I saw the Premiere of Frankenweenie in Los Angeles last week and this review will be completely biased because I walked the “red carpet” and saw the Premiere with all the stars of the movie in the theatre, including the director, Tim Burton. It was exciting and overwhelming. Additionally, before the movie, our group of bloggers got to interview 3 cast members ( see yesterday’s post!). Having that personal connection to the film will again, completely bias me! And check out the amazing cast and crew!
To recap, Frankenweenie, directed by Tim Burton, is a remake of his own 1984 short film of the same name. The Frankenstein references abound, as this is an homage and a parody at the same time, of that classic movie and book. My son and I had seen the short and he was fascinated a few years ago, I knew when I took him to our local premiere in NYC he would be thrilled.
This is not a movie for young or squeamish kids. Or so I thought. I am actually writing this review after seeing the movie a second time at the NY preview with a theatre filled with families. Some quite young children were in the audience, boys and girls, and no one seemed overly frightened. I was surprised.
This is a black and white movie with a goth type feel. There are some monster scenes, but I guess some younger kids can handle that. My son loves to wear shirts with skulls on them so this type of film is right up his alley. Besides which, it is a great October/Halloween movie. My son also enjoyed the great scientific angle to the story, another hook to attract the kids.
And the adults will flock to this for several reasons! One, Tim Burton fans will love his direction. Two, this is the first black and white stop motion film to be released in IMAX 3D! Have I mentioned that in several posts? And the parody elements from the original Frankenstein movie! When the female dog next door, Persephone, received an electric shock from Sparky, her hair developed a grey streak reminiscent of The Bride of Frankenstein! Hilarious! I love this kind of humor, it makes a kids movie so much more fun when the director adds some adult comedy and in this movie, various horror movie references. The neighbor girl (Winona Ryder!) is a Van Helsing!
This is the Frankenstein story with a dog instead of a man. Boy loves dog, dog dies, boy resurrects dog. It is the extra nuances in the story and again, the humor that draws me in. And the theatre full of folks I just saw the movie with loved the film. A lot of good humor, and an engaging story line for kids and adults!
Spoiler Alert!
FRANKENWEENIE opens 10/5/12
You can follow the fun on Facebook and Twitter, #Frankenweenie, right now, as well!
Disclosure: Disney invited me on a press junket and paid all of my expenses. No other compensation was received. All opinions are always 100% my own and honest.
Extra notes for those who need all the information about this film they can get their hands on!
- When Tim Burton originally conceived the idea for “Frankenweenie,” he envisioned it as a full-length, stop-motion animated film. Due to budget constraints, he instead directed it as a live-action short, released in 1984.
- “Frankenweenie” follows in the footsteps of Tim Burton’s other stop-motion animated films “Corpse Bride” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas”—both of which were nominated for Academy Awards®.
- Over 200 puppets and sets were created for the film.
- The voice cast includes four actors who worked with Burton on previous films: Winona Ryder (“Beetlejuice,” “Edward Scissorhands”), Catherine O’Hara (“Beetlejuice,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas”), Martin Short (“Mars Attacks!”) and Martin Landau (“Ed Wood,” Sleepy Hollow”).
- Classic horror films inspired several of the character names.
so cool. i’d be biased too. film sounds amazing!