Movie Review: FRANKENWEENIE

FRANKENWEENIE
Director: Tim Burton
Featuring Voice Work of: Martin Short, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Charlie Tahan, Atticus Shafer

Dogs are widely known as man's best friend. This couldn't be truer for Victor Frankenstien (Tahan). Victor is a smart, but unpopular kid who has no friends. He spends his past time playing with his dog, Sparky, and working in his homemade lab in his parents attic. His favorite subject is school is science taught by the mysterious Mr. Rzykruski (Landau). Edgar E. Gore (Shafer) is another outcast kid in Victor's class who would love to work on the science project with him, but Victor would rather work alone. A weird girl (O'Hara) gives Victor a warning that something major is going to happen to him. She explains the psychic premonitions that her cat gives her that happen to come true. Victor's dad (Short) takes him to play baseball with some of the other local boys. He is not exactly the athletic type so when he hits a home run on the third swing, he realizes this must be the sign the weird girl was talking about. Sparky gets super excited and chases after Victor's ball. On his way back from catching the ball, Sparky is run over by an oncoming car and killed instantly. Victor is devastated about losing his one and only friend.

A light bulb goes off for Victor one day in class. Mr. Rzykruski uses electricity to stimulate the muscles on a dead frog. An inspired Victor believes this may work to bring Sparky back. He gets his lab going in full force during a thunderstorm and hooks Sparky up to many bolts, wires, and kites to use the lightening as his spark. Sure enough, it works and Sparky "is aliiiivve". Victor is shocked and excited to have his best friend back. He knows he must keep it a secret. He keeps Sparky in the attic during the work day so his dad, mom (O'Hara), and others don't find out.

The energetic Sparky can't sit still being cooped up all day in the attic. He goes exploring in the neighborhood getting into mischief with the neighbor's (Ryder) dog as well as the weird girl's cat. Edgar sees Sparky and insists that Victor shows him how he did it. He buys a dead goldfish in an attempt to try it out himself. During the next thunderstorm, the boys attempt their experiment on the goldfish only to come up with slightly different results. Edgar can't keep Victor's secret for very long and accidentally lets it slip to some of the rival kids in class. They all attempt Victor's experiment on their deceased pets only to have disastrous outcomes resulting in mad chaos and destruction on their peaceful New Holland neighborhood.

The title of the movie may sound familiar to you. Burton first told this story back in 1984 as a live action short film starring Shelley Duvall and Daniel Stern. This time around he goes for a black and white stop-motion animation style. This is the same style that was used in The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride. I love the use of black and white. Not many children's movies are released in black and white anymore. It fully enhances the gothic look Tim Burton has been known to embrace. He has many homages to some of his previous work like Edward Scissorhands and Batman Returns as well as creature features like Frankenstein and Godzilla. The town of New Holland is identical to the neighborhood in Edward Scissorhands even down to the bushes and luminous hill that the town flocks to at the ending. Burton loves to use many of the same actors in each of his projects. Martin Short, Martin Landau, Catherine O'Hara, and Winona Ryder are all veterans to Burton's imaginative worlds. Danny Elfman is back with a score that reminds us of the beautiful score he wrote for Edward Scissorhands. Frankenweenie is a return to the look and feel of the classic Tim Burton movies that I grew up on. I have been really disappointed in many of his latest movies, but this one really resonated with me. Be warned that while this is an animated kids movie, it is still enjoyable for adults but may be too scary for wee little children.

Opens October 5, 2012

RATING: **** (4 out of 5 stars)

Movie Review: DARK SHADOWS

DARK SHADOWS
Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Eva Green, Helena Bonham Carter

It is the late 1700s and the Collins family from Liverpool has moved to a town in Maine to start a seafood canning business. They become widely successful and the town is named Collinsport after them. They build a massive mansion and call it Collinswood Manor. Barnabas Collins (Depp) is the young playboy of the family. One of the manor’s maids is Angelique (Green) who dabbles in the dark arts of witchcraft. She has her eyes and heart set on Barnabas. Barnabas’ love is for Josette DuPres (Bella Heathcote). In a jealous rage, Angelique casts numerous spells against the people in Barnabas’ life. A gargoyle falls on top of his parents head as they are walking around the manor. Josette walks to the edge of a cliff and falls to her death. Barnabas tries to rescue her, but it is too late. He jumps over the cliff in order to die and be with her. Before he dies, Angelique casts a spell on him and turns him into a vampire in order to live a life of despair, hurt, and anger. Angelique’s plan is not quite finished. She turns the town of Collinsport on him and brands him a monster. The townspeople come after him and bury him alive in a chained coffin.

Time passes and we pick up with the Collins family in 1972. Various family members including Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Pfeiffer), her brother Roger (Johnny Lee Miller), the family doctor Dr. Julia Hoffman (Carter), and some children currently all reside in Collinswood Manor. The manor is run down and not being taken care of by the supposed caretaker (Jackie Earl Haley). The family business is crumbling and a rival canning company is gaining momentum. The rival canning company is Angel Bay which is run by the infamous Angelique who is still alive hundreds of years later. Late one night a construction company is digging deep in the ground and uncovers the coffin of Barnabas Collins. It shakes open and a hungry Barnabas is unleashed. He instantly kills the nine construction workers and makes his way back to Collinswood Manor. The family seems skeptical about whom this stranger is, but he quickly makes Elizabeth a believer that he is THE Barnabas Collins. Angelique soon realizes that Barnabas is back and relishes on this fact. Barnabas is determined to get Collinsport and the family business back to the same reputation it once had. Angelique has other plans. Tension grows even further when she realizes Barnabas has his eyes on the Collins' new governess who has a striking resemblance to Josette.

The latest Tim Burton and Johnny Depp collaboration is another adaptation from a previous work. This time it's based off a campy TV show from 1966. Maybe they should stick to original material instead of re-imaginings. The screenplay is by Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter scribe Seth Grahame-Smith. One of the biggest downfalls to the movie is that the writing is very bland and boring. The story is fairly thin and doesn't always know where to go to keep the movie going for the 113 minute run time. I know the movie is based on a campy show, so I’m not expecting there to be twists and turns or some deep message hidden inside. There is not enough wit or laughter to bring out the camp to match the tone of the original TV show. There are a few gem lines, but not enough to relish in and make the characters interesting. The actors do a decent job given their source material, but no one is really able to take the extra step. None of these characters will go down as the actor’s best or most memorable. Burton does have some good things going for the movie. The whole production design, like any other Burton film, is breathtaking. Colleen Atwood has designed many of Burton’s films to exquisite detail and this is no exception. She has designed beautiful costumes fitting the 1760s as well as the 1970s. The art direction and set design of the Collinswood mansion is a feast for the eyes with the large gothic feel. Dark Shadows will not go down as one of Burton’s best. That seems to be his trend lately which is unfortunate. The movie is beautiful to look at but there is no substance inside.

RATING: ** (2 out of 5 stars)