Kolda Frankenweenie

          

            The new animated Tim Burton Frankenweenie film based on his earlier 1984 live character film is much more effective in conveying its themes through freedom of action and the possibilities presented with the use of stop motion picture.

            An obvious advantage of using clay characters is the opportunity to control the action of the film’s animals. In the 1984 movie, camera movement was used to show Sparky’s action through what he sees in his eyes. I assume this is because the dog actor could not do exactly what Burton wanted him to do. In the animation, Sparky could do absolutely anything at all that Tim Burton wanted. We are also able to follow Sparky more and he has more personality due to the control Burton has over his clay characters.

            Speaking of animals, there is no possible way the monsters created by the other kids towards the end of the movie could have been a part of the earlier film. They were just too ridiculous. Where would one go to find a bat/cat actor anyway? It doesn’t matter. Burton could just build one out of clay, and it could fly and be nasty and look awesome. The coolest animals to me were the sea monkeys because they were so funny and so evil.

            Victor and his friends are a strange looking bunch. Burton was able to make more references to old monster movies using the clay characters. He could shape and deform them to his liking. For example, Edgar is a totally creepy hunchback with weird hands. And the little girl with the cat could not have looked less realistic. It is as if we are inside one of Burton’s short poems, watching his weird characters live their weird lives.

            Basically, Burton was able to get much more creative with his characters in the animated movie than in the live characters movie. Creating things is what he does best, and that talent really shines in stop motion picture.

            There are advantages to both methods that Burton uses. With stop motion animation, there is more creative possibility. But with live actors, the audience feels that the story is more real. It is set in a real neighborhood, using a real dog. Though it is less likely that the audience will believe that the dog really did come back to life, it is more likely that they might identify with the characters. This is perhaps why parents were so afraid to let their children watch the 1984 film. They might think that zombie dogs could exist, and that is kind of a creepy thing to think about.

            It is interesting that Burton did so many versions of Frankenweenie. I wonder which one he prefers. Each has a unique quality and style, but they all get at the same basic point; which is Victor’s curiosity about the afterlife or perhaps his unwillingness to accept that there is an afterlife. I prefer the most recent stop motion version because it is cute and creepy and creative all at the same time.