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Frankenweenie is a 2012 American 3D stop motion-animated supernatural horror comedy film directed by Tim Burton and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. It is a feature-length remake of Burton's 1984 short film of the same name and is also both a parody of and homage to the 1931 film Frankenstein, based on Mary Shelley's book of the same name. The voice cast includes five actors who worked with Burton on previous films: Winona Ryder (Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands); Martin Short (Mars Attacks!); Catherine O'Hara (Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas); Martin Landau (Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow); and Conchata Ferrell (Edward Scissorhands) along with some new voice actors, such as Charlie Tahan and Atticus Shaffer. This is the final horror film released by Disney until Ready Or Not on August 21, 2019 from Fox Searchlight Pictures, which was bought by Disney in 2019.

Plot[]

Young scientist Victor Frankenstein lives with his parents and his beloved Bull Terrier dog, Sparky, in the quiet town of New Holland. He enjoys making movies as well as making science experiments and spends so much time with Sparky. Victor's intelligence is recognized by his classmates at school, including his somber next-door neighbor, Elsa Van Helsing, the mischievous Edgar "E" Gore, the obese and gullible Bob, the overconfident Toshiaki, the creepy Nassor, and an eccentric girl nicknamed "Weird Girl". Despite their admiration of him, he communicates little with them due to his relationship with Sparky. Concerned with his son's isolation, Victor's father encourages him to take up baseball at school and make achievements outside of science. Victor hits a home run at his first game; Sparky, seeing Victor's hit, runs away from the bleachers to pursue the ball, to which he is struck and killed by a car, leaving Victor saddened. His parents try to assure him that Sparky will always be in his heart but Victor really wants Sparky here. They say that if they could bring Sparky back they would.

Inspired by his new science teacher Mr. Rzykruski's demonstration of the effect of electricity on dead frogs, Victor digs up Sparky, brings him to his makeshift laboratory in the attic, and successfully reanimates him with lightning. Seeing Weird Girl's cat, Mr. Whiskers, the resurrected Sparky escapes from the attic and explores the neighborhood. Thankfully Victor's parents don't know about Sparky's rebirth but he is recognized by Edgar, who blackmails Victor into teaching him how to raise the dead. Together, the two reanimate a dead goldfish which turns invisible due to an error with the experiment. Edgar brags about the fish to his classmates, but when he tries to show it to a skeptical Nassor, it is gone, leading him to speculate that they can only last for a short time. In fear of losing the upcoming science fair, Toshiaki and Bob make a rocket out of soda bottles, which causes Bob to break his arm. Mr. Rzykruski is blamed for the accident and fired (mainly after describing his intentions for the children), despite Victor’s dad praising the teachers work. While the Science Fair will continue, the Gym Teacher (who hates science herself) takes his place until a more permanent replacement can be found; before Mr. Rzykruski leaves town, he advises Victor to use science wisely.

When Edgar is confronted by Toshiaki, Nassor and Bob on the baseball field at school, he accidentally reveals Victor's actions and that Sparky is indeed alive, inspiring them to try reanimation pets themselves. Victor's parents discover Sparky in the attic and are frightened, causing the dog to flee. Victor confesses why he brought Sparky back to life and while they are shocked at first they are willing to find him. While Victor and his parents search for Sparky, the classmates invade the lab, discovering Victor's reanimation formula. The classmates separately perform their experiments, which go awry and turn the dead animals into monsters: Mr. Whiskers holds a dead bat while it is electrocuted, resulting in him becoming a monstrous bat/cat hybrid; Edgar turns a dead rat he found in the garbage into a wererat; Nassor revives his mummified hamster, Colossus; Toshiaki's turtle, Shelley, is covered in Miracle Gro and turns into a kaiju-like monster; and Bob's Sea-Monkeys grow into amphibious humanoids. The monsters break loose into the town fair, where they wreak havoc.

After finding Sparky at the town's pet cemetery, Victor sees the monsters heading to the fair and goes with his classmates to help deal with them; the Sea-Monkeys explode after eating salt-covered popcorn (due to being the fresh water type), and Colossus is stepped on by Shelley, while the rat and Shelley are returned to their original, deceased forms after both are electrocuted. During the chaos, Persephone, Elsa's pet poodle, is grabbed by Mr. Whiskers and carried to the town windmill with Elsa and Victor giving pursuit. The townsfolk blame Sparky for Elsa's disappearance and chase him to the windmill, which Elsa's uncle accidentally ignites with his torch. Victor and Sparky enter the burning windmill and rescue Elsa and Persephone, but Victor is trapped inside. Sparky rescues Victor, only to be dragged back inside by Mr. Whiskers, who is fatally impaled by a flaming piece of wood during their confrontation before the windmill collapses on Sparky, killing him again. To reward him for his bravery and saving Victor, the townsfolk gather and revive Sparky with their car batteries. While it does not work right away, Victor accepts that Sparky will always be in his heart. Seconds later Sparky is back which everyone is thrilled by, Persephone runs to Sparky and they kiss.

Cast[]

Uncredited[]

Crew[]

Production[]

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 was forced to direct it as a live-action short, which was released in 1984. 2012's animated "Frankenweenie" is the culmination of his original vision, 28 years later.

Music[]

Main article: Frankenweenie (soundtrack)

In early 2011 it was announced that Danny Elfman would score Frankenweenie, with work already started on pre-production music.

Prior to the film's release, an "inspired by" soundtrack album, Frankenweenie: Unleashed!, as well as Danny Elfman's Frankenweenie: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, was released by Walt Disney Records on September 25, 2012.

Gallery[]

Videos[]

Trailers[]

Clips[]

Interviews[]


Trivia[]

  • This film reunites Tim Burton with Winona Ryder, Martin Landau, and Catherine O'Hara (who previously worked with Burton on Beetlejuice). However, the last time Ryder worked with Burton was 21 years ago on Edward Scissorhands. It also reunites Burton with Martin Short (he had worked with Burton on Mars Attacks!).
  • “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.
  • When Victor's parents are shown watching movie it is the 1958 film The Horror of Dracula which starred Christopher Lee.
  • 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”).
  • Several of the character names—Victor, Elsa Van Helsing, Edgar “E” Gore and Mr. Burgemeister— were inspired by classic horror films.
  • It's clearly unknown if Jack Skellington made a cameo in this film.
  • When the monster pets are on the attack, there is a movie theatre that says "Coming soon: Bambi."
  • The way Elsa Van Helsing dresses for the Dutch Day carnival is a reference to the Dutch children from the Disney pak attraction "It's a Small World."


External links[]


  Burton films
Features

Pee-wee's Big Adventure ·' Beetlejuice · Batman · Edward Scissorhands · Batman Returns · The Nightmare Before Christmas (film) · Ed Wood · Mars Attacks! · Sleepy Hollow · Planet of the Apes · Big Fish · Charlie and the Chocolate Factory · Corpse Bride · Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street · Alice in Wonderland · Dark Shadows · Frankenweenie · Big Eyes · Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children · Dumbo · Beetlejuice Beetlejuice·

Other

The Island of Doctor Agor · Doctor of Doom · Stalk of the Celery Monster · Luau · Vincent · Hansel and Gretel · Frankenweenie · Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp · James and the Giant Peach ·Batman Forever · Batman & Robin · The Jar · Conversations with Vincent · The World of Stainboy · Kung Fu · Mannequin · Bones · Here With Me · 9 · Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter · Alice Through the Looking Glass


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