When young Victor Frankenstein loses his best friend, Sparky the dog, in an accident, he successfully brings the animal back to life in a thunderstorm. Tim Burton’s remake of the 1984 short that got him fired from Disney is a fast-paced stop-motion adventure in 3D that has the balls to also be in black-and-white. An entertaining take on the old “Frankenstein” story that has good voice work and clever references to classic horror stories and previous Burton films, such as Edward Scissorhands and A Nightmare Before Christmas… but falls short of greatness.
2012-U.S. Animated. 87 min. B/W. Directed by Tim Burton. Screenplay: John August. Music: Danny Elfman. Voices of Catherine O’Hara (Susan Frankenstein/Weird Girl/Gym Teacher), Martin Short (Ben Frankenstein/Mr. Bergermeister/Nassor), Martin Landau (Mr. Rzykruski), Charlie Tahan (Victor Frankenstein), Winona Ryder, Atticus Shaffer… Christopher Lee.
Trivia: Lee provides the voice of Dracula in the movie within the movie.
