{"id":8947,"date":"2012-10-10T12:06:00","date_gmt":"2012-10-10T18:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flovalleynews.com\/?p=8947"},"modified":"2012-10-10T12:06:00","modified_gmt":"2012-10-10T18:06:00","slug":"frankenweenie-stitched-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flovalleynews.com\/?p=8947","title":{"rendered":"Frankenweenie: Stitched Together"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

by Sandra Olmsted<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tim Burton\u2019s newest animated horror film has all the parts one would expect: a dark palette of colors with just a dab of color thrown in to emphasize the power of electricity and characters whose oddly elongated bodies and jerky movements accentuate their creepy normality and awkward interactions.<\/p>\n

\n

However, like Frankenstein\u2019s monster, the film lacks a soul and needed sympathetic characters who have real emotions and conflicts; unfortunately, Burton\u2019s characters in Frankenweenie are about as easy to warm up to as the unreanimated goldfish. Even the main character is never as sympathetic as he needs to be.\u00a0 Even though Victor Frankenstein (voiced by Charlie Tahan) and Sparky (voice of Frank Welker) have the deep and abiding relationship every boy-and-his-dog movie needs,<\/p>\n

Victor, who the audience should recognize and like as the lonely outsider, is not much different or more likable than New Holland\u2019s equally strange, cold population.\u00a0 Unlike Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas or Edward in Edward Scissorhands, Burton\u2019s Victor lacks the essential connection with the audience, and perhaps the difference is that Burton produced those films while someone else directed, and Burton directs Frankenweenie.<\/p>\n

The film is an amusing riff on Mary Shelley\u2019s Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus. When Victor\u2019s dad (voice of Martin Short) makes playing baseball a condition of Victor participating in the science fair, it leads to a tragedy of Sparky chasing Victor\u2019s home run into the street. Victor should have been angry at his dad for making him play, himself for hitting the first home run of his life, and everyone for the loss of his only real friend.\u00a0 Victor cries, but it doesn\u2019t ring true because, without the guilt and anger, it doesn\u2019t feel real, and in animated films, the characters\u2019 responses must be more real to keep the audience enthralled. Soon after the accident, Victor\u2019s science teacher, Mr. Rzykruski (voice of Martin Landau). demonstrates how electricity can make a dead frog kick its legs, and Victor gets an idea.<\/p>\n

After one evening of creating a machine, Victor digs up his beloved Sparky and brings him back to life. Although Victor\u2019s classmate eventually discover Sparky is alive again,\u00a0they think the reanimated Sparky is Victor\u2019s entry in the science fair and set out to replicate the experiment with dead pets or wild animals.\u00a0 Even sea monkeys and one live pet, Mr. Whiskers (voice of Dee Bradley Baker), get caught up in the reanimation frenzy. While the mutations that the animals take on and most of Victor\u2019s classmates are engaging homage to such films as Universal Studios\u2019 Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, and The Mummy<\/em>, and Toho Co., Ltd.\u2019s Godzilla<\/em>, the children disturbingly think that animal life is disposable.<\/p>\n

The people of New Holland aren\u2019t much better at the human connections, which are never shocked into life. Mr. Rzykruski is sent packing by the narrow-minded, pitchfork-wielding townsfolk, so he and Victor never develop a relationship. Elsa Van Helsing (voice of Winona Ryder), the girl next door, has a strange uncle who is caring for her, but this unexplained living arrangement lends an unpleasant kind of creepiness.<\/p>\n

Elsa also has a crush on Victor, but it\u2019s Elsa\u2019s poodle, Persephone (also the voice of Baker), who develops a relationship with Sparky. Even Victor\u2019s mom (voice of Catherine O’Hara), with her patient detachment, never minds when her kitchen appliances go missing for Victor\u2019s experiments, and Victor can always slip one past his mom. However, seeing Victor seeking advice from Mr. Rzykruski or falling in love with Elsa, or seeing mom\u2019s exasperation would have added some much needed conflict.<\/p>\n

Burton is either slipping or he just isn\u2019t cut out to direct, and just as Frankenweeni<\/em>e is a remake of a live-action short he made for Disney in 1984, five of Burton\u2019s eight films since 2000 are remakes of other films or TV shows. The film offers some clever site gags now and then and has a delicious look to the black and white with hints of bluish electricity. The homage Burton pays to the great black-and-white creature features is\u00a0nostalgia that might be lost on the youngsters, but it\u2019s fun for the oldsters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Although Frankenweeni<\/em>e never really connects with the audience as well as the films Burton produced, it is worth seeing because it is the first black-and-white 3D stop-motion animated production to use the new technology and because the animation is so well done.\u00a0 I wanted to love Frankenweenie<\/em> as much as I loved Burton\u2019s other films.\u00a0 It\u2019s enjoyable, and kids fascinated with monsters will like it, but this\u00a0 isn\u2019t one of\u00a0 Burton\u2019s best work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Frankenweenie<\/em> is a Walt Disney Pictures presentation of a Walt Disney Pictures, Tim Burton Animation Co., and Tim Burton Productions production. The film runs 87 minutes and is rated PG for thematic elements, scary images and action, but parents should consider whether their children will enjoy this dark tale.<\/p>\n

More of Olmsted\u2019s reviews can be found at www.thecinematicskinny.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Sandra Olmsted Tim Burton\u2019s newest animated horror film has all the parts one would expect: a dark palette of colors with just a dab of color thrown in to emphasize the power of electricity and characters whose oddly elongated bodies and jerky movements accentuate their creepy normality and awkward interactions. However, like Frankenstein\u2019s monster, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment-travel","category-movie-reviews","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nFrankenweenie: Stitched Together - flovalleynews.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/flovalleynews.com\/?p=8947\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Frankenweenie: Stitched Together - flovalleynews.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Sandra Olmsted Tim Burton\u2019s newest animated horror film has all the parts one would expect: a dark palette of colors with just a dab of color thrown in to emphasize the power of electricity and characters whose oddly elongated bodies and jerky movements accentuate their creepy normality and awkward interactions. 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