Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love The Nightmare Before Christmas. I watched that movie so much as a child, I actually destroyed the first VHS copy we owned. I am also no stranger to the live-action short Burton originally made in 1984. Which, apparently he made while working for Disney and they fired him because they deemed it too scary for young audiences. Hah, he showed them! When it was finally released in 1992 after Burton left Disney and became popular with his other films - kids loved it. I say that because I was one of those kids. And with this new installment, Burton was able to expand on the original story and have it made in the time-intensive stop-motion animation style, with Disney backing it all the way. Which actually kind of pisses me off a little, but since I enjoyed it, I can look past it - for now.
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Frankenweenie is still a story about a boy and his best friend - his dog named Sparky. It has most of the same elements in the original short, including some of the characters being styled after the original actors, which I thought was really well done. As is his tradition, he brings back a lot of actors he has previously worked with, including Catherine O'Hara (Nightmare and Beetlejuice), Martin Landau (Ed Wood) and Winona Ryder. And he pays homage, not only to Frankenstein as the short did, but other classics like Godzilla, The Mummy and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. There was also a scene with the mutated sea-monkeys that reminded me a lot of the movie Ghoulies. But of course it has his characteristic Burton-isms, quirky fictional suburban town (like Edward Scissorhands) and the strange and misunderstood protagonist that stick out.
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| Burton with some of the puppets in the classroom |
Another thing I admired about this film was the stand taken on science. An element that was not in the original, but made sense for this version. At one point, the townspeople of New Holland rally against the school science teacher, touting that he is teaching their children things they don't even understand. When he defends himself against them he calls them ignorant. It is an ongoing struggle in communities across the nation - defending the value of science in schools and to teach children the natural curiosity and need to not be afraid to ask questions.
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| The Vincent Price-esque science teacher, Mr. Rzykruski |
One complaint I have was the bonus video of The Plain White T's covering The Ramones' "Pet Sematary." Whatever, there are plenty of covers to songs, even The Ramones have an album of covers that are all really good. But it just is blah to me. It's Disney again, wanting to garner interest in the film by using a contemporary band covering an older, well-known song. So I offer The Ramones version here in retaliation.
Otherwise, I did like it. It was a good installment in Burton's illustrious career compared to some of his other latest films (ahem, Dark Shadows, ahem).
My rating:
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