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Movie Review: Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie

Movie Review: Tim Burtons Frankenweenie

Director Tim Burton has done it again. The creator of Coraline, A Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride and other well known movies brings another cute–yet creepy–story to life. Just like all of Burton’s movies, Frankenweenie is a claymation film that does not fail to bring weirdness and bizarreness to the big screen.

Frankenweenie is the story of Victor Frankenstein and his adorable dog Sparky. The movie takes place in the dreamy little town of New Holland.

It all begins with Victor and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein, watching a homemade film starring Sparky as a vicious monster destroying a cardboard city. At the end of it, Sparky hops onto Victor’s lap showing the audience the love they have for each other.

Victor and Sparky are inseparable throughout the movie. Victor takes Sparky with him everywhere which makes them a dynamic duo. After all Sparky is his only friend. Burton makes the audience connect with the characters because it represents a special bond between friends.

Frankenweenie is supposed to be a children’s movie that demonstrates the concept of friendship. However, the way that it is presented makes it not so much a kids’ movie.

The black and white claymation film is a little scary. The characters all have dark circles under their big eyes, and they are lanky, which makes them frightening. The roles and personalities of the characters are freaky.

Weird Girl is a character that demonstrates the ghostly creatures Burton creates. She is never given an actual name and is just referred to as ‘Weird Girl’ which says it all. Her character is the most unpleasant one of all. Weird Girl has long white hair and huge eyes. Her voice is eerie and she takes her psychic cat, Mr. Whiskers, everywhere.

Mr. Whiskers is another character that stands out. He is a fluffy white cat with psychic abilities.  Although he does not have a huge role in the movie, he does make his appearances memorable. For example, Mr. Whiskers has a dream about Victor, but he lets him know in a disgusting way that you will have to watch the film to find out.. The role of Mr. Whiskers really adds to the freakiness of the overall film.

Beyond the characters, the plot is also outlandish. Things take a drastic turn during one of Victor’s baseball games. Sparky sets himself free from his leash to chase after a fly ball. A series of unfortunate events leads to the death of Sparky. Victor rushes after Sparky just in time to see his dog’s life flash before his eyes. Victor is torn to pieces at the sight of his best friend laying motionless on the street.

The movie really shows the connection between Victor and Sparky by showing how emotionally distressed Victor is after the accident. Life continues but Victor is still so heartbroken that he will not even speak for a little bit of the film. That is until the next day at school where Mr. Walsh give the students a lesson about electricity.

Inspired by Mr. Walsh, Victor pushes the boundaries between life and death by bringing his beloved companion back to life with electricity. Hence, the title Frankenweenie–a reference to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.  Sparky comes back to life just like the Frankenstein monster did, but Victor makes sure that no one finds out about his undead dog.

Throughout the movie, Burton does a swell job of tying everything together. There is really nothing left unattended. For example, the only reason Victor does baseball is because his dad does not want him to be super involved with science. Everything in the movie makes sense as to why it happened, as all of the points match up.

Even though all the components make sense, Frankenweenie still fails to bring excitement to the screen. Burton takes too much time between events, which makes the movie a bit boring. On top of that, the fact Frankenweenie is a remake of a 1984 short film by Burton, which makes it unoriginal to some degree. Viewers who have watched the previous version may not be entertained because they already know the plot. Only loyal Burton fans will find this piece engaging.

As usual for this director, he uses these wild plots and surreal images to comment on society. Nearing the end of the movie, kids find out that Victor brought Sparky back to life. However, they do not realize that Victor did this out of the goodness of his heart and not for to win the science fair. Envious of Victor’s ability, they all seek out to bring back the pets they had previously lost in order to win the science fair. The character then have to respond to the chaos they created.

Frankenweenie will touch the hearts of many with the story of loyalty and friendship, and it will send shivers down spines of all the Burton fans this Halloween. Whether you watch it to be spooked or whether you watch it to compare it to the classic, one will see the brilliance but also the flaws.

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