Reisz Frankenweenie

Victor Frankenstein & Sparky

Frankenweenie illustrates the touching story of Victor Frankenstein’s love for his dog, Sparky, in an old-time horror film adaptation for children. Victor is an outcast within his community. The only people who he understands are Sparky and his science teacher, Mr. Rzykruski. His science teacher explains how electrical energy can be harnessed after Sparky is hit with a car. This lecture gives Victor the idea to bring his only friend back to life. However, crossing the line between life and death has greater consequences as the other children in town discover Victor’s secret. Several other pets are brought back to life but not in the same light or same good will as Sparky. The town and children try to decipher the age-old question of what is right and what is wrong in this cross between children’s film and animated old horror film.

Based on Burton’s short film in 1984, this version brings back several of elements that Disney had previously rejected. Burton refused to produce the film in anything other that black & white. With a history of paying homage to other artists and original films, he chooses to keep the film in its old time horror-film black & white color scale. Events take place in a similar manner and with similar camera choices. However, the major difference is that Burton chooses to tell the story all through stop-animation in this recent version.

Stop-animation allows viewers to be less critical about the film’s plausibility. Films cast with real life people are subject to criticism on accuracy and focus on which stars feature in the film. Stop-animation invites the audience to look more into the messages behind the film. Burton and other crewmembers are also given more creative freedom with the use of stop-animation. Each caricature appears bigger than life or has one feature especially featured. Burton uses this to provide insight into characters, create another world for the audience, and make the world more inviting for the children audience. The stop-animation also holds a special place for Burton since it was his earliest professional artwork.

After 28 years of film experience since his first Frankenweenie rendition, Burton makes the recent film more his own and furthers it thematically. The 1984 film reflected the stereotypical 60s family with a white picket fence and 2.5 children. When a car in the original hits Sparky, viewers see the entire family on the front porch in that typical American Dream picture. This incident is a shock to Victor about the eminent reality of death. Americans often ignore the fact that life is short because they are striving so much for the future throughout their lives. This same idea was explored in Burton’s film Beetlejuice. In the 2012 Frankenweenie, Burton focuses less on this stereotypical picture and focuses more on Victor Frankenstein as an outcast from society. This outcast theme is represented in all of Burton’s films since his first short of Frankenweenie. When Sparky is hit with a car in the recent film, it was as a result of Victor playing baseball. Victor’s father and his desire for Victor to be “normal” is the reason that Victor is even at the baseball game that Sparky dies at. These differences from the original short versus the full stop-animation production create larger messages for the audience and present an overall different children’s film. 

The question of crossing the line between life and death is raised. Also, the responsibility of man with science is a prominent issue with the children raising the dead for the wrong reasons. While this idea of misuse of power and the greater issue of death run throughout the film, Burton presents the issue in such a different way that still attracts a younger audience. No matter what your age I would suggest watching Tim Burton’s recent Frankenweenie and perhaps even the original short if you’re feelin’ ambitious. While not his best production, the small differences certainly can reflect his progression through film over the years and is a Burton-esque film.

Reisz Big Fish

Edward Bloom

            I particularly enjoyed the juxtaposition between the sunny Edward Bloom and the somewhat darker character inhabiting Big Fish. The commonalities that the characters Edward Bloom ran into was that they were all rather misunderstood. Most people run away in disgust or ignorant fear; however, Bloom is not afraid (after all he knows how he is going to die) and takes the time to get to know the darker creatures. For example, the young boys run from the scary looking witch but Bloom stays and talks to her. Another example would be the giant who seems frightening at first but is simply a kind and misunderstood creature. Edward Bloom is such a sunny character because of his wide-eyed optimism towards life and people. He says during the werewolf scene that, “most things that you consider evil or wicked are simply lonely” (1:06:45). This understanding for outcasts and those who are misunderstood merges any creature with Bloom despite any personality differences. Edward himself likes them because they are so much greater than life, like him. He also has a compassionate heart that enjoys helping those in need. Bloom displays this by helping the giant find a home and saving Spectre free of charge.

However, a good heart is not enough to link together Bloom with such dark creatures. Another important factor is Edward Bloom’s grander-than-life personality. One would expect no ordinary creature in his fantasies. This personality matches directly with Burton’s real-life father who Burton has said was, “a real fairy-tale character.” Although Bloom is an average man, he was a great fairy-tale character through his fantasies and in his mind’s eye. I think that Burton took on Big Fish as a sort of homage to his father. Burton always loves tying in his personal life and emotions into his work, which I think can clearly be seen by the final mutual understanding between father and son. Perhaps Burton wished that he had the opportunity to reach this mutual understanding with his own father before he passed. Burton’s love for his father combined with his admiration for the strange and unusual, like Edward Bloom’s fantasies, can be seen through his work in the heart-wrenching film Big Fish.

Tim Burton Quote on Big Fish