So, at this point it feels like whenever the new Tim Burton movie comes out, anyone who reviews it or writes about it in any scope has to briefly touch on how Burton used to make good movies and how now (brown cow) he just doesn't. So here's me taking care of that: Starting with PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE in 1985 up until MARS ATTACKS! in 1996, Tim Burton made some really excellent movies. And, apart from BIG FISH in 2003, he hasn't really made a truly good movie since (even though I do have a personal attachment to SLEEPY HOLLOW from all the times I've sleepily, often times medicated, watched it in the middle of the afternoon on Sci-Fi). Now onto FRANKENWEENIE.
A stop motion animation retelling of Burton's 1984 short film of the same name, FRANKENWEENIE tells the story of Victor Frankenstein (Charlie Tahan) who's a young kid that loves science, making awesome monster movies, and especially his best friend (and best actor) Sparky the dog. Victor's parents (Catherine O'Hara and Martin Short) love their son, but don't necessarily love that he spends so much of his time in the attic alone. So they make him a deal: join the baseball team and you can participate in the science fair. During his first at-bat, Victor unexpectedly hits a homerun and his ever faithful companion Sparky runs to retrieve his master's ball. Tragically, while bringing the ball back to the park, Sparky is hit by a car and is killed. Victor spends the next few days in a state of depression until his intense and menacing science teacher, Mr. Ryzkruski (otherwise known as "Mr. Rice Krispie" and voiced by Martin Landau), introduces the kids to the idea of electrical shock stimulating even dead tissue. Motivated by grief and longing for his lost companion, Victor attempts to harness the power of lightning to bring Sparky back to life. The experiment is a success! However, Victor quickly finds out that having a reanimated dog isn't as simple as he might have thought, and he has to deal with not only jealous (and incredibly creepy) classmates, but neighbors who would only see Sparky as a monster.
As much as I really want to say it's a return to from, the closest I can get to is... almost. There are so many things to like about FRANKENWEENIE, however. The voice actors are great and the Danny Elfman score is superb as always. But most of all, no matter how bad a movie Tim Burton makes, he has, for my money, never made a bad looking movie. And FRANKENWEENIE is no exception. Burton's artistic vision puts some people off, but I have always considered it to be amazing to watch. The stop motion animation is always breathtaking, and the character designs are fun, really interesting and all unique (though the Frankenstein family could have used an extra dash of crazy). It's reminiscent of NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS and THE CORPSE BRIDE in all the best ways and served to remind me just how much I love stop motion animation.
That being said, like Ridley Scott, Tim Burton is a visual artist first and foremost. Unfortunately, what that means is that the narrative often suffers in favor of the overall look of the picture. And though it doesn't suffer from this to a great extent, it's clear that the story was not the most important part of the film. Sure, the story is fine. Nice, quaint little tale about a boy and his love for his dog. There are also TONS of references to classic horror films and classic horror film actors like Vincent Price and Boris Karloff. And there are also even subtler nods to Rankin/Bass stop motion films of the 60s and 70s, all of which pleased me to no end. That being said, the relationships between parents and their kids, as well as Victor and Mr. Ryzkruski and Elsa van Helsing (Winona Ryder) feel really underdeveloped and the story overall, while being fine, does nothing to establish itself as something truly special.
And that's how I left the theater feeling. Happy that I watched a Tim Burton movie and didn't have to walk back to my room angry, but sad that it still didn't reestablish him as the overall talent that those movies between PEE-WEE and MARS ATTACKS! showed him to be. But FRANKENWEENIE is a short little piece with countless, fun references that's pretty enjoyable if not a little underwhelming.
