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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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 Posted - 10/29/2012 : 14:36:46
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Readers of these boards might recall my passion for the talents of Tim Burton. Quirky and often cutting-edge [very punny, Edward S!!] - he's a master of technique wrapped around some no-holds-barred story-telling.
His latest is based on his own story, remarkably animated by a team so large it could form the population of an entire village. Frankenweenie teaches some spikey life lessons to a certain kind of community. The kind decorated with neat suburban front yards, well-meaning school projects, and, gosh darn it, some decent community spirit. There's more than a hint of Eastwick here, if you know what I mean.
Then it becomes clear that classrooms and Little League diamonds give rise to bullies, and that those in petty-power are far weirder than the most devious/deviant of children.
Yet the story depends on a kind of eternal innocence, embodied in the love of a boy and his dog. And a dog and his boy.
Re-devising Mary Shelley's classic tale of what it means to be alive, to be a thinking, feeling sentient human creature - Burton's hero is young Victor Frankenstein, having to cope with the accidental death of his precious pet pal Sparky.
It's the film's job to pierce logic, to re-shape convention, and to use some unexpected tools to keep the slime of congealed saccharine from the plot. With Burton at the helm, supported by a versatile and excellent voice cast, it's a job well done.
Oh, yeah, there's plenty of humor - both the loud smile variety and the guffawing kind. I'm sure I didn't get each and every horror-homage, but I counted up a fair few.
Delight from start to tail's end.
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Frankenweenie
