Frankenweenie

First of all, rejoice. Finally we have a Tim Burton film that doesn’t involve Helena Bonham Carter. Perhaps even more surprising is that virtual muse Johnny Depp is also nowhere to be seen. In fact if it wasn’t for old mucker Danny Elfman on scoring duty you might wonder if this was a Burton film at all. OK, cheeky comments aside, this is still somewhat of a reunion with past Burton alumni Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara in the cast. Plus you will have had to have lived on Mars for the past 25 years to not recognise Burton’s style within one minute of this film starting. Last time out Burton gave us the somewhat bizarre Dark Shadows, but this time he’s back on much more familiar ground, especially as this is a remake of a short film of his from the mid 1980’s. The script is basically the story of Frankenstein infused with elements of Burton’s earlier film, as a young boy Victor Frankenstein (natch) brings his dead dog Sparky back to life via the use of some nifty scientific experiments. Burton’s previous stop motion films have been musicals, but this one is sans tunes. Whether that’s a plus or a minus is down to personal opinion I guess. There’s a lot of (mainly black) humour here and the characters are just as grotesque as you would expect, though some scenes may be a bit much for tiny tots. The only real negative I can find about the film is that there really isn’t anything new going on here from Burton. No doubt this was a personal project for him and fans of this type of genre will lap it up, but at the end of the day this is hardly pushing the envelope. Technically it’s hugely impressive (with over 200 separate puppets on show, with Sparky alone having a mind-boggling 300 parts), but the animation doesn’t appear to have moved on since Corpse Bride and the plot is by the numbers, even if you aren’t au fait with the source material. Plus, why succumb to 3D? Despite the crazy angles and physical features on show here it’s poor and doesn’t add anything to the experience (apart from the usual loss of picture quality, noticeable even in a black and white production like this). Overall, this has charm and will appeal to many, but perhaps it’s time Burton took a few more risks.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict

Enjoyable in the main, but Burton is hardly pushing himself here. Loses a mark for pointless 3D. Rating: 6/10.