One of the stupidest trends in modern children's TV and literature is this notion that kids should be protected from the darker things in life, and that anything made with them in mind should be unfeasibly cheerful and inoffensive. This is nonsense. Kids get enough rose-tinted syrup in the form of cough medicine, and as the Grimm brothers knew they like a good exhilarating scare as much as the rest of us.
Frankenweenie sees a young Tim Burton reworking the Frankenstein story around a young boy and his beloved dog. Burton and co-writer Leonard Ripps have drawn especially from the 1931 movie version with Boris Karloff, borrowing motifs such as the burning windmill and a twitching hand (or tail, in this case) to indicate re-animation. Of course, most youngsters (indeed most contemporary viewers) will not realise what these are references to, and there's a level of meaning that's only for the film buffs in the audience, who may find themselves chuckling at the more satirical nods. It's the kind of insider wink that cinema, even children's, was full of at this time – think of the clip from The Quiet Man in E.T. (1982). But this in no way diminishes what we see on screen, and it's nice that kids (a lot of whom won't know the Frankenstein story at all) will simply accept the movie in its own right, and be touched by it for its own message, which incidentally has a rather different slant to that of Mary Shelley's novel.
This was one of Burton's earliest efforts at live-action, his work prior to this largely being in animation. He's good for a beginner, his horror-geek background showing with some of the basic but little-known tricks of the genre, such as keeping open doorways or corridors at the back of shots for a sense of unease. As in his later career, he creates a generally strange look with lighting and expressionist design (which even at this early stage he clearly took a personal hand in – check out the oddball graveyard), and using the weirdness of the shot for mood and emphasis. For example, in the classroom scene, Burton cuts to a weird low shot with wide-angle lens, making the teacher look really ominous at the point where he explains about the use of electricity to create movement in animals. Burton has the sense not to overuse such tricks, and carefully tempers the quirky visuals in line with what is going on in the story.
As a finished piece Frankenweenie is certainly no masterpiece, and its inventiveness is betrayed by a rough, haphazard look. Its story idea is clever but the script could certainly use some emotional development and improved dialogue. The casting choices seem a bit makeshift too, Daniel Stern looking nowhere near old enough to have a son that age. Still it works well enough as a short, an appetite-whetter to go before a main feature. However the 1980s Disney chiefs were appalled, fired Burton and put the movie in the vault, deeming it too scary for kids. They should have looked a little closer at their own history. Classics like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio and Dumbo each have their own frightful and disturbing moments. The writers and animators back then knew that terror and darkness is something kids need to go through. And, as with those older Disney movies, Frankenweenie rewards its young audience with light and happiness at the end.
Frankenweenie sees a young Tim Burton reworking the Frankenstein story around a young boy and his beloved dog. Burton and co-writer Leonard Ripps have drawn especially from the 1931 movie version with Boris Karloff, borrowing motifs such as the burning windmill and a twitching hand (or tail, in this case) to indicate re-animation. Of course, most youngsters (indeed most contemporary viewers) will not realise what these are references to, and there's a level of meaning that's only for the film buffs in the audience, who may find themselves chuckling at the more satirical nods. It's the kind of insider wink that cinema, even children's, was full of at this time – think of the clip from The Quiet Man in E.T. (1982). But this in no way diminishes what we see on screen, and it's nice that kids (a lot of whom won't know the Frankenstein story at all) will simply accept the movie in its own right, and be touched by it for its own message, which incidentally has a rather different slant to that of Mary Shelley's novel.
This was one of Burton's earliest efforts at live-action, his work prior to this largely being in animation. He's good for a beginner, his horror-geek background showing with some of the basic but little-known tricks of the genre, such as keeping open doorways or corridors at the back of shots for a sense of unease. As in his later career, he creates a generally strange look with lighting and expressionist design (which even at this early stage he clearly took a personal hand in – check out the oddball graveyard), and using the weirdness of the shot for mood and emphasis. For example, in the classroom scene, Burton cuts to a weird low shot with wide-angle lens, making the teacher look really ominous at the point where he explains about the use of electricity to create movement in animals. Burton has the sense not to overuse such tricks, and carefully tempers the quirky visuals in line with what is going on in the story.
As a finished piece Frankenweenie is certainly no masterpiece, and its inventiveness is betrayed by a rough, haphazard look. Its story idea is clever but the script could certainly use some emotional development and improved dialogue. The casting choices seem a bit makeshift too, Daniel Stern looking nowhere near old enough to have a son that age. Still it works well enough as a short, an appetite-whetter to go before a main feature. However the 1980s Disney chiefs were appalled, fired Burton and put the movie in the vault, deeming it too scary for kids. They should have looked a little closer at their own history. Classics like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio and Dumbo each have their own frightful and disturbing moments. The writers and animators back then knew that terror and darkness is something kids need to go through. And, as with those older Disney movies, Frankenweenie rewards its young audience with light and happiness at the end.