It’s too bad that Frankenweenie comes at this late-middle stage of Tim Burton’s career when the director, now more brand than auteur, has lost his older fans, because it’s exactly the kind of funny, creepy, poignant film many of us have been waiting for Burton to make since Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s probably too early to peg Frankenweenie as Burton’s comeback vehicle, but it’s certainly the director’s best movie in twenty years.
As with his best films, the origins of Frankenweenie hail from Burton’s early years. The new movie expands a 30-minute short the young director made for Disney, who famously fired him for making such a morbid spectacle for children. Fans of the short, now a cult classic, can breathe a sigh of relief; Burton has expanded the story cleverly and meaningfully, and the feature feels less like a remake than the self-actualization of a great idea.
Frankenweenie takes place in the generic, timeless suburb of New Holland, notable only for its freakishly frequent thunderstorms. When the school’s science teacher gets struck by lightning, Mr. Rzykruski (Martin Landau), an Old World soul with Vincent Price’s face, comes to substitute. He quickly becomes a source of inspiration to Victor (Charlie Tahan), a tall, lanky, slightly sullen boy whose only friend is his dog Sparky. (The 1984 short’s bull terrier is replaced by a more normal-looking dog breed, probably to the benefit of bull terrier puppies.)
Alas, Sparky is dispatched in short order via sudden automobile encounter, and Victor, because his last name is Frankenstein, decides to bring his dog back to life the old-fashioned way: by digging up its body, lugging it back to his attic lab, and striking it with lightning. Victor has a hard enough time keeping…
Full Story »Just in time for its World Premiere at Fantastic Fest Wednesday night, Disney unleashed a nearly four-minute featurette complete with footage galore from Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie. “It’s based on my relationship I had when I was a child with my dog,” Burton notes in the EPK, available below. “It’s probably your first big relationship in your life.” Burton first conceived of the idea of Frankenweenie as a full-length, stop-motion animated feature, but due to that ever-present challenge of budget, he instead made a live-action short which was released back in 1984. But now Burton’s full-length vision is finally set to hit the big screen.
Frankenweenie’s voice cast include four actors who worked on Burton’s previous films, Wynona Ryder (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands), Catherine O’Hara (Beetlejuice, The Nightmare Before Christmas), Martin Short Mars Attacks!) and Martin Landau (Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow).
The story revolves around a boy and his beloved dog. After unexpectedly losing his four-legged best pal Sparky, Victor uses his science skills to bring his dog back to life – “with just a few minor adjustments.” He tries to conceal his sewn-up reincarnation, but Sparky escapes and Victor’s schoolmates, teachers and the entire town learn that getting a “new leash on life can be monstrous.”
“Victor is a mad very internal boy and he’s a mad scientist as well, which is always good,” quips Burton.
Over 200 puppets and sets were used to create the the feature. It is filmed in black and white and rendered in 3D.
Official Boilerplate:
From creative genius Tim Burton (“Alice in Wonderland,” The Nightmare Before Christmas”) comes “Frankenweenie,” a heartwarming tale about a boy and his dog. After unexpectedly losing his beloved dog Sparky, young Victor harnesses the power of science to bring his best friend
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Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie may have to wait until early October before it hits screens, but movie fans will have a chance to get an early look at images from the stop-motion animated feature during an exhibition tour beginning next week in Barcelona, Spain that continues on to seven countries including the U.S.
Frankenweenie revolves around a boy and his dog, Sparky. After his dog is lost unexpectedly, he conducts a science experiment to bring him back to life, but then faces monstrous consequences. The exhibition, which will feature original sketches drawn by Burton in addition to displays of props, pets and puppets, will head to the U.S. in time for Comic-Con in San Diego (July 11 – 15). Other countries on tap for the Frankenweenie show include France, England, Japan, Mexico and Canada, courtesy of Walt Disney Studios which will release the film in the fall.
Martin Landau, Martin Short, Robert Capron, Winona Ryder and Conchata Ferrell star in the film directed by Burton who co-wrote with John August.
This is not the first time Tim Burton’s creations have made “live appearances” outside the theater for the public. In 2009 the filmmaker had a major retrospective of his creations ranging from Edward Scissorhands to Sweeney Todd, among others, that included hundreds of paintings, drawings, storyboards, puppets and other work surveying his over one-dozen films. The popular exhibit opened at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and eventually traveled to locations throughout the world.
[Source: International Business Times]
Johnny Depp and Tim Burton have crossed the celluloid path on eight films over a little more than two decades. But apparently that long collaboration is not without a little pain. And apparently this time it was all about the… nails?
Depp donned prosthetic fingernails to play his Dark Shadows character Barnabas, who is thrust into the ’70s after he’s accidentally freed from his coffin. The actor explained: “In every film that I’ve been lucky enough to do with Tim, there’s always some form of torture. The nails were Tim’s idea.” He noted that using the restroom was particularly difficult, saying he “had a troop of people who would help me go to the bathroom.” Yikes! Still, it sounds safer than Edward Scissorhands.
[Celebuzz]
It is a very special Thursday here at Movieline HQ. Not just because it’s Super 8 Eve, but because we have some birthdays to celebrate. Get out the sheet cake! Like the now-30-year-old Natalie Portman, star Johnny Depp — one of the finest actors of our generation — has a birthday on June 9. The Oscar nominee turns 48 today, and that means it’s time to look back on some of his best onscreen work. What’s your favorite Depp performance? Let’s discuss ahead.
There are so many great ones to choose from — Benny & Joon, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, the original Pirates of the Caribbean, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas to name five — for the birthday boy, and plenty of risks, too. Like, singing in Sweeney Todd.
Not bad, Johnny! But leave the “Happy Birthday” harmonies to your friendly Movieline editors. What’s your favorite Depp big screen moment? Where do you hope he goes as an actor as he heads into his 50s? Wish him happy birthday and discuss your favorite Depp performances below.
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Seen here flashing a scar she got on her head from trying to make a really deep thought that one time, Heidi Montag is still crying Botox tears of sadness to Life & Style about how having 20 plastic surgeries a year ago has left her body bruised and scarred like a Spider-Man cast member. Yeah, fuck those needy orphans who will be sad on Christmas morning because their stockings will be empty. Pour all your sympathy into Heidi’s cup instead. And FYI: When trying to push out a tear for Heidi, the tension might cause you to push out a slightly wet fart instead. That’ll work too.
Heidi cries to Life & Style that trying to turn herself into a Chrissy Crocker Real Doll has left her factory defected in every single way including: “a 2-inch-long raised blemish under her chin from her chin reduction, two caterpillar-size bald spots along her hairline from a brow lift, a horrifying jagged line behind her ears from having her ears pinned back, lumpy legs and four spots left on her lower back and below the buttocks from botched liposuction, a bright-red mark inside her right nostril, uneven boobs, a stretched mark on her chest and deep scars around her nipples from a second boob job.”
Heidi, whose very own Dr. Frankenstein died in a car crash, went on to say that every time she
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Robyn Gibson, seen here after getting her hair done by Edward Scissorhands, has submitted a 1-page sworn declaration to the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department stating that Mel Gibson never buried her in a rose garden or beat her in the side of the head with a bat during their 28 years of marriage. According to TMZ, Robyn wrote:
“Mel never engaged in any physical abuse of any kind toward me before, during or after our marriage. Mel was a wonderful and loving father.”
But did Robyn ever blow Mel? This is important information, because I don’t think Mel has ever been blown. EVER.
