For the record, it's English. I was born in Tilbury, Essex, made temporarily 
American citizen?"
If you look back on the last few films that Tim Burton has directed you’ll notice a pattern; they’re all adaptations of other works. With his latest, the animated horror/fantasy comedy for older members of the family, Frankenweenie,
Originally a 1992 thirty minute short, which in turn was actually a kind of homage to early monster movies, Frankenweenie is now remade as an animated, stop-motion feature in the style of Corpse Bride and The Nightmare before Christmas, and it’s a ton of fun, particularly if you’re something of a follower of those Universal monster productions of old.
Filmed in black and white – there’s a moment of color at the beginning with the Disney logo, then its drains its look and remains B&W for the rest of the film – Frankenweenie explores the old themes of the original Frankenstein story but uses a young boy as the experimenting scientist and a pet dog in place of the infamous monster. As this is a Tim Burton production – and knowing that he grew up glued to the TV and watching horror films throughout his teenage years – Frankenweenie has nothing to do with the literary aspects of the Mary Shelley novel and everything to do with the movies, hence the dog has a pair of Boris Karloff bolts in its neck while one of the neighboring characters has the name of Elsa Van Helsing, a mixture of Elsa Lancaster from The Bride of Frankenstein and the last name of the heroic figure from Dracula.
Inspired by the new and slightly creepy science teacher, young Victor Frankenstein secretly brings his pet dog, Sparky, back to life using the techniques taught in class. Unlike his predecessor from the Frankenstein films, this Victor’s interest in resurrecting his dead pet has nothing to do with scientific curiosity; it’s out of love for his dog who was killed in a car accident. “I don’t want him in my heart,” the young, distraught boy tells his father. “I want him here with me.”
The setting is a small town called New Holland; the name of the town towers over a hill in large, white letters reminiscent of the grand style of the
The original thirty minute short stuck to the one theme, but in this longer remake,
Many of Tim Burton’s repertory company provides their voices for the various characters, including Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, Winona Ryder and Martin Landau who supplies the thickest of East European accents as the creepy new science teacher, Mr. Rzykruski. When talking to concerned parents at a school meeting who object to his new methods of teaching, Mr. Rzykruski states, “I think the problem is you’re all ignorant.” There’s even a brief appearance from the real Christopher Lee as Dracula.
What works so well in Frankenweenie is unlike many Tim Burton films that have great characters and imaginative setups but no story, Frankenweenie has a real beginning, middle and end, which in itself is cause for celebration. The film is funny, attractive to the eye, a little scary for the really young, the movie references are consistently amusing if you get them, and there’s even a moral for children to remember as they leave the theatre. “Sometimes,” Victor’s father tells the young boy, “Adults don’t know what they’re talking about.”
I knew it!
