Review: Frankenweenie

Frankenweenie by Tim Burton  B+W stop motion

Directed by     Tim Burton
Story by          Tim Burton
Based on         Frankenweenie by Tim Burton

Starring   
Catherine O'Hara  Susan Frankenstein
Martin Short  Edward Frankenstein
Martin Landau  Mr. Rzykruski
Charlie Tahan  Victor Frankenstein
Atticus Shaffer  Edgar "E" Gore
Winona Ryder  Elsa van Helsing

The first thing I think needs clearing is what this film is based on.  Burton a few years back make a live action short called Frankenweenie.   As you may have guessed, this short was based on a boy named Edward who loved making films and often used his constant companion  his dog Sparky who through an errant pitch at a baseball game, fetched the wayward ball and was run over by a car for his trouble, killing him.

Young Victor sees an experiment with a frog and electricity.   Exhuming Sparkie he pulls a Shelly Frankenstein's Monster  which eventually is successful and Sparkie is once again with his best friend.

Now Burton's stop motion Frankenweenie if virtually frame for frame exactly like the live action. 

Burton also has fun by sending up many of the old horror films like Frankenstein, King's Pet Semetary, Edward Scissorhands among others.  I won't give away all the little tid bits that are there for the film buffs and or adults who I know will be watching!

As for rating the film.  The stop motion is extremely good.  The voice acting was a treat and the visuals and tongue in cheek references are fun for adults and kids alike.  I think it is an easy 8.5

As far as extras there is loads of information on how Tim is keeping an old tech alive and fun. A good 8  for a 16.5 film total and an 8.25  for average.    Well worth the watch. 

 

Review: 9

9

Shane Ackers Director
Tim Burton Producer
90minutes pg-13

9 is the feature length version of the 11 minute short film Ackers produced in 2004. As with the shorter work, the world has be been driven to destruction by a long war between humans and machines. Knowing that humanitie's time is short, a scientist creates small puppets and imbues them with the essence of his own humanity. 9 wakes up some time after all of this has taken place and though various back stories he learns of what happened to humans at the hands of the machines and what "machines" are still active and hunting.

Director Ackers won a great deal of recognition for the short work and as such Burton pretty much left him to create the feature length version. As such, those of us that are familiar with the original short, ( 9 short on YouTube) well see many of the connecting themes in the longer version. Matter of fact I would have to say that the 11 minute movie IS the cinematic studio version with some changes that allowed the original idea to be expanded on. The one major difference is 9 and his compatriots speak where they were mute in the short. A fellow viewer suggested that 90 minutes with no dialog would have been too much, but then that was almost the case with Wally was it not? I am almost wondering if the voices were this movie's version of say Deckard's Blade Runner voice over. And much for the same purpose. Another complaint by a fellow viewer was the ending which has religious overtones, but this is a case of not seeing the short. Ackers was allowed to maintain much of his original story and the ending sequence is integral in both versions.

So, 9 is good honest science fiction. It comments on many of the touch points of a good movie science fiction or otherwise but most certainly Sci-fi. Concern for the environment, political extremism, fear of technology and one of my favorites, imbuing humanity into an otherwise inanimate object. So is 9 a robot in the truest sense or maybe an android....no, not in the true science fiction sense, more of a high functioning puppet perhaps... But so much more and maybe less. But overall the movie does what a good science fiction movie should. It extrapolates. It introduces tech that is on the fringe enough to make you think and together you are either forced or led to reexamining preconceptions.

I would give it a good solid 8, mainly because I thought some of the additions detracted from the original. My reservations match another viewer in that Hollywood arbores an untidy ending which the short may have had to a point. So everything must be wound up nicely and everyone must be happy which I think says more about the viewer than the producer.

Watch the short first, then DO GO SEE the movie and then do yourself a favor and go view the short again... Yes it will hold up that well! 9's website click here


Thanks to Flagship Cinemas for sponsoring this blog/podcast/radio program. Check out their site here http://www.flagshipcinemas.com/