GusF A short film directed by Tim Burton, this is absolutely sublime. It is a brilliant, touching film which both parodies and pays tribute to "Frankenstein", the 1931 film version in particular. It tells the story of a ten-year-old boy named Victor Frankenstein, based on Burton himself as he makes short films in his backyard, who is distraught by the death of his (very appropriately named) dog Sparky. Shortly afterwards, he learns that electricity can be used to stimulate muscles, which inspired Mary Shelley to write "Frankenstein" in the first place. He harnesses the power of lightning to revive Sparky, who soon comes to be misunderstood and feared by the Frankensteins' neighbours. The script by Lenny Ripps, based on an idea by Burton, is top notch.The use of black and white is extremely effective and Burton's direction is excellent. Barret Oliver, a prolific 1980s child actor best known for his roles in films such as "The NeverEnding Story", "D.A.R.Y.L." and "Cocoon", is pitch perfect as Victor, who manages to seem like a real boy in spite of the plot. Shelley Duvall and Daniel Stern are great as his supportive parents. Joseph Maher excels as the film's "antagonist" Mr Chambers while Roz Braverman is a laugh riot as Mrs. Epstein. It also features fairly small appearances by Stern's future "The Wonder Years" co-star Jason Hervey and Sofia Coppola, a making a rare appearance in something not directed by her father Francis Ford Coppola.Considering that I basically prefer dogs to people, I was a little apprehensive about watching this given the subject matter but I need not have worried as it is as heartwarming as it is macabre. It perfectly conveys how much a dog can mean to a person. I couldn't imagine life without my dog Freddie! It has already become both my favourite film about a dog and my favourite short film. Were it not for "Ed Wood", my 17th favourite film of all time, this would be my favourite feature or short film directed by Burton. My enthusiasm for it knows no bounds.

JoshSharpe If you keep track of upcoming movies (like I do), you may know that Tim Burton is releasing a film called "Frankenweenie" next month. It is based on his original idea of a boy that brings his dead dog back to life. In 1984, he released a short film version. Well, almost released it. Disney fired him because it scared children and they didn't want him making those kind of movies for them. It wasn't released to the public until an edited version came out on VHS in 1994. It wasn't until 2008 that the original uncut version was released with the special edition DVD and Blu-ray of "The Nightmare Before Christmas". Unfortunately, I don't think all this work was worth it. The creative idea doesn't translate very well on screen here. I don't think most kids would be scared; just rather uninterested. And the black and white adds nothing to it and I found it unnecessary. I will be sure to see the new "Frankenweenie" next month and I'm hoping it will be an improvement over this.

Steffi_P One of the stupidest trends in modern children's TV and literature is this notion that kids should be protected from the darker things in life, and that anything made with them in mind should be unfeasibly cheerful and inoffensive. This is nonsense. Kids get enough rose-tinted syrup in the form of cough medicine, and as the Grimm brothers knew they like a good exhilarating scare as much as the rest of us.Frankenweenie sees a young Tim Burton reworking the Frankenstein story around a young boy and his beloved dog. Burton and co-writer Leonard Ripps have drawn especially from the 1931 movie version with Boris Karloff, borrowing motifs such as the burning windmill and a twitching hand (or tail, in this case) to indicate re-animation. Of course, most youngsters (indeed most contemporary viewers) will not realise what these are references to, and there's a level of meaning that's only for the film buffs in the audience, who may find themselves chuckling at the more satirical nods. It's the kind of insider wink that cinema, even children's, was full of at this time – think of the clip from The Quiet Man in E.T. (1982). But this in no way diminishes what we see on screen, and it's nice that kids (a lot of whom won't know the Frankenstein story at all) will simply accept the movie in its own right, and be touched by it for its own message, which incidentally has a rather different slant to that of Mary Shelley's novel.This was one of Burton's earliest efforts at live-action, his work prior to this largely being in animation. He's good for a beginner, his horror-geek background showing with some of the basic but little-known tricks of the genre, such as keeping open doorways or corridors at the back of shots for a sense of unease. As in his later career, he creates a generally strange look with lighting and expressionist design (which even at this early stage he clearly took a personal hand in – check out the oddball graveyard), and using the weirdness of the shot for mood and emphasis. For example, in the classroom scene, Burton cuts to a weird low shot with wide-angle lens, making the teacher look really ominous at the point where he explains about the use of electricity to create movement in animals. Burton has the sense not to overuse such tricks, and carefully tempers the quirky visuals in line with what is going on in the story.As a finished piece Frankenweenie is certainly no masterpiece, and its inventiveness is betrayed by a rough, haphazard look. Its story idea is clever but the script could certainly use some emotional development and improved dialogue. The casting choices seem a bit makeshift too, Daniel Stern looking nowhere near old enough to have a son that age. Still it works well enough as a short, an appetite-whetter to go before a main feature. However the 1980s Disney chiefs were appalled, fired Burton and put the movie in the vault, deeming it too scary for kids. They should have looked a little closer at their own history. Classics like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio and Dumbo each have their own frightful and disturbing moments. The writers and animators back then knew that terror and darkness is something kids need to go through. And, as with those older Disney movies, Frankenweenie rewards its young audience with light and happiness at the end.

Polaris_DiB For a fun and nostalgic look at the 1950s and its expressionistic horror themes, here's a slightly underground early short by Tim Burton called "Frankenweenie," a movie apparently that "wasted resources" from good ol' Walt Disney's estate. In other words, a pretty creative, fun, nostalgic film that really didn't have an audience until Burton became the household name he is and got a super devoted fan base of goth kiddies from around the globe."Frankenweenie", as the name implies, is a take off of Frankenstein involving a child's favorite, Fido-like dog, Sparky. Speaking of Fido, the movie is kind of a lot alike the later, 2007 movie "Fido" involving 50s decor and zombies: much is made out of the faux-McCarthy era imagery, where tight-knit neighbors look into each other's windows "Irma! Irma!" style and freak out enough over a zombie dog to almost burn a little kid and his playmate alive. Where the concept of a Frankenstein's monster as childhood best friend joke starts to drag, Tim Burton's love of making fun of suburbanite conformity takes over, and the two concepts run for a pretty decent 30 minute parody.Apparently, it was short films like this that got Burton fired from Disney. Personally, though, it seems to me more like Disney was doing Burton a favor in letting him go from its vastly unoriginal production company so that he could take his visions and make much bigger, grandiose Gothic productions. Burton, like so many idiosyncratic names in show business, is a success built both on talent and general good timing--nowadays, people don't trust a children's movie that doesn't have a little darkness in it, and movies like "Frankenweenie" are what many kids are raised on. If the rumored "Frankenweenie" remake is true, believe-you-me no one will blink any more than they did for "Wallace and Gromit in the Case of the Wererabbit." --PolarisDiB