Frankenweenie

Frankenweenie - Dir. Tim Burton (2012)

Before he was Tim Burton, the director of Batman and Ed Wood, he was simply Tim Burton, a young animator trying to make a name for himself at Disney. He first gained notice in 1982 with a stop-motion animated short called Vincent. His follow-up was a half-hour live-action piece, Frankenweenie, about a boy who brings his beloved dog back to life. Unfortunately, Disney execs felt Burton had wasted company resources with a movie that wasn't kid friendly and fired him. On the positive side, Paul Reubens was a fan of Frankenweenie and got Burton the job of directing his first feature film, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. The rest as they say is history, which has vindicated Burton. When he became a big name, Frankenweenie was released in edited format on VHS and later included, unedited, as an extra on the DVD and Blu-ray versions of The Nightmare Before Christmas. That holiday classic has raked in a ton of merchandising money for the House of Mouse, which went to the bank once again when Burton's Alice in Wonderland made over a billion at the box office. It's no wonder Disney allowed Burton to remake Frankenweenie, which was originally intended to be done in stop-motion.

The film is set in New Holland, an idyllic suburbia where Victor Frankenstein (Charlie Tahan) is seen as a bit of an oddball by his parents Edward (Martin Short) and Susan (Catherine O'Hara). Victor's only friend is his bull terrier, Sparky, who is tragically hit by a car. Inspired by a classroom experiment, Victor builds an elaborate array of equipment to harness the town's frequent lightning storms and brings Sparky back to life. The little fella may be stitched together and have two bolts in his neck, but he's his usual frisky self. Victor tries to keep the resurrected Sparky a secret, but is discovered by a hunchbacked classmate named Edgar Gore (Atticus Shaffer). E. Gore, get it?

Edgar blabs about the process to the other school kids, who proceed to bring their own deceased pets back to life. Soon, New Holland is under siege by a vampire cat, a mummified hamster, a horde of ravenous sea monkeys, and a giant Gamera-esque turtle cleverly named Shelley.

The last few years have seen Burton direct slick and garish blockbusters like Alice, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Dark Shadows. So it is a relief to see Burton return to his roots with Frankenweenie, which resembles a greatest hits reel. The screenplay was adapted by long-time collaborator John August and once again scored by the great Danny Elfman. The pre-fabricated suburbs of New Holland appear to be lifted right out of Edward Scissorhands, which was the last movie Winona Ryder did with Burton. She returns as the voice of Elsa van Helsing, the sullen girl next door, who looks and acts a lot like Lydia Deets from Beetlejuice.

Frankenweenie could certainly be considered one of Burton's more personal films, which gives it more heart and soul than any of his recent efforts. Burton has projected a lot of himself into the character of Victor. The picture opens with Victor screening a home movie he shot using toys and Sparky as his star monster. Burton's influences are on full display with the third act that pays homage to the classic Universal horror flicks. His hero, Vincent Price, is represented by a lookalike science teacher named Mr. Rzykruski played by Martin Landau, who dips into his Bela Lugosi voice. The nominal antagonist is Mayor Burgemeister (also voiced by Short), whose name and permanent scowl are a reference to Burgemeister Meisterburger from Rankin/Bass's classic Santa Claus is Comin' to Town. Christopher Lee even pops in for a cameo as Mr. & Mrs. Frankenstein watch Horror of Dracula in their living room.

While the story isn't particularly inventive, the visuals more than make up for it. The puppets are lovingly crafted and exquisitely photographed in stark black and white. Unfortunately, kids may not be impressed by a movie that isn't CG animated or done in color. Frankenweenie is one of three horror-themed animated movies alongside ParaNorman and Hotel Transylvania, which was the most financially successful and garish of the bunch. It would be a shame for Frankenweenie to be ignored. It's a well-made movie and at less than 90 minutes doesn't overstay its welcome.

Rating; *** (*****)

Dark Shadows

Dark Shadows - Dir. Tim Burton (2012)

Johnny Depp and Tim Burton are almost synonymous with each other. Their partnership as actor and director have resulted in great films like Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood. Recently, Depp and Burton's efforts have been hit and miss. While I enjoyed Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd, their version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory left much to be desired and lacked the charms of the Gene Wilder film. Alice in Wonderland was a soulless exercise in stylized CGI, despite the fact that it made over a billion dollars at the box office. For their eighth film together, Depp and Burton have chosen to remake Dark Shadows, an ABC soap opera that aired between 1966 and 1971. It's been a passion project for the two as both were huge fans of the series. The original Dark Shadows was a low-rated daytime program until it introduced the character of Barnabas Collins, an ageless vampire played by Jonathan Frid. Afterwards, the show became a cult classic and a staple of the early Sci-Fi Channel.

Frid recently passed away in April, but not before filming a cameo in the picture alongside several former cast members.

Succeeding him in the role is Johnny Depp, who recounts his tale of woe in the opening prologue. Beginning in the late-1700's, the Collins family emigrates from Liverpool, England to Maine where they found the seaside city of Collinsport and a successful fishing business. All is well for Barnabas until he spurns the love of servant girl, Angelique (Eva Green), for chaste Josette (Bella Heathcote). Angelique places a curse on them, causing Josette to jump off a cliff and turn Barnabas into a vampire. The townspeople lock him into a casket and bury him alive for nearly two hundred years when some unsuspecting construction workers release him.

Awakening in 1972, Barnabas is confounded by fashion, automobiles, and the Carpenters. His beloved Collinwood manor has fallen into disrepair as have his descendents. Matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer) struggles to keep the family business afloat and control her rebellious teenage daughter Carolyn (Chloe Grace Moretz). Elizabeth's shiftless brother, Roger (Jonny Lee Miller), spends most his days stealing from his relatives and womanizing. Roger's son, David (Gulliver McGrath), has been withdrawn ever since his mother's death years ago. The family has a live-in psychiatrist, Dr. Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), to help him cope though she's made no progress at all. The Collins family has also hired a new governess for the boy in Victoria Winters (also Heathcote), who is the spitting image of Barnabas's lost paramour. Rounding out the Collins household is Jackie Earle Haley as Willie Loomis, a drunken caretaker who looks like he previously worked at the Overlook Hotel.

Barnabas is shocked to discover that Angelique is still alive, having transformed herself into a pillar of the community having founded a rival fishing cannery. She has vowed to win Barnabas's love or destroy him.

As one would expect from a Tim Burton film, Dark Shadows features visually stunning costumes and production design. It's all captured handsomely by cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel, who previously shot Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amelie and A Very Long Engagement. The gothic atmosphere makes Dark Shadows seem like Beetlejuice with a budget, except it lacks any of the allure or originality of Burton's classic comedy. The fault lies within the scattershot screenplay by John August, which was rewritten by Seth Grahame-Smith, the author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. It's as if Grahame-Smith and Burton decided to cram several seasons' worth of storylines into a single movie.

Following the prologue, the film opens with Victoria's narration as she arrives in Collinsport by train. Logically, she should a main character and serve as the audience's point-of-view, instead she disappears for nearly forty minutes. She pops in and out of the third act with the love story addressed at the last minute. The same goes for Barnabas's relationship with David. It's said that David looks up to the immortal one, but none of that comes out because they only share one or two scenes together. The writers focus more time on how silly the 70's were with lazy gags about lava lamps and dirty hippies though there is a funny joke involving a McDonald's sign. The score by the great Danny Elfman lacks any memorable hooks while being drowned out by a soundtrack that includes Barry White, the Moody Blues, and Alice Cooper, who cameos as himself.

The weak story means the actors have to work that much harder. Michelle Pfeiffer, who hasn't worked with Burton since Batman Returns, gives a strong performance as do Jonny Lee Miller and Helena Bonham Carter, but none of their characters are fleshed out enough. Chloe Moretz is good as the sullen teenager with a deadpan delivery reminiscent of Christina Ricci in The Addams Family. Johnny Depp gives another quirky performance as the immortal vampire with the chalk white face and elongated fingers ala Max Schreck in Nosferatu. Eva Green is perfectly cast as the sultry witch Angelique and she's easily the highlight of Dark Shadows. Green plays it big in a sexy, over-the-top manner befitting the film's soap opera roots.

It may be time for Tim Burton and Johnny Depp to call a break, or, at least, devote their time to an original concept rather than an adaptation or remake. Dark Shadows pales in comparison to their past work. Dark Shadows has a hard time deciding if it wants to be a gothic romance, a dark drama, or a slapstick comedy and it fails at every instance.

Rating: ** (*****)

Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland - Dir. Tim Burton (2010)


”Remember what the dormouse said; ‘Keep your head…keep your head.’”

Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland has been sanitized over the years. Aside from Jan Svankmejer’s Alice, most versions lack the darker and tripper elements of the source material. Ironically, Disney (known for sanitizing many works of literature) decided to return to Carroll’s novels and wisely tapped Tim Burton to steer the ship. Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is part-remake, part-sequel with a script by Disney veteran Linda Woolverton (Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King) that combines elements from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and the sequel, Through the Looking Glass.

Years have passed since a young Alice fell down the rabbit hole. Alice (Mia Wasikowska) is now 20, practically a spinster according to her sister. About to be married off to a ridiculous looking ginger named Hamish (Leo Bill), Alice follows the White Rabbit (Michael Sheen) once more and winds up back in Wonderland. However, this is the first time to her. Her original adventures have been reduced to the vaguest memories and a recurring nightmare. Alice is reunited with many of her old friends such as the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry), the Caterpillar (Alan Rickman), and the twins Tweedledee and Tweedledum (Matt Lucas).

Wonderland (referred to by its inhabitants as Underland) has fallen under the tyrannical rule of the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter). She’s a petite woman with an enlarged head and fetishes for using animals as furniture and decapitations. The encephalitically enchanced Red Queen rules with fear due to her command of the monstrous Jabberwocky (Christopher Lee). Alice must find the mythical Vorpal Sword in order to slay the Jabberwocky and return the kingdom to its rightful monarch, the White Queen (Anne Hathaway).

As you’d expect, Burton has created a visually stunning film using a mixture of live-action, CGI, and motion capture. Burton’s vision of Wonderland is a gorgeous feast for the eyes. The film was shot in 2D then converted to 3D in post. The 3D effects are certainly stronger than those in Clash of the Titans, but the world doesn’t open up the way it does in Coraline. What’s missing from the film is heart. Without any sort of emotional pathos, Alice in Wonderland becomes an empty exercise in excess.

Burton has turned Carroll’s mythos into a superficial tale of girl power. As a result, Alice dips into the familiar conventions of fantasy epics like Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia. There’s a prophecy that must be fulfilled and Alice dons a suit of armor and clashes swords with the Red Queen’s army on a chess-themed battlefield. All of which feels out of place.

The performances are somewhat uneven. As Alice, Mia Wasikowska gives a strong showing even while her more fantastical cast mates attempt to steal every scene. In his seventh film with Burton, Depp creates yet another in a long line of eccentric characters. His Mad Hatter is a schizo speaking with a dandy lisp one moment and a deep Braveheart-style Scottish accent in another. Britsh comedian Stephen Fry gets some of the film’s best moments as the voice of an erudite Chesire Cat. Burton’s paramour Helena Bonham Carter makes for an excellent villain playing the Red Queen as an ill-tempered brat. This is in stark contrast to Anne Hathaway as the flighty White Queen. Gleaming in pure white, she’s an ultra-heightened rendition of the Disney Princess archetype.

An A-list cast and dazzling effects make Alice in Wonderland a worthwhile effort undone by a third act lacking in gravitas.

Rating: ** ½

9

9 - Dir. Shane Acker (2009)


9 was originally produced as a short film by writer/director Shane Acker while he was a student at UCLA. Acker earned himself an Oscar nomination in 2005 for Best Animated Short Film, quite the accomplishment. I’ve seen my share of student films and none of them come close to earning any sort of award. I should know, I’ve unleashed a few abominations to the horror of the miniscule audiences who could be bothered to see them. Anyways, Acker developed 9 into a feature-length film along with co-writer Pamela Pettler (The Corpse Bride) and filmmakers Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov attached as producers.

As with many sci-fi films, the machines have revolted and wiped mankind off the face of the Earth. The only life left in the world is a small group of dolls, mechanical parts wrapped in burlap. They have no names, just numbers. The movie opens with the awakening of 9 (Elijah Wood) who wanders into the wasteland and meets the eccentric inventor 2 (Martin Landau). From there, 9 stumbles from one plot contrivance after another. 2 is captured by a mechanical monstrosity called the Beast. 9 is rescued by 2’s protégé, 5 (John C. Reilly), and eventually meets 1 (Christopher Plummer) their narrow-minded leader who is always protected by the massive 8. There’s also 7 (Jennifer Connelly), the Smurfette of the group. You know, the only one that is inexplicably female. She has left the fold to hunt down the Beast on her own.

9, 5 and 7 set out to rescue 2. 9 gets 2 killed and unleashes something worse, the machine that began the war against humanity. It creates other machines from scavenged junkyard parts to hunt down the protagonists.

The animation is simply gorgeous and suitably dark for something with Tim Burton’s name on it. Acker doesn’t go for the usual Mad Max post-apocalyptic landscape, instead he paints the world in the fashion of a bombed-out WWII Europe, the government eerily reminiscent of the Third Reich. Visually, 9 packs a powerful punch, but the story fails to follow suit. The plot is just too derivative of films like The Matrix and any other sci-fi where machines rebel against humanity. It fails to connect on an emotional level the way Pixar routinely seems to do.

9 isn’t the run-of-the-mill CG animated film that Hollywood peddles to family audiences like junk food. Rated PG-13, it’s a dark and somber picture. The animation is worth seeing alone even, but the story doesn’t stack up in comparison to a film like Wall-E.

Rating: **