Tim Burton loves paying homage to other movies. Here, just for a change, he does so to one of his own.
The second in a three-film deal with Disney, Frankenweenie is a 3D animated re-make of a live-action short Burton made in 1984. The basic plot has barely been altered. Victor watches his dog die and, inspired by a science lesson at school, brings Sparky back to life by plugging him into an electrical storm.
That said, many sublime adjustments have been made. And the script by John (The Nines) August deftly widens the story’s scope. One narrative thread sees Victor’s very obviously European science teacher (a languorous Martin Landau) claiming that faith has no place in the classroom.
There’s also a last act which finds time to make in-jokes about the Disney brand. The town’s cinema is showing Bambi, a “light” Disney classic that famously confronts death head on. Not to spoil the surprise, but this apparently “dark” fable swerves in quite another direction.
Frankenweenie reminds us that there’s more than one way to make peace with pain and its vision of small-town life will leave audiences pondering the nature of unpredictable, predatory humans. The mob. Can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ’em ...
As might be expected from an idiosyncratic film-maker so consistently in tune with the mainstream, Burton’s emotional climax squares the circle with panache. Ignore adults who tell you this is too scary for under-nines (my eight-year-old loved it). “Sometimes adults don’t know what they’re talking about” says Victor’s dad. Burton, 54, may be the exception to the rule.
