Frankenweenie

Filmmaker Tim Burton once again delights fans of the morbid and macabre with this fun-filled, spooky, black-and-white animated tale about a boy and his dog. Shy young filmmaker/scientist Victor Frankenstein (voiced by Charlie Tahan) lives with his parents (Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short) and his faithful bull terrier, Sparky, in the Dutch-influenced 1970s suburban town of New Holland. One fateful day, when Victor hits a baseball into the street, Sparky chases it and is killed by a passing car. Victor's parents try to soothe their grieving son but it brings little comfort to the distraught child. So when his elementary-school science teacher (Martin Landau) demonstrates in class how a dead frog can be seemingly revived, Victor raids the pet cemetery, and—sure enough—a lightning bolt will strike, bringing Sparky back to life, minus an anatomical part or two that must be stitched back on. Although the reanimation experiment was supposed to be a secret, Sparky's presence is soon revealed to Victor's neighbors and classmates, and—before long—more creepy creatures are revived, with amusingly subversive results. Burton originally envisioned this quirky film inspired by horror classics as a full-length stop-motion feature, but due to budget constraints, made it as a live-action short in 1984. A winning animated film nicely backed by Danny Elfman's moody musical score, this is highly recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette on the film's touring exhibit (5 min.), the music video “Pet Sematary” by Plain White T's, and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are Burton's original 1984 Frankenweenie short (30 min.), a “Miniatures in Motion: Bringing Frankenweenie to Life” production featurette (30 min.), the new original short “Captain Sparky vs the Flying Saucers” (2 min.), and bonus DVD, digital, and 3D copies of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for this enjoyable Oscar-nominated film.] (S. Granger)