Canine Shocker

FRANKENWEENIE (2012)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Tim Burton's "Frankenweenie" is a return to the director's roots in the bizarre world of freaks and monsters using fantastic, unbelievable stop-motion animation. I will not say it is a complete success - it is no "Nightmare Before Christmas" or "Corpse Bride" - but it is suitably fine entertainment and freakish enough to warrant a mild recommendation.

Based on Tim Burton's own short film from the 80's that was rejected by Disney (now Disney bares its name on it), "Frankenweenie" takes place in a black-and-white suburbia where young Victor Frankenstein (voiced by Charlie Tahan) loves his dog, Sparky, and often casts the canine in short films he makes (no doubt a hint of Tim Burton's own youth at work here). One tragic day, Sparky runs down a street and is hit by a car. Victor can't let go until he gets the idea through his stern, open-minded science teacher (voiced by Martin Landau) to use electricity to bring back Sparky. If it can work with a frog, then maybe that dog will be back barking soon enough. It is a fun concept, perfect for Burton to craft humor out of the macabre. Except, this time, the humor is barely there.

Almost all the characters are far too macabre, even by Burton's standards. The strange girl with wide eyes and a cat who dreams and poops (each of the poops foretells her classmates' futures) looks ready to kill with a cleaver. Some of the other kids who are working on science projects either look like Boris Karloff's children or Hitler's minions (why they all have thick European accents is beyond me unless this is an homage to all the wild, thick accents we hear in James Whale's classic "The Bride of Frankenstein"). The Igor-inspired nutcase who brings back his dead goldfish is a wacky and wonderful character but then we hear Winona Ryder voicing the girl-next-door who looks suspiciously like the Goth girl she played in "Beetlejuice." I can only take so much of a soft-spoken Winona.

"Frankenweenie" is hardly unmemorable and fitfully entertaining but I would've loved more of Burton's humorous touches. There are some wicked and imaginative sequences strewn throughout (including the inspired idea of having all the kids bring back their dead pets to life) but why does everyone look so emaciated and droopy, that is judging from their faces alone? Aside from the lively pooch (the best character in the movie), the characters themselves need a jolt of electricity as well.