Frankenweenie

Bob's Mom: What were you two boys doing up on the roof?
Toshiaki: SCIENCE!

I went to see this hoping that this would be Tim Burton's return to his former glory. It's based on a short he did when he first worked for Disney and ironically was the short that got him fired. The short is sharp, sweet, and had all the elements that made his early films great. Unfortunately, none of this really transferred to the film.

The concept is simple and should be charming. When Victor's dog and best friend Sparky is hit by a car, Victor uses the town's frequent lightening storms to bring him back to life. But when his fellow classmates discover his secret, they all begin to bring their pets back to life with disastrous results. So part of the problem lies in the fact that what starts out as a Frankenstein spoof suddenly turns into a monster movie during the climax only to abruptly return to the Frankenstein plot.

But the problems are greater than that. There are a number of potential plot lines that get introduced and then never resolved. Is the sinister Mayor up to no good and doing something that is causing the thunderstorms every night? Is Vincent's Dad right in thinking Victor should make human friends? Will Victor befriend his neighbor, Elsa? There's lots of opportunities for the story to gain depth and purpose but instead it devolves into a simple Frankenstein/Godzilla spoof. But in the end, the only message we are left with is that love is the secret ingredient in science and Victor was right in playing God and bringing Sparky back to life, two things that are questionable to tell children.

Even Victor is a sadly underdeveloped character. We know almost nothing about him other than the fact that he is a quiet loner who is good at science and loves his dog. I'm not even sure if he learned anything from the experience. Part of this is because we never really saw any relationships he had with other characters. In this sense, his classmates were more developed as we saw many instances of them interacting and showing their motivations. Victor, on the other hand, was a relatively generic, passive character.

All and all, Frankenweenie was closer in quality to Corpse Bride than Nightmare Before Christmas and proves to me that Tim Burton needs to take a break. If you want to watch a charming, light-hearted Frankenstein spoof this Halloween, watch the short.