Starring as the voiceovers: Martin Short, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Landau, Wynona Ryder, Charlie Tahan and Atticus Shaffer.
Running Time: 1 Hour and 27 Minutes
This animated movie is based on the original Tim Burton Disney Channel short film from 1984.
Filmed in black and white, this adds to the gothic feel and classic horror style of this movie.
This is the story of Victor Frankenstein a young boy who loves his dog Sparky more than anything. Victor is an only child and lives at home with his parents and his dog Sparky. Victor is somewhat of a loner and he excels in science.
When Victor is encouraged to play baseball by his father to help him to not be such a loner, a terrible tragedy occurs! Sweet little Sparky chases after the ball in the road and is hit and killed by a car. Poor young Victor is devastated! He has no idea how he will continue on with his life.
He gets the brilliant idea that with all of his scientific expertise that maybe, just maybe he could try and bring his loyal pal Sparky back to life.
He decides to go out on a stormy night to the pet cemetery to rescue his beloved Sparky, unearth his remains and bring him home. When he brings him back to his laboratory in the attic, he performs the classic Frankenstein lightening power to defy nature and bring him back to life! He eventually succeeds, therefore Frankenweenie comes to life, albeit with a few stitches and happy to be back re-united and re-named with his buddy Victor.
Victor's class is having a science fair. Many of the students want Victor's help to win the fair. Victor is really good at helping with transformations. After a series of unfortunate events occur. The whole city is in need of help.
Overall, this is a story about a boy and his great love for his dog, and the dog's great love for the boy in return. This movie has a very Gothic feel, especially with the black and white film. This is a classic Tim Burton movie, meaning that you never know quite what to expect. I personally feel that the movie had a very sweet and tender feel to it with Victor and Sparky/ Frankenweenie's sincere love for each other. It is a cute movie and will be fun for a family Halloween time night out. Parents be advised that there are some really bizarre creatures and situations that are quite scary and intimidating for young children. I would suggest this movie for children over the age of eight. There were however younger children at the screening who seemed to enjoy the movie.
I am giving "Frankenweenie" two and a half bags of popcorn!
