Frankenweenie

"Science goes astray!"

2012 1h 27m EN

👍

7.0

SOLID

★7.0TMDB · 3,720

AnimationComedyFamilyHorrorScience Fiction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

When a car hits young Victor's pet dog Sparky, Victor decides to bring him back to life the only way he knows how. But when the bolt-necked "monster" wreaks havoc and terror in the hearts of Victor's neighbors, he has to convince them that Sparky's still the good, loyal friend he was.

“Science goes astray!”

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Cast

Charlie Tahan
Victor Frankenstein (voice)
Catherine O'Hara
Mrs. Frankenstein / Weird Girl / Gym Teacher (voice)
Martin Short
Mr. Frankenstein / Mr. Burgemeister / Nassor (voice)
Martin Landau
Mr. Rzykruski (voice)
Atticus Shaffer
Edgar 'E' Gore (voice)
Winona Ryder
Elsa Van Helsing (voice)
Robert Capron
Bob (voice)
James Hiroyuki Liao
Toshiaki (voice)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Tim Burton
Writers: John August, Leonard Ripps, Robert Stevenhagen
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

87 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 14 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Tim Burton, shot by Peter Sorg. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Danny Elfman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Chris Lebenzon shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Charlie Tahan and Catherine O'Hara and Martin Short carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Science goes astray!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt1142977 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Tim Burton directs. Peter Sorg behind the camera. Danny Elfman scores. Chris Lebenzon cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

187 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Released 14 years ago.
3Directed by Tim Burton, shot by Peter Sorg. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Danny Elfman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Chris Lebenzon shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Charlie Tahan and Catherine O'Hara and Martin Short carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Science goes astray!".
8IMDB entry: tt1142977 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 9 themes, including "shyness", "halloween", "remake", "stop motion".

The technical file

Cinematography: Peter Sorg
Original score: Danny Elfman
Editing: Chris Lebenzon
Production design: Rick Heinrichs
VFX supervisor: Tim Ledbury
Sound: Michael Semanick
Runtime: 87 min · 1h 27m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.78:1 (16:9)
Status: Released
Budget: $39,000,000
Box office: $81,493,846
Return: 209% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Frankenweenie (2012)

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Tim Burton

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Community reviews

What people are saying

r96sk2020-08-24
★ 7/10
Good stuff, unmistakably Tim Burton. <em>Frankenweenie</em> is a solid stop-motion horror film from Disney. Interesting plot, coupled with a suitable cast and untypical animation. It's also in black-and-white, which doesn't hamper things at all - I, in a weird sort of way, kinda forgot it was b/w for vast portions. Charlie Tahan voices the lead character, Victor Frankenstein. You also have well-known names in Winona Ryder (Elsa), Martin Short (Edward) and Catherine O'Hara (Susan). I also liked Martin Landau as Rzykruski. There's decent humour amongst those characters, too. Worth a watch, for sure.
CinemaSerf2022-10-20
★ 7/10
This time it's the Frankenstein story that gets the Tim Burton treatment delivering us an hybrid of "Edward Scissorhands" (1990) and Karloff's "Frankenstein" (1935) with a little pooch throw in for good measure. It's the eponymous mutt that gets hit by car whilst fetching a baseball hit, surprisingly, out of the park by his young master "Victor". Distraught, the scientifically minded youngster concocts a cunning plan to use the attic windows, some toy seahorses and loads and loads of lightning to bring "Sparky" back from the dead. What now ensues is quite a fun series of escapades as the young man resurrects his friend and tries to keep it a secret from his schoolmates ahead of a looming science fair that causes his friends to try to mimic his skills and create monstrous mayhem en route. The monochrome stop-motion animation (especially their eyes!) and typically fun Danny Elfman score make for an effective comedy-horror and it is hard not to engage with the reincarnated patchwork puppy. Their rather menacing science teacher "Rzykruski" reminded me of Christopher Lee, too. It's a quickly paced and engaging tale with a gentle morality to it - love, loyalty, friendship all feature strongly in a narrative that goes some way to illustrate how, illogically sometimes, people can become attached to their pets. Good fun, this film.