Franken-Film Club
This week Tim Burton returned to stop-motion with Frankenweenie. But did our Film Clubbers rate it?
(spoilers, spoilers everywhere!)
CHRIS ‘I’ve never been a fan of this style of stop-motion animation, and my personal opinion is that black and white has no place in modern cinema (after all we don’t SEE in B&W do we..?) so I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this film and I didn’t.’
‘If J.Depp had been voicing it, I might not have stayed until the end. So it was nice to have some old collaborators like Landau and Ryder.’
‘ I’ve gone off Burton completely since Sleepy Hollow. I loved Beetlejuice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands and Mars Attacks, but everything since just grates with me – animation or live action.’
ROSANNA ‘In an era where everything is bigger, better and brighter – only Tim Burton could pull-off a black and white stop-motion animated film.’
‘I know the consensus is that he’s has gone off the boil recently (I actually really enjoyed Dark Shadows as it happens) but Frankenweenie is Burton at his broody best – dark and eerie yet magical and heart-warming.’
‘More geared toward adults than children, it’s as every bit offbeat and edgy as you’d hope and expect (from Burton but maybe not from Disney). Plus as a personal pet project you can tell it’s been made with extra love and plenty of heart.’
‘Visually I felt it was outstanding and I was enchanted by the detail of the animation.’
MARK ‘I thought Frankenweenie was great fun; I really had a good time watching it and the nods to all of the old horror movies put a smile on my face.’
‘The characters were fantastic & well thought out, with some good laughs in there too.’
‘I am a huge fan of Tim Burton’s early work, but this is definitely the best Burton movie since Corpse Bride. Maybe from now on he should just stick to stop motion and quit live action movies, as they seem to be getting worse as the years go on.’
MIKE ‘Aside from the lovely animation and better than average integration of 3D, it didn’t really do much for me.’
‘Burton played it awfully safe. It was more about, ‘hey, look what we can do, and did you see all these clever references we included, too?’ rather than being a genuinely memorable spectacle with any brilliance to it.’
‘I wasn’t a particular fan of this film but appreciated the good elements which, in my opinion, were the animation, (which was lovely) and the effective us of 3D, which massively surprised me. Never been a fan of the format, but it worked well enough here.’
‘Nicely animated, and occasionally charming, but it lacked any real substance and consistent humour or cleverness.’
DAVE ‘Not enough to keep my son amused, but did enough for me with all the horror references. That’s about it really; I can’t imagine kids will love it very much.’
‘I think they made it out to be for kids but I don’t think it hit enough notes for the youngsters. I think I appreciated it a lot more.’
‘I was shocked to hear Martin Shorts voice, haven’t heard/seen him in ages!’
IVAI ‘I thought it was quite cute in its own little way, with fantastic nods to the films and actors that inspired Tim. A wee bit dark subject material for the kiddies though. I enjoyed it.’
‘Love the actors voicing this, all old collaborators of Tim. it felt basically a love letter to everything Tim adores and a culmination of his hard work after producing the Frankenweenie short film all those years ago.’
‘Stop-motion is a brilliant film-making technique and has a unique look. We cannot let it die out with CGI madness.’
LYNN ‘This is a beautiful looking film and a very touching story that can’t help but tug at the heart of, well, any person with feelings!’
‘I don’t subscribe to the idea that all animated films are aimed at children. There is a lot to appeal to children in Frankenweenie, Sparky is very cute and I think Mr Whiskers will appeal too. However, there is a lot more to this film that will appeal more to adults – especially to those of us who have owned and lost a dog.’
‘I’m a fan of Burton’s use of stop motion. Nightmare before Christmas and Corpse Bride are excellent. The way in which the characters are drawn is a big plus for me – I love that long-legged and wide-eyed look.’
BILL ‘Favourite film of 2012 – loved it.’
MARNY ‘I enjoyed this and thought it was very funny at times, but it did remind of me why I’m not a massive fan of Tim Burton. A lot of his movies seem a bit on the dark side.’
‘It’s definitely geared more towards adults then it is for kids. While I was watching it, I couldn’t help but wonder what sort of young child would actually enjoy this or appreciate it or understand the humour. I can see a lot of adults enjoying it though.’
JACK ‘Being someone who despised Dark Shadows with every fibre of his being, I didn’t know what to expect from Burton’s latest but I found it to be brilliant.’
‘His quirky, offbeat style is perfectly showcased here in a heartfelt and charming tale of a boy and his dog. The voice work is great, the characters are fun and the animation is superb. It’s easily the best animated film I’ve seen all year.’
‘Martin Landau offers his best performance since the last time he worked with Burton.’
EVERTON ‘This was a great film. Beautiful stop-motion, great voices and a tribute to so many horror films; even Gremlins got in there.’
‘I’m a fan of many different forms of animation. As stop-motion is both the most time consuming AND least profitable it is good to see the likes of Tim Burton and Aardman keeping it alive. Do not underestimate the work Burton has done to keep this going.’
‘I don’t think it was a film about death, it was a film about how cool it could be if you didn’t have to come to terms with death, the power of love and how cool your first dog is.’
CHRIS E ‘The voice acting was good. All the actors matched their character’s voices well, from Tahan to O’Hara and Short. Landau was probably the standout.’
‘The homages work well to compliment the film, I think. In addition to what’s been asked before, There’s more emotional warmth to the film overall that I liked, and I’m a great fan of stop-motion whenever it’s utilised well. It was probably the best way to portray this story.’
The last time we reviewed a Tim Burton film the response was less than favourable. Well, we’re happy to report that Frankenweenie represents a real return to form for Hollywood’s oddest director.
Based on Burton’s 1984 short of the same name, Frankenweenie sees boggle-eyed cutie Victor resurrect his aptly-named dog Sparky after he’s hit by a car. So far, so ‘it’s not just the name that sounds like Frankenstein.’ But where Frankenweenie really succeeds is in its effortless blend of the old and the new; endless homages to old horror movies combined with stop-motion animation in black-and-white gives it an old school flavour that’s impossible to resist.
The voice cast are top-notch, too. While frequent collaborators Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp are absent for the first time in a while, a few of Burton’s First Wave are back in the shape of Winona Ryder, Martin Landau and Catherine O’Hara. Landau is particularly awesome, but there’s not enough Ryder for our tastes. (We love her. We can’t help it.)
Visually, this is one of our favourite movies of the year. The animation is nothing short of glorious, the character design is both cute and creep and black and white has never been better used. Our only niggle (and a few Film Clubbers mentioned this too) was the ending. We won’t give too much away, but some folks might find it a little too…Disney.
But just what is this Film Club malarkey all about? It’s simples, really. Each week we send a pair of cinema tix (ODEON or Cineworld, whichever is best) to 10 of our most active Facebook/Twitter followers. We put the film we’re going to see to the vote, and the winning film is the one we all go to see. Then we all sit around on Facebook on the Sunday night (6.30) and chat about it. Magic. Sound like something you want to get involved with? Drop us a line at twitter.com/f_t_r_c or on Facebook at on.fb.me/d4dMv8
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Glorious animation indeed! Buton’s best in aaaaaaages!
The ending isn’t Disney at all. As I say above it will only seem that way if you misread the point of the film. It is set in a world where, if the conditions are right, an the circumstances permit, you simply don’t have to settle for losing your first dog.