What genre is Frankenweenie?
The answer to that question can be given using the director’s name: Tim Burton,
a man who thinks a neighborhood is defined by the shapes of the shrubs and the
neatness of the lawn. Burton ’s
poor landscapers; that’s a job I don’t envy.
Treading on Edward
Scissorhands’ manicured turf, Burton revisits the suburbs — and his very
first film — with Frankenweenie, an
eccentric stop-motion animated movie that contains all the film flourishes that
Burton is known for, from the satirical view of suburbia and the gloomy dirge
that hangs over it, to the oddball cast of loners and Danny Elfman’s magical
score.
Many people are fans of the Burton
aesthetic, but I often wonder if he’s painted himself in a dark, cobwebbed corner.
After all, when everyone is a gothic misfit — as is often the case in his
movies — that’s like saying no one is. Only so many movies can be designed
around that premise, and Burton
is pushing his luck. At this point it would be almost more taboo if one his characters bought clothes from the GAP, listened to Lady Gaga or played the individuality-crushing sport of football. Nonetheless, as worn and self-plagiarizing as his stories
are, I admired Frankenweenie and all
its stop-motion zaniness.
Victor Frankenstein (Charlie Tahan) is a teen living in a
suburban wonderland. The parents in this hamlet of New Holland are normal
folks, so normal that Martin Short voices the dad and Catherine O’Hara voices
the mom. Their last name may be Frankenstein, but they’re fairly boring, even
Victor, who’s a shade or two lighter than many of Wynona Ryder’s or Johnny
Depp’s iconic Burton roles. Victor has no friends, just his dog Sparky, his
trusty and loyal sidekick.
After Sparky is squished into chili in a car accident, Victor
rebuilds the doggy corpse, hoists it up a pulley during a rainstorm and waits
for lightning to jolt the pooch alive. This scene, with many whirling parts and
lots of arcing electricity, is nifty and fun. Best of all, the experiment works
and Sparky is once again a member of the family, though Victor must hide his
reanimated pet, with its leprous limbs that fall off randomly, from his
well-meaning parents and his curious classmates, one of whom serves as Victor’s
Igor, a hunchbacked little minion. I liked the hunchback kid, especially the
way the other characters seemed unfazed by his obvious and severe hunch and
also his maniacal cackle. At one point he wants to make a death ray for the
science fair, and is rebuffed by the science fair rules that stipulate “No
death rays!”
Once word of Sparky’s resurrection surfaces at school, all of
Victor’s classmates want to know his secret so they can jolt their own pets —
including a sewer rat, a packet of sea monkeys, a turtle and a mummified guinea
pig — back to life. These tests don’t go as well as Sparky’s and the kids end
of creating abominations that terrorize the town. The final fight takes place
at a fiery windmill, just like the original Frankenstein
movie and also Burton ’s
Sleepy Hallow.
Frankenweenie, like an
old horror movie, is shown in black and white and that format serves it well by
setting an appropriate tone. The plastic characters are the stop-motion
grandchildren of Burton ’s
Nightmare Before Christmas and the
children of Corpse Bride — they’re
all elbows and knees, with long matchstick limbs, except for the fat characters
who are so morbidly obese they they’re bellies undulate as they move. If you’ve
read my reviews long enough then you know I adore stop-motion movies, and Frankenweenie is a fine example, though
I much prefer the other horror-inspired stop-motion movie from this year, ParaNorman.
My favorite part of Frankenweenie
is Victor’s science teacher, an ominous mortician of a man with a name made of
what I thought was every letter in the alphabet; it sounded like the students
were saying “Mr. Rice Krispies.” He has an Eastern European accent, a mouthful
of long cigarette-shaped teeth and a deep love of science. His demonstration on
electricity is so intense that it seems to channel Sam Kinison, Lewis Black or
any of those other comics who unhinge the louder they get. He is utterly
flabbergasted when the townspeople have him fired for teaching science (and not
religious zealotry). “In my country we love science. Even my plumber has a
Nobel prize,” he tells them. For a few short moments, Mr. Rice Krispies manages
to hijack the plot and make a valid argument for science in schools. It’s
hilarious, heartfelt and completely convincing.
Frankenweenie is not
the best stop-motion animated movie this year — ParaNorman and The Pirates!
Band of Misfits are both more fun — though it certainly is noteworthy. Even
more noteworthy is this little fact: Hollywood
has not given up on stop-motion, one of filmmaking’s oldest tricks. That makes
this stop-motion fan very happy.
As with all stop-motion movies, I'm including most of the press photos. All are clickable. More after the jump.
