"Frankenweenie" is a 2012 film by director Tim Burton and serves as an expanded remake to his 1984 short film. It follows the same story as the original short but adds a broader cast of characters and is filmed in Tim Burton's mastered medium of stop-motion animation.
I remember working at a movie theater when this film was coming out, I had grown tired of Tim Burton as the current string of films he had released I felt didn't live up to his talents. "Frankenweenie", however, did live up to standard. I have always stated that Burton thrives with physical sets and practical effects, and this becomes amplified with stop motion puppets and hand-built sets for them. He creates his own little macabre world within these films, including "Frankenweenie".
What is so unique about this expanded version is how genuinely weird the additions are to the plot. There is a character called "Weird Girl" whose cat, Mister Whiskers, has psychic dreams about her classmates which are deciphered by his poop. Yes, this is an actual part that sets up Sparky's death.
I remember working at a movie theater when this film was coming out, I had grown tired of Tim Burton as the current string of films he had released I felt didn't live up to his talents. "Frankenweenie", however, did live up to standard. I have always stated that Burton thrives with physical sets and practical effects, and this becomes amplified with stop motion puppets and hand-built sets for them. He creates his own little macabre world within these films, including "Frankenweenie".
What is so unique about this expanded version is how genuinely weird the additions are to the plot. There is a character called "Weird Girl" whose cat, Mister Whiskers, has psychic dreams about her classmates which are deciphered by his poop. Yes, this is an actual part that sets up Sparky's death.
The longer format of this film allows for more character development with Victor, as well as additional supporting characters. We spend more time with Victor in this film and he is more of an outcast. He has a strong passion for science, which his father pushes him towards sports. Much to his chagrin, Victor tries baseball to make his father happy, and at his first game sparky is hit by a car while trying to catch a home run. Victor being an outcast helps us
The villain of this movie is Edgar, who is a play on the character Fritz from the original 1931 "Frankenstein". His role is much like that of Dr. Pretorius from "Bride of Frankenstein". He blackmails Victor into showing him how to reanimate dead pets in order to help him win the science fair. This ends up going awry because he starts bragging to all of his classmates that Victor helped him bring back a goldfish from the dead which in turn turned invisible, causing them to pressure him into telling the secrets of reanimation.
Once Edgar is pressured into showing the classmates how to conduct their experiments, they all go to the pet cemetery and reanimate their pets. This is successful to a degree, as they become mutated and violent. We find out that this is caused because their desire to reanimate their old pets was just to win the science fair. Their heart not truly being in the experiment caused the process to not go as expected. These creatures get dispatched by Victor and Sparky only to lead to the windmill scene from the original movie. From there it follows practically the same ending except Sparky dies again saving Victor from a mutated cat rather than the burning wreckage of the windmill, we even get the same resurrection scene with the cars jolting Sparky back to life.
I remember the first time I watched "Frankenweenie" I absolutely loved it. Watching it again so closely with the original, I find a lot of flaws in the expansion of the story. I love the weird cast of characters and the little tributes to old school horror and monster movies. I also loved all three of Martin Short's characters in this movie and felt he had a blast working on this. However, the ending with the monster turtle leading the attack on the town feels a bit too over the top for the film. I wish we just got pets that were aggressive like "Pet Sematary" meets "Reanimator".
My criticism aside I still love both versions of "Frankenweenie" and love how they both serve as love letters to the classic monsters of yesteryear. It serves as a great intro to spooky movies for kids of all ages. Let's punch "Frankenweenie" into the Patented Monster Meter:
Scares: 0/5
Monsters:5/5
Story:3.5/5
Final Score: 8.5/15
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.
My criticism aside I still love both versions of "Frankenweenie" and love how they both serve as love letters to the classic monsters of yesteryear. It serves as a great intro to spooky movies for kids of all ages. Let's punch "Frankenweenie" into the Patented Monster Meter:
Scares: 0/5
Monsters:5/5
Story:3.5/5
Final Score: 8.5/15
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.
