Burton returns to Weirdsville, U.S.A.
It’s the story of a likeable grade school science nerd named Victor Frankenstein (voiced by Charlie Tahan) who figures out an electrifying way to bring his beloved and recently dead pooch, Sparky, back to life. It’s the third stop-motion animation from the filmmaker’s fertile mind and, like Burton’s original, Frankenweenie embraces an earlier black-and-white time with dramatic shadows and camera angles. It’s pretty much a shot-for-shot recreation of the 1984 short, expanded with a story by frequent Burton collaborator John August. Burton returns to his favoured setting of suburban Weirdsville, U.S.A. (here called New Holland), where the oddball residents treat bizarre behaviour as normal. Check out Victor’s classmates, Edgar E. Gore (E. Gore, get it?), Boris Karloff ringer Nassor (voiced by Martin Short) and the aptly named Weird Girl (Catherine O’Hara), a pale, perpetually staring miss who sees prophesies in her devoted cat companion’s litter box leavings. Victor’s doting parents (also Short and O’Hara) wish he was as good at making friends as he is at science. Perhaps morose neighbour Elsa Van Helsing (Winona Ryder) could fit the bill. But she’s too busy avoiding her blowhard uncle, the town’s bombastic mayor (Short, again). You can easily lose yourself in a game of Name That Classic as the story unfolds, with nods to everything from Frankenstein to Gremlins, The Fly and Godzilla’s nemesis Gamera, with some Sea Monkeys thrown in. High-concept and stylish, Frankenweenie is a playlist of films and characters from Burton’s movie-loving childhood. There’s a Valentine to his hero, Vincent Prince, with creepy teacher Mr. Rzykruski (Martin Landau). As much a parody as genre love-in, the laughs come frequently. Parents shouldn’t worry too much about how kids will react to the scene where Sparky meets car and heads to the big fire hydrant in the sky. Victor’s grief and Sparky’s loss are handled with tact and care for young feelings. It’s the scary scenes at the climax, including a shrieking horror hybrid bat-cat, that will like- ly cause knocking knees.
Victor’s work on the patch job required to get Sparky ready for the ultimate science experiment creates a lovable hound who can still turn the head of the poufy poodle next door, the perpetually nervous Persephone.
Sparky isn’t the only thing stitched together from spare parts. The story gets its extra layers from a long list of movie sources to set the action during the run-up to the school science fair where Victor’s rivals, led by boy genius Toshiaki, are inspired to try to replicate the experiment when they find out Sparky is back among the living.
They’re unsure how Victor did it but figure it has something to do with Sparky’s neck bolts and New Holland’s propensity for lightning strikes. Maybe that rickety old mill on the hill has something to do with the lavish lightning, one kid observes, which is sure to set Frankenstein fans to grinning.
The story occasionally lumbers along stiff-legged like Mary Shelley’s monster, and the sly winks to other films are sometimes a tad too twee, but Burton has earned the right to make a personal film. Frankenweenie has his signature on every frame.
After all, who can blame Burton for clasping his hands and crying “It’s alive!” to see his beloved 1984 creature rise from the cinematic grave?