internet, and he was gracious enough to answer my question about the fish's fate. His reply was satisfactory, but didn't change how I felt about that subplot.
Rarely are movies derived from a short successful. Thanks to some creative writing and loving craftwork from the animators, Frankenweenie came off as a fun Burtonesque romp with some brains and heart, to go with the cutely grotesque monsters.
