"Frankenweenie" is a 1984 short-film from director Tim Burton that serves as a pseudo-parody as well as a tribute to the 1931 classic "Frankenstein". It follows a young boy, Victor Frankenstein, whom has an inseparable bond with his bull terrier named Sparky. Victor makes short monster films with Sparky until one day the little pup is sadly hit by a car. After learning about electrical responses inside of muscles, Victor gets the idea to bring sparky back from the dead. When the experiment is a success Victor is over joyed, but the town doesn't quite share his enthusiasm.
So anyone who knows me knows how much I love dogs and Frankenstein, so this short is pretty much a match made in heaven for me. It even uses some of the same lab equipment that was used in the James Whale film as well as Mel Brook's "Young Frankenstein".
Tim Burton was known to have come up with the concept after thinking about his childhood dog while re-watching the original James Whale film. After connecting the memories of his dog, and the concept of the "Frankenstein" film Burton built a storyboard pitch and presented it to Richard Berger, whom at the time was the production chief at Disney. Berger loved the idea and they hired comedic writer Lenny Ripps to pen the screenplay. Unfortunately after the finished project was completed Disney decided to shelf the project, fearing that it was not sutable for a younger audience. It wasn't until after Burton's success with films such as "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" and "Batman" that the film finally saw a home video release in 1992.
Burton wanted to create a story about the love one has for their pet, and this is prevalent throughout. Oddly enough "Frankenweenie" is a very heart warming tale about a boy and his friendship with his adorable pup Sparky. I love the look of the reanimated Sparky in this film. He has that exaggerated style to his makeup that we are used to with Tim Burton's work. He features thick stitching on his head and neck as well as big bolts on the side of his neck, paying homage to the Karloff design. Sparky seems like such a fun loving good boy and it makes me wish I had him as a pet.
In the film's climax, the neighborhood forms an angry mob and chases Sparky to a mini-golf course windmill. From then its pretty similar to the windmill ending in the 1931 film, but Victor finds himself knocked unconscious inside of the windmill, which the mob accidentally sets on fire. Sparky ends up saving his friend but gets crushed by the rubble of the windmill in the process. This causes the mob to see the error of their ways and they band together, using their cars to recharge sparky.
This proves successful as Sparky is brought back to life, and he even meets up with a poodle who bares a striking resemblance to the Bride of Frankenstein, sporting an up doo with a thick white streak through it. I enjoy this ending because it feels like a what-if kind of story for the original Monster and pulls on the sympathy a good portion of the audience feels for the character.
The original "Frankenweenie" is an awesome short film that I highly recommend to anyone whom hasn't seen it. It even got a feature length stop motion remake in 2012 which I will also be covering for a future Franken-Friday. I give the original "Frankenweenie" a solid 7/10 on the new and improved Patented Monster Meter!
Both the "Frankenweenie" short and feature length film can be found for sale and rent on various streaming platforms, or on Disney+. If you are a pet lover and a Monster fan like I am I cannot recommend these two films enough.
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