If legends are to be believed, a short film by Walt Disney employee Tim Burton, caused the suits so much concern, dismay and disgust that he was pretty much tossed off the lot and the film was buried deep in the Disney vaults. Except, as is always the case, someone, somewhere knew of the existence of the film and as word leaked out, it became one of those legendary things that people just had to see.
The film was Frankenweenie, a boy and his dog story — except the dog gets hit by a car and the boy (saddled with the moniker Victor Frankenstein) decides to create his own laboratory, piece the poor pooch back together again and give him a little electrical zap to restart its unbeating heart. You can kind of see why this may have caused concern for a short that was supposed to play with some joyful, family film. This wasn’t the first time Burton had had a problem with Disney, or vice versa, as an earlier effort, Vincent, was also deemed too weird for the masses before it finally started playing the art house circuit.
Frankenweenie was beautifully shot in black and white in a very expressionistic style paying homage to James Whale‘s two Frankenstein films. The cast included Daniel Stern, Shelley Duvall, Barret Oliver, Paul Bartel, and a very young Sophia Coppola. I remember how excited I was when Disney released The Nightmare Before Christmas in a special edition on laserdisc (!) that included both this and Vincent as bonus material. As much as I loved Nightmare (and I had the privilege of seeing Vincent on the big screen), I wanted this set just for Frankenweenie … and I was not disappointed. I showed it to anyone who would sit still long enough for me to load it into the machine, and I loved it each and every time.
It works so well because it’s not just an homage to Whale’s Universal classics … the movie has a huge heart and deep emotion, especially to anyone who has a pet. We all love our animals, and knowing that we will most likely outlive them is a very sad thing indeed. For a child to lose a pet, it’s even worse. But young Victor gets to fulfill every child’s fantasy and makes his beloved pet immortal. Of course, as in Frankenstein, the people of the town freak out when they realize they have a “zombie dog” in their midst and tragedy rears its ugly head once again … or does it?
If you haven’t seen this short, it’s available as a bonus video on the Nightmare Before Christmas Blu-ray/DVD combo (see link below) … and even more exciting is the news that Burton (and Disney) are remaking the short as a feature film using the stop-motion animation process! Even better, the film will be shot in black and white and 3D! The voice cast is a who’s who of Burton favorites — including Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara — and is scheduled to be released in 2012. This really is one of the first remakes I’m truly excited about, but for now we can all still enjoy the original as a kid-friendly treat for Halloween.
Clacked by Chuck Duncan 
on Oct 30, 2011 @ 09:00 EST5EDT
