Lennox Frankenweenie

Both Adaptions of the Tale

Tim Burton's Frankenweenie is the story of Victor Frankenstein and his best friend and dog, Sparky. Sparky dies tragically before young Victor's eyes, breaking the boy's heart. victor realizes through demonstration in his class that electricity can reanimate the dead. Victor gathers all the electronics in his house, digs up Sparky's corpse and proceeds to successfully bring his pet back to life. Victor then attempts to keep Sparky a secret, but he fails and notices that Sparky is not accepted and viewed as a monster. Once it is realized that Sparky is kind, it is too late and Sparky is already dead once again. Out of remorse, the towns people attempt to bring Sparky back to life and succeed.

This is the basic plot of both Frankenweenie films. In 1984, the original film was released in black and white, and the film starred human actors, as well as a real dog. In this film specifically, we watch a real young boy witness the death of his dog caused by his own negligence; Victor throws Sparky's ball further and further out until Sparky is hit by a car. We later see a depressed Victor doodleling in class and his nonchalant teacher explaining  electricity's effect on muscles. We later see a real human boy, Victor, dig up his dog's corpse and successfully bring it back to life. Now, we'll stop right here.

In the 2012 version of the film, stop motion puppets are used to tell the story of Victor Frankenstein and his dog, Sparky. In this film, the events leading up to Sparky's death are a little different. Victor is portrayed as a child who only loves his dog and science. Victor wishes to participate in the science fair and his father makes him make a deal; Victor can participate in the science fair if he joins his school's baseball team. Victor is not as bad at baseball as he thought; he practically hits a home run. The flying ball leads to Sparky running into the street after it, and dying right before Victor's eyes. I will stop this here.

Seeing these scenes played out by a real actor is quite disturbing. In the 1984 version of the film, we see a young boy practically rob a grave. That is not normal and to a child, it may appear all too real. With animation, the child somehow understands that the story is "make-believe." It's a puppet dramatically acting out the scene, not a real, human boy. Without the special effects the 2012 version of Frankenweenie, the story is pretty short and straight to the point in 1984: Dog dies, boy brings it back to life, dog dies again, everyone works together to bring it back to life. This all happens in the 2012 version, but the effects allowed the story to be stretched out more. We get to see Victor's personality and his ability to think quickly and save the towns people from the revived creatures.

Stop motion animation allowed the story to be accepted into the imagination and viewed as a less mature film.

(I am terribly sorry for this being submitted late)