The third in a triumvirate of late summer/early autumn
horror animations and the most hotly anticipated in my eyes, Frankenweenie is a feature length remake
of the short film that Director Tim Burton made while working for Disney that
got him fired twenty-eight years ago. Over a quarter of a century later and
with a back catalogue of hits under his belt, Disney invited Burton to remake his short for them. A homage
to early talkie Hollywood horror and filmed in black and white stop motion, Frankenweenie is the story of a young
boy called Victor Frankenstein (Charlie Tahan) who loses his only childhood
friend, his dog Sparky. Whilst in science class and having seen a dead frog
have his legs manipulated by electricity, Victor gets the idea to try the same
thing with his deceased dog and is successful in reanimating Sparky. Although
he tries to keep it a secret it isn’t long before other children from school
find out and blackmail Victor into helping them to do the same thing. The
results of their experiments though are much less successful and lead to a
horde of rampaging monsters that threaten the town.