“It’s only Sparky.”
Before he became a household name with films such as Batman (1989), Beetlejuice (1988), and Sleepy Hollow (1999), Tim Burton worked for Disney. One of his projects for the company was 1984’s Frankenweenie, a short that would result in Burton being fired by Disney.
Both a comedic parody and a love letter to 1931’s classic Universal film Frankenstein, Frankenweenie tells the story of a young boy named Vincent Frankenstein who loses his dog, Sparky, in an accident. Inspired by his science teacher, Vincent digs up Sparky, patches him together like Frankenstein’s monster, and brings him back to life. The results are catastrophic, however, as Sparky is mistakenly accused of going on a rampage throughout the neighborhood and eventually meets a second demise at the windmill hole of the local miniature golf course. Does Sparky live again? You’ll have to check out this wonderful short in order to find out.
The film is loaded with talent in front of the camera. Barret Oliver portrays Vincent. Already known for his work in The Neverending Story (1984), Oliver would go on to appear in a number of other successful projects such as D.A.R.Y.L (1985) and Cocoon (1985) before becoming a photographer in his adult life. His parents, Ben and Susan, were portrayed by Daniel Stern (Home Alone, The Wonder Years, City Slickers) and Shelley Duvall (The Shining, Faerie Tale Theatre, Roxanne). Supporting cast included Jason Hervey (The Wonder Years), Paul Bartel (Eating Raoul, Amazon Women On The Moon), Joseph Maher (Heaven Can Wait, Mars Attacks!), and Sofia Coppola (The Bling Ring, Lost In Translation).
Along with another short, the stop-motion animated Vincent (1982), Frankenweenie‘s creepy atmosphere proved to be too much for Disney and resulted in Tim Burton being fired by the company for “wasting resources.” He would eventually return to Disney in a roundabout way via his highly successful stop-motion film The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). Even with that film, however, Disney only agreed to release it under their Touchstone moniker because they didn’t want the movie associated with their family-friendly offerings. Burton eventually became too popular for Disney to ignore and he ended up working with them on a number of new projects including Alice In Wonderland (2010), Dumbo (2019), and a feature-length animated remake of Frankenweenie (2012).
The film is a favorite of mine for a number of reasons. First, it’s a fun film to watch. Second, its nods to the classic Boris Karloff Frankenstein film are simply wonderful. Finally, it shows viewers that Burton’s style was embedded in his brain from the beginning. It’s easy to pick out a Burton project, and Frankenweenie is no exception.
Have you seen this wonderful short? Let me know in the comments and feel free to tell me whether you enjoyed it or not. As always, thanks for checking out my post. We’re almost to the halfway point of October, so I have something special planned in a couple of days! See you soon!
Ken's Alternate Universe! 