Review of Frankenweenie (2012) by Nick O — 23 Jun 2013

Tim Burton doesn't just give you bits and pieces of his childhood in his movies -- more often than not, he gives you the ENTIRE thing, all quirk, character, and "Pleasantville" suburban influence. Check "Ed Wood", "Edward Scissorhands", "Big Fish" â" his best and brightest because they're his deepest and most personal. He's no stranger at giving where he came from a big electric jolt. "Frankenweenie", his latest, comes on the tail end of two critical bombs (and one commercial), reboots of "Alice in Wonderland" (2010) and last year's "Dark Shadows". Burton going high profile with blank checks for budgets sounds mission impossible considering his bizarro stamp. That he's been embraced by popular culture should have been a call from atop the highest hill to write him off as done with experimenting.

But that's something Burton's never lost the balls to do. Even his misfires bear a wizard's marking. Enter "Frankenweenie" into his canon of erratic, a stop-motion feature based on a live-action short Burton did in the '80s about a young inventor cum filmmaker Victor Frankenstein (here voiced by Charlie Tahan) who revives his recently-deceased dog Sparky using a lab table and a lightning storm; all the latest in monster-making technology. When word gets around Sparky's back from the dead fingers point to new school science teacher Mr. Rzykruski ("Ed Woodâ(TM)s" Martin Landau), who preaches this small town's poison of old ideals making way for the new in the droll accent of an outsider. They call panic on Victor's not letting his pet close the loop. It doesn't help Victor lives next door to the town's grumbly mayor, either.

Filmed in black-and-white 3D, even when the story of "Frankenweenie" wears thin Burton and screenwriter John August never let it fall to one dimension. Summer's "ParaNorman" had more of a "Cabin in the Woods"-type kick of a catharsis-- and for a kid's flick, that's extra points for going beyond -- but it's hard to argue with a movie about how heavy hearts equal good things, and that even death can bring life. To some it'll be the precious ramblings of an enlightened Goth. Take it in stride. Like all good things, "Frankeenweenie" just shares being lovable with being frustrating.