Frankenweenie

4.5/5

This was the creepiest side of magical I can remember in recent years. Thank you Tim Burton, for FINALLY giving us something good again. Rather than experience the obvious creepiness of the movie, I felt pulled along by Victor as he went through his depression over the loss of his pet. My desire to see him bring Sparky back was as strong as his own, instead of questioning the complete disregard for nature's cycle. It had a nice style to it, maybe a bit blunt by being black and white for the entire movie, but I liked it fine. Maybe it was a little bit heavy handed in its obvious homages to Frankenstein (by naming our main character Victor Frankenstein...ugh). But it's filled with obvious passion and attention, and with an easily loved main character and his puppy, it kept me motivated. It's sad, it's scary, and it's NOT for kids. And it has my favorite line of the year so far, in a nutshell saying that people like the things that science gives us, but not the questions it asks. It leaves to wonder - what if we could actually raise the dead?