Tim Burton, one of my all time favorite directors. He's an odd and a bizarre type of director that tells unusual stories; has bizarre visuals and settings; likable and tragic characters; and has a dark yet light Gothic atmosphere. Every Halloween month, I'll be reviewing most of his films as well as films by Hitchcock, Stephen King adaptations and other horror creators both films that are scary, bad, classic or not even in the horror genre at all (With the exception of Holiday films).
Since his new film "Frankenweenie" has hit the theaters today, I'm going to review the original "Frankenweenie", which was a live action short film directed by Burton.
The film is a twist on Mary Shelley's classic story "Frankenstein". It's about a young boy named Victor(Barret Oliver) who is a young filmmaker who makes films starring his dog Sparky. One day, Sparky gets hit by a car and dies. A sad Victor brings his dog back to life and the dog starts unintentionally terrifying the neighborhood.
First off, I love the creative twist to the story "Frankenstein". First, you have a family who's last name is "Frankenstein" and the kid who gives life to his dog is named Victor, who's named after the character Doctor Victor Frankenstein.Then you have the parody of the famous key scene as we see an obsessed Victor bring his creature to life just like in the story, only in this adaptation it uses a lot of creativity because the kid brings his dog back to life by using electronic devices and junk that he has in his house. The monster like in the story terrorizes people unintentionally and the climax takes place at a burning windmill. Burton even parodies "The Bride Of Frankenstein" but I won't give it away. I also love that in the story, the kid creates films with his dog because Tim Burton use to do that when he was a kid.
What's great about the film is it's set in the 50's because a lot of B horror and Sci-fi films were made at the time and this film parodies plenty of that. I also love that it's shot in Black and White because it not only feels like you're watching one of those B horror parodies set in the 50's, but it also sets the mood and atmosphere for the film. It also gives the film dark Gothic images and it gives the film its comedy and just like "Young Frankenstein", it works.
The characters are all likable and very funny. Barret Oliver as Victor really shows his eagerness to create life and just like most of Tim Burton's characters you feel pity for him, he's also very funny and very lovable. Daniel Stern and Shelley Duvall as Victor's parents are not only well casted, but they do a great and funny job at portraying the type of parents you'd see in the 50's. The rest of the supporting characters are all funny and acted well, even surprisingly by Sofia Coppla. As for the dog, it's well trained, has a creepy design and is the funniest character in the whole movie.
Surprisingly, Tim Burton was fired from the "Disney Company" after making this film because they found it too scary for a family audience. Disney, however, released it on VHS anyway, but censored the film. The uncensored version can be found on the DVD for Tim Burton's later Disney film "The Nightmare Before Christmas". Too scary for kids, this film isn't close to scary. Sure, there are some dark uncomfortable images of scenery, but it's treated in a comic way. I don't know what the company was thinking on how it can be scary. It's light hearted dark horror family comedy and it's nowhere near as scary as previous Disney films.
RATING 5/5
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