‘Frankenweenie’ is bland

There’s just no better way to say it: Frankenweenie is bland.

Frankenweenie is Tim Burton’s newest movie, a stop-motion remake of the short film and Frankenstein parody of the same name that brought him to prominence in the 1980s. The movie makes some good aesthetic choices, particularly in its decision to film in black and white, but it never really manages to build up much excitement or get the audience invested in the fates of its characters.

Frankenweenie tells the story of Victor Frankenstein (Charlie Tahan), a middle school-aged boy living in the suburban town of New Holland, which is plagued by an unusual number of thunderstorms.

A quiet, reserved kid, Victor loves two things more than anything else in the world: science and his dog, Sparky. When Sparky is run over by a car and killed, Victor is understandably heartbroken.

Inspired by his eccentric science teacher, Mr. Rzykruski (Martin Landau), Victor decides to try to bring Sparky back to life using electricity. Victor succeeds, but soon finds himself struggling to keep Sparky’s existence a secret, as well as his technique for returning the dead to life.

Frankenweenie is one of three major animated horror themed children’s films released this year, the other two being ParaNorman and Hotel Transylvania, and it is easily the worstof the bunch.

Frankenweenie treads over a lot of the same territory as ParaNorman, and it comes off looking poor from the comparison.

From using higher quality animation, to giving us a better portrayal of middle school, to telling one of the best stories of the year, ParaNorman towers over Frankenweenie, and most of 2012’s other offerings for that matter, in every way.

Still, ParaNorman is a high bar to meet, and coming short isn’t exactly a strike against a film. What’s more telling, however, is Frankenweenie compares unfavorably to Hotel Transylvania.

To be fair, Hotel Transylvania is a straight-up comedy, whereas Frankenweenie leavens its humor with drama and sadness. Still, in terms of dedication to story, the quality of the characters and its overall feel, Hotel Transylvania is more engaging and a lot more fun.

It’s not so much that Frankenweenie will leave a bad taste in your mouth, but more it won’t really leave a taste at all.

Sure, the movie has some good moments, the best of which revolve around Sparky and his death and are appropriately moving. But a lot of times, Frankeweenie’s plot points never really follow through and just float off into the ether.

There’s a mystery about how Victor is able to bring the dead back to life and a sub-plot about the importance of, and misunderstanding, of science, but neither really goes anywhere. The same could be said of Victor’s romance and the rivalry between him and his classmates, both of which feel kind of hollow.

As for the animation, while some of the character models and sets are cool, there’s a stiffness to it, and sometimes the characters’ expressions match up poorly with the dialogue. I should add I am a fan of stop-motion animation, and if you want to see far better examples of it, I would suggest renting Coraline or waiting for ParaNorman to come out on DVD in November.

In the end, I’d advise giving Frankenweenie a pass. In terms of Halloween-themed family films in theaters now, Hotel Transylvania is where you want to be, and ParaNorman will be available for rental before you know it. If there wasn’t a better option in theaters, I might suggest differently, but there’s no reason to spend your money on something when there are superior alternatives.

Posted by Bera B. Dunau on October 18, 2012. Filed under Arts and Entertainment,Columns,Movie Reviews,Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry