Frankenweenie

After the overwrought yet empty Dark Shadows, Frankenweenie is an endearingly humble film in which Burton refers to his previous work without stealing from it. The opening scene with the film within a film and the very condensed telling of the following minutes prepares us for the “rewriting” nature of Frankenweenie, which shows what was previously filmed in much more amateurish conditions, only on a larger scale. The film captures Burton’s own transformation from a strange child into a widely beloved filmmaker. Several children embark on the same experiment, but only Victor’s intentions are pure and he ends up being the only one to find support among the adults. As with Burton’s other protagonists, what’s important is not that he becomes part of the group, but that the group accepts his eccentricity, and Burton is overwhelmingly successful in depicting this. I suspect that he made Frankenweenie mainly for his own pleasure and that of his most faithful fans. Black-and-white, morbid, anti-Disney (the cutest animal is a bloodthirsty cat-vampire), with an intentionally predictable story. The familiar plot framework is used in the manner of an atmospheric museum of classic horror films recalling not only celebrated monster movies, but also Burton’s earlier works. If you don’t relish visual quotes from horror movies, you will be entertained by Frankenweenie, depending particularly on how much you are able and willing to appreciate its self-referential and auto-biographical qualities, which take the film out of the realm of light entertainment that the whole family will go to the cinema for on a Sunday afternoon without prior preparation. In the context of contemporary major-studio animated films, Frankenweenie is just as much an outsider as Burton’s obstinate protagonists. Commercially suicidal, but very likable. 75% (04/01/2013)

I felt like Tim Burton has made this movie to film something he’d wanted to do for a really long time. An animated movie in his exact style of directing about pets and also about what it means to the kids and their parents when one such pet dies. Everybody’s been through that, including me. And maybe that’s why I’ve related to this (non)fairytale so much. And I must say that the ending was beautifully thought-provoking. (11/12/2013)

Frankenweenie is visually fantastic. The visages of the figures perfectly reflect their nature. But, as has been the case with Tim Burton lately, the film doesn’t have heart. Although the film deals with subject matter from the director’s childhood and early days as a filmmaker, it does not reach the quality of Ed Wood or the charm of Edward Scissorhands. (04/12/2012)

It took Tim Burton nine years (since Big Fish) to make a film that I can't fault at all. Well... Maybe it’s that I don't want to criticize him, but it ends up the same. Frankenweenie is definitely a much more successful animated film than Corpse Bride, but unlike Alice, the collaboration with Disney didn't affect it that much... And above all, it's a wonderful homage to the monster horror movies I love so much. Even the lately bland Danny Elfman was a surprise. (25/01/2013)

Tim Burton: a return to his roots. Tim Burton: puppets again. Corpse Bride was fine, and The Nightmare Before Christmas has become a legend, but the original Frankenweenie along with Vincent form the absolute core of who Burton the artist is. That's why it's good that the stitched pet has the opportunity to remind us of all this. It's nice, it's cute, and it's a bit sterile and predictable, but if you've also watched something from The World of Stainboy series, it's absolutely perfect. (07/01/2013)