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Frankenweenie is a 2012 American 3D stop-motion animated science fiction horror comedy film directed by Tim Burton, written by John August, and starring Charlie Tahan, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, Martin Landau, Atticus Shaffer, and Winona Ryder. A co-production between Walt Disney Pictures and Tim Burton Productions, it is a feature-length remake of Disney and 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 1818 book Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Set in 1957, the film follows a boy named Victor Frankenstein who uses the power of electricity to resurrect his dead Bull Terrier, Sparky, but his peers discover what he has done and reanimate their own deceased pets and other creatures, resulting in mayhem.
Frankenweenie came under development in December 2007, when Burton was asked to direct two 3D films for Disney, including a 2010 live-action adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. However, the development of a full-length stop motion dates as far back as November 2005, when scripts had been written by Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott. Filming for a stop-motion feature film began at 3 Mills Studios in July 2010. The tongue-in-cheek film contains numerous references to and parodies of elements of Frankenstein and past film versions of it, other literary classics, various horror and science-fiction films, and other films which Burton has directed or produced.
Frankenweenie, which was both the first black-and-white feature-length film and the first stop-motion film to be released in IMAX 3D, premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 20, 2012 and was released in the United States on October 5, to generally positive reviews for its visuals and story and moderate box office returns, grossing $81.5 million worldwide against a $39 million budget. It won the Saturn Award for Best Animated Film, and was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and an Annie Award for Best Animated Film, losing the first three to Brave, and the last one to Wreck-It Ralph.
Plot[]
In 1957, Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist and amateur filmmaker, lives with his parents and his beloved bull terrier dog, Sparky, in the quiet town of New Holland, Pennsylvania. He does not interact much with his classmates, who include his somber next-door neighbor Elsa Van Helsing, the mischievous Edgar "E" Gore, the obese Bob, the overconfident Toshiaki, the creepy Nassor, and an eccentric girl nicknamed "Weird Girl". Concerned with his son's isolation, Victor's father encourages the boy to take up baseball. When Victor hits a home run at his first game, Sparky chases the ball and is struck and killed by a car, leaving Victor despondent.
Inspired by his new science teacher Mr. Rzykruski's demonstration of the effect of electricity on dead frogs, Victor digs up Sparky, brings the dog to a makeshift laboratory in his attic, and reanimates it with a bolt of lightning. While Victor is at school the next day, Sparky escapes from the attic to chase Weird Girl's cat, Mr. Whiskers, and explore the neighborhood. He is recognized by Edgar, who blackmails Victor into teaching him how to raise the dead. Together, the two resurrect a dead goldfish, which turns invisible due to an error with the experiment. Edgar brags about the fish to his classmates. However, when he tries to show it to a skeptical Nassor, it is gone, leading him to speculate that the revived creatures only last for a short time.
Fearful of losing the upcoming science fair, Toshiaki and Bob make a rocket out of soda bottles. When they test it, Bob breaks his arm. Mr. Rzykruski is blamed for the accident and fired by Mayor Burgermeister (Elsa's uncle) and the adults (except for Victor's parents, Susan and Edward). The gym teacher replaces him. Before leaving the school, Mr. Rzykruski manages to talk with Victor and advises him to use science wisely. Edgar accidentally reveals to Toshiaki, Nassor, and Bob that he and Victor had brought the fish back from the dead, and that Victor had done the same with Sparky. This inspires them to try reanimation themselves.
Victor's parents discover Sparky in the attic and are frightened, causing the dog to flee. His father starts to talk to him about the seriousness of what he has done. However, when Victor tearfully tells his parents he just wanted his dog back, they decide to help him find Sparky.
When the family leaves, Victor's classmates invade the lab and discover the reanimation instructions. When they perform their experiments separately, each of their dead animals turns into a monster: Mr. Whiskers holds a dead bat while he is electrocuted, resulting in both animals being fused into a vampiric feline; a dead rat Edgar found in the garbage turns into a wererat; Nassor's mummified hamster Colossus comes back to life; Toshiaki's turtle Shelley is covered in Miracle-Gro and becomes a kaiju; and Bob's Sea-Monkeys grow into amphibious humanoids. The monsters converge on the town fair and wreak havoc.
After Victor finds Sparky at the town's pet cemetery, Bob and Toshiaki find him and ask for his help. They go to the fair, where the Sea-Monkeys explode after eating salted popcorn, Colossus is stepped on by Shelley, and the wererat and Shelley both return to their original, deceased forms after getting 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. However, Victor ends up being trapped inside. Sparky rescues Victor, only to be dragged back inside by Mr. Whiskers, who is fatally impaled by a flaming piece of wood just before the windmill collapses, killing Sparky again.
To reward him for his bravery, the townsfolk gather and revive Sparky with their car batteries. Persephone runs to Sparky and they touch noses, producing a spark.