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Frankenweenie (2012 film)

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Frankenweenie
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTim Burton
Screenplay byJohn August
Story byTim Burton
Produced byTim Burton
Allison Abbate
StarringCharlie Tahan
Frank Welker
Winona Ryder
Catherine O'Hara
Martin Short
Martin Landau
Robert Capron
Atticus Shaffer
CinematographyPeter Sorg
Edited byChris Lebenzon
Mark Solomon
Music byDanny Elfman
Production
company
Distributed byWalt Disney Pictures
Release dates
  • September 20, 2012 (2012-09-20) (Fantastic Fest)
  • October 5, 2012 (2012-10-05) (United States)
Running time
87 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$39 million[2]
Box office$67,067,025[2]

Frankenweenie is a 2012 3D stop motion sci-fi family film directed by Tim Burton.[3] It is a remake of Burton's 1984 short film of the same name and is a parody of and a homage to the 1931 film Frankenstein based on Mary Shelley's book of the same name. The voice cast includes four actors who worked with Burton on previous films: Winona Ryder (Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands), Catherine O’Hara (Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas), Martin Short (Mars Attacks) and Martin Landau (Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow).

Like both those films, Frankenweenie is in black and white. It is also the fourth stop-motion film produced by Burton and the first of those four that is not a musical. In the film, a boy named Victor loses his dog, named Sparky, and uses the power of science to resurrect him.

Frankenweenie, the first black-and-white feature film and the first stop-motion film to be released in IMAX 3D,[4] was released by Walt Disney Pictures on October 5, 2012 and met with positive reviews and moderate box office sales. The film was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film and has received nominations for a BAFTA and an Academy Award for Best Film in each respective animated category.[5][6][7]

Plot

Young filmmaker and scientist Victor Frankenstein (Charlie Tahan) lives with his parents, Ben and Susan Frankenstein (Martin Short and Catherine O'Hara) and dog Sparky in the quiet town of New Holland. Victor's intelligence is recognized by his classmates at school, his somber next-door neighbor, Elsa Van Helsing (Winona Ryder), mischievous, Igor-like Edgar "E" Gore (Atticus Shaffer), obese and gullible Bob (Robert Capron), overconfident Toshiaki (James Hiroyuki Liao), creepy Nassor (also Short), and an eccentric girl nicknamed Weird Girl (also O'Hara), but communicates little with them due to his relationship with his dog. Concerned with his son's isolation, Victor's father encourages him to take up baseball and make achievements outside of science. Victor hits a home run at his first game, but Sparky, pursuing the ball, is killed by a car.

Inspired by his science teacher Mr. Rzykruski's (Martin Landau) demonstration of the effect of electricity on dead frogs, a depressed Victor digs up Sparky's corpse, brings him to his makeshift laboratory in the attic, and successfully reanimates him with lightning. Seeing Weird Girl's living cat, Mr. Whiskers, the undead Sparky escapes from the attic and explores the neighborhood. He is recognized by Edgar, who blackmails Victor into teaching him how to raise the dead. The two reanimate a dead goldfish, which turns invisible due to an error with the experiment. Edgar brags about the undead fish to Toshiaki and Bob, which, in panic of losing the upcoming science fair, inspires them to make a rocket out of soda bottles, which causes Bob to injure his arm and Mr. Rzykruski to be blamed and fired due to his accused influencing and reviling the townsfolk for questioning his methods when he steps up for self-defence.

Eventually, Edgar's fish disappears when he tries to show it to a skeptical Nassor (who was told by Toshiaki) and when Edgar is confronted by Toshiaki, Nassor, and Bob on the baseball field at school, he reveals Victor's actions, inspiring them to try reanimation themselves. Victor's parents discover Sparky in the attic and are frightened, causing the dog to flee. Victor and his parents search for Sparky while 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, turning him into a vampire cat; 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 a growth formula and turns into a giant Gamera-like monster; and Bob's Sea-Monkeys grow into amphibious humanoid monsters. 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 attacking the fair and goes to help his classmates deal with them—-the Sea-Monkeys explode after eating salt-covered popcorn, and Colossus is stepped on by Shelley, while the rat and Shelley are returned to their original, deceased forms after being electrocuted. During the chaos, the town's mayor's niece Elsa van Helsing is grabbed by Mr. Whiskers and carried to the town windmill. The townsfolks blame Sparky for her disappearance and chase him to the windmill, which Mayor Bergermeister (also Short) accidentally ignites with his torch. Victor and Sparky enter the burning windmill and rescue Elsa, but Victor is trapped inside. Sparky rescues Victor, only to be dragged back inside by Mr. Whiskers. A final confrontation ensues, and just as Mr. Whiskers has Sparky cornered, a flaming piece of wood breaks off and impales him. The windmill collapses on Sparky, killing him again. To reward him for his bravery, the townsfolk gather to revive Sparky with their car batteries, reanimating him once more. Persephone, Elsa's pet poodle, who has a hair style similar to the Elsa Lanchester's Bride of Frankenstein, comes to Sparky as the two dogs share their love.

Cast

Tim Burton, Winona Ryder, Martin Landau and Charlie Tahan at the film's premiere at the Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas.
  • Charlie Tahan as Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who brings his dog (and best friend) Sparky back to life.
  • Catherine O'Hara as Susan Frankenstein, Victor's Mother / Gym Teacher / Weird Girl, an eccentric girl who is one of Victor's classmates and obsessed with the psychic predictions of her cat, Mr. Whiskers[8]
  • Martin Short as Edward Frankenstein, Victor's father / Nassor, Toshiaki's partner and Victor's other rival-like former enemy, who has a flat head inspired by Frankenstein's monster and whose voice and face resemble that of Boris Karloff / Mr. Bergermeister, the grumpy Mayor of New Holland, the Frankensteins' next-door neighbor and Elsa's uncle;[8] a homage to the villainous Burgermeister Meisterburger from the Rankin/Bass film Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town.[9]
  • Martin Landau as Mr. Rzykruski, the eccentric but wise science teacher at Victor's school who speaks in a thick Eastern European accent. His teachings inspire Victor's effort to resurrect Sparky, and he acts as a mentor to Victor.[8] The character was inspired by Burton's childhood icon, Vincent Price.[10]
  • Winona Ryder as Elsa van Helsing, Victor's crush, kind next-door neighbor, and one of his classmates.[8]
  • Atticus Shaffer as Edgar "E" Gore, a hunch-backed child (inspired by Igor) and one of Victor's classmates. He's the first to know of Victor's success in bringing Sparky back to life.[11]
  • Robert Capron as Bob, an obese boy who is one of Victor's classmates.[12]
  • Christopher Lee as Dracula (in stock footage from Horror of Dracula).
  • Conchata Ferrell as Bob's mother, an obese and stereotypical suburban housewife who dotes upon her son. She believes in the status quo, and that her misguided actions are in Bob's best interest.[12]
  • James Hiroyuki Liao as Toshiaki, Victor's rival-like former enemy and one of his classmates.[13]
  • Tom Kenny as Fire Chief / Soldier / Townsfolk[14]

Production

Development

Although Tim Burton signed with Disney to direct two films in Disney Digital 3D, including Alice in Wonderland and his remake of Frankenweenie, development for its full-length stop motion version dates as far back as November 2005, when scripts had been written by Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott.[15] John August was approached for a rewrite in 2006,[16] but was not hired until January 2009. Like the original, the feature version is shot in black and white. Many of the animation artists and crew from Corpse Bride are involved.[17] In addition to remaking his earlier project, Burton is also borrowing heavily from his design from the titular character of Family Dog for Sparky.[18]

Filming

File:Frankenweenie, Victor, Sparky Frankenstein, puppets.jpg
Puppets of Victor and Sparky displayed at the 2012 Fan Expo Canada

Filming began at Three Mills Studios in July 2010.[19] The crew created three giant sound stages, including Victor's cluttered family attic, a cemetery exterior, and a high school interior. The sound stages were then divided into 30 separate areas to deal with the handcrafted, frame-by-frame style of filmmaking. Compared to other stop-motion animation sets, Frankenweenie's set is much larger. As IGN notes, the main character Sparky had to be "'dog-size' compared to the other human characters, but also large enough to house all the elements of the mechanical skeleton secreted within his various foam and silicon-based incarnation". On the other hand, the mechanics are small and delicate, and in some instances they had to have Swiss watchmakers create the tiny nuts and bolts. Around 200 separate puppets were used, with roughly 18 different versions of Victor. The puppets also have human hair, with 40–45 joints for the human characters and about 300 parts for Sparky.[20][21][22]

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.[23]

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.[24] Frankenweenie: Unleashed! contains bonus content that includes a custom icon and an app that will load a menu to view more the bonus content, provide input, or buy more music from Disney Music Group.[25]

Release

Tim Burton, the director of Frankenweenie, promoting the film at the 2012 Comic-Con in San Diego

The film was initially set for release in November 2011, before Disney moved it to March 9, 2012.[17][26] In January 2011, Box Office Mojo announced the film's new release date for October 5, 2012 with John Carter replacing the film for the once planned March 9, 2012 release.[27] The film premiered on September 20, 2012, on the opening night of Fantastic Fest, an annual film festival in Austin, Texas.[28] The film opened the London Film Festival on October 10th in the UK.

Marketing

In the lead up to the film's release in October, there was a travelling art exhibition detailing the work that has gone into creating the film. During the exhibition it was possible to see sets and characters that were used for the stop motion feature film.[29]

From September 14 to November 5, Disney California Adventure offered exclusive scenes from the film during Muppet*Vision 3D's nighttime operating hours.[30]

At Disneyland, Sparky's tombstone has been added to the pet cemetery outside of the Haunted Mansion Holiday event that features characters from Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Home media

Frankenweenie was released on DVD and Blu-ray, on January 8, 2013.[31] The film is accompanied with a two-minute short animated film, titled Captain Sparky vs the Flying Saucers.[32]

Reception

Critical response

The film has received mostly positive reviews from critics. Based on 179 reviews, the film currently holds a "Certified Fresh" rating of 88% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Frankenweenie is an energetic stop-motion horror movie spoof with lovingly crafted visuals and a heartfelt, oddball story."[33] Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 75 based on 35 reviews.[34]

Justin Chang of Variety reacted positively to the film, saying that it "evinces a level of discipline and artistic coherence missing from the director's recent live-action efforts."[35] Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a mediocre review by explaining that while the various creative elements of the film "pay homage to a beloved old filmmaking style", the film mostly feels "like second-generation photocopies of things Burton has done before."[36] Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars, while regarding the film as "not one of Burton's best, but it has zealous energy" and that "the charm of a boy and his dog retains its appeal".[37]

Box office

During its opening weekend, Frankenweenie placed fifth among other films grossing $11.5 million.[2] As of December 9, the film has grossed $66,168,379 worldwide.

Accolades

List of awards and nominations
Award Category/Recipient(s) Result
85th Academy Awards[7] Academy Award for Best Animated Feature (Tim Burton) Pending
American Cinema Editors Best Edited Animated Feature Film (Chris Lebenzon, A.C.E. & Mark Solomon)
Annie Awards[38][39] Best Animated Feature Nominated
Production Design in an Animated Feature Production (Rick Heintzich)
Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production (Atticus Shaffer)
Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production (Catherine O'Hara)
Writing in an Animated Feature Production (John August)
BAFTA Awards[6] Best Animated Film Nominated
Boston Society of Film Critics Best Animated Film Won
Critics Choice Awards[40] Best Animated Feature Nominated
Chicago Film Critics Association Best Animated Feature Nominated
Cinema Audio Society Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Motion Pictures Animated Pending
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Best Animated Film Nominated
Florida Film Critics Circle Best Animated Won
Golden Globe Awards[41] Best Animated Feature Film Nominated
Houston Film Critics Society Best Animated Film Nominated
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Best Animated Film Won
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Animation Won
Nevada Film Critics Society Best Animated Movie Won
New York Film Critics Circle Best Animated Film Won
Online Film Critics Society Best Animated Feature Nominated
Phoenix Film Critics Society Best Animated Film Nominated
Producers Guild of America Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures (Allison Abbate, Tim Burton) Nominated
San Diego Film Critics Society Best Animated Film Nominated
Satellite Awards[42] Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media Nominated
Southeastern Film Critics Association Best Animated Film Nominated
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Best Animated Film Nominated
Toronto Film Critics Association Best Animated Feature Nominated
Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Best Animated Feature Nominated

References

  1. ^ "FRANKENWEENIE (PG)". British Board of Film Classification. 2012-08-15. Retrieved 2012-08-21.
  2. ^ a b c "Frankenweenie (2012)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  3. ^ Wheeler, Jeremy. "Frankenweenie". Allmovie. Retrieved September 26, 2012.
  4. ^ Goldberg, Matt (March 6, 2012). "Disney to Release Tim Burton's FRANKENWEENIE in IMAX 3D". Collider.com. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  5. ^ Globe, Golden (Thursday 13 December 2012 14.32 GMT). "Golden Globes 2013: full list of nominations". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved January 3, 2013. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ a b Labrecque, Jeff (January 9, 2013). "'Lincoln' leads BAFTA race with 10 nominations". Deadline. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  7. ^ a b "Oscar 2013: The nominations revealed..." January 10, 2013. Retrieved January 10, 2013. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |source= ignored (help)
  8. ^ a b c d Fleming, Mike (September 20, 2010). "Tim Burton Finds His 'Frankenweenie' Cast". Deadline. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  9. ^ http://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/Frankenweenie-movie-review-3919349.php
  10. ^ http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2012/10/03/frankenweenie-martin-landau-is-part-vincent-price-part-slob/
  11. ^ Bettinger, Brendan (February 14th, 2011). "The Official Synopsis and Production Notes for Tim Burton's 3D Stop-Motion FRANKENWEENIE". Collider. Retrieved August 21, 2011. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ a b "D23 Expo: First Look at the Frankenweenie Logo". ComingSoon. August 20, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  13. ^ Lloyd, Kenji (December 14, 2011). "Three Brilliant New Photos From The Set Of Tim Burton's Frankenweenie". Retrieved December 20, 2011.
  14. ^ Schaefer, Sandy (October 27, 2011). "'Frankenweenie' Images Reveal Tim Burton's Latest Stop-Mo Project". Retrieved December 20, 2011.
  15. ^ Denise Martin (2005-11-15). "USA eyes Grazer's Wife". Variety. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
  16. ^ "Frankenweenie". John August.com. 2007-11-27. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
  17. ^ a b Kit, Borys (January 21, 2009). "John August tackling two film projects". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  18. ^ Smithson, Sean (February 2, 2012). "NEW ONE SHEET FOR TIM BURTON'S FRANKENWEENIE". Twitch Film. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  19. ^ Nick de Semlyen (2010-06-22). "Exclusive: The Lion King To Go 3D!". Empire. Retrieved 2010-12-27.
  20. ^ Singer, Leigh (13 December 2011). "The Magic of Tim Burton's Frankenweenie". IGN. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
  21. ^ "Tim Burton Brings Frankenweenie Back to Life & We Got to Witness the Resurrection!". Babble. 14 December 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
  22. ^ Hubschman, Daniel (13 December 2011). "Frankenweenie Set Visit Report Pt. 1". Hollywood.com. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
  23. ^ "MUSIC INTERVIEW: DANNY ELFMAN Q&A - PART 3 OF 3". Buzzine. June 14, 2011. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  24. ^ Morin, Natalie (3 August 2012). "Album Art Exclusive: 'Frankenweenie Unleashed'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  25. ^ "'Frankenweenie Unleashed'". Retrieved 25 September 2012.
  26. ^ Staff (2010-09-22). "Burton casts 'Frankenweenie'". The Independent. Retrieved 2010-12-27.
  27. ^ "SCHEDULE: 'The Dictator,' 'John Carter of Mars,' 'Frankenweenie'". boxofficemojo.com. 2011-01-19. Retrieved 2011-01-19.
  28. ^ "'Frankenweenie' To Bow At Fantastic Fest". Deadline. June 29, 201. Retrieved July 12, 2012.
  29. ^ Gallagher, Brian (June 11, 2012). "Disney Announces the Art of Frankenweenie Travelling Exhibition". Movieweb. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  30. ^ Tully, Sarah (30 August 2012). "10 Disney attractions closing for rehab". The Orange County Register. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  31. ^ "'Frankenweenie' Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D Dated and Detailed". High-Def Digest. December 3, 2012. Retrieved December 4, 2012.
  32. ^ "Exclusive: Frankenweenie 3D Blu-ray to Feature Brand New Short". Stitch Kingdom. November 16, 2012. Retrieved November 17, 2012.
  33. ^ "Frankenweenie – Movie Reviews – Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  34. ^ "Frankenweenie – Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  35. ^ Chang, Justin (September 20, 2012). "Variety Reviews - Frankenweenie". Variety. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  36. ^ McCarthy, Todd (September 20, 2012). "Frankenweenie: Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  37. ^ Ebert, Roger (October 3, 2012). "Roger Ebert – Frankenweenie review". p. 1. Retrieved October 4, 2012.
  38. ^ "Annie Award Nominations Unveiled". Deadline. December 3, 2012. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
  39. ^ Beck, Jerry (February 2, 2013). "Annie Award Winners". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved February 5, 2013.
  40. ^ Hammond, Pete (December 11, 2012). "'Lincoln', 'Les Miserables', 'Silver Linings' Top List Of Nominees For 18th Annual Critics Choice Movie Awards". Deadline. Retrieved December 11, 2012. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  41. ^ "70th Golden Globe Awards Nominations". Deadline. December 13, 2012. Retrieved December 13, 2012.
  42. ^ Kilday, Gregg (December 3, 2012). "Satellite Awards Nominates 10 Films for Best Motion Picture". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 4, 2012.
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