Frankenweenie (1984 film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Frankenweenie is a 1984 Tim Burton-directed short film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and co-written by Burton with Leonard Ripps. It is both a parody and homage to the 1931 film Frankenstein based on Mary Shelley's novel of the same name. It was filmed in 1983. 28 years later, Burton decided to work on a stop-motion 2012 remake of that film.
Plot
Victor Frankenstein (played by Barret Oliver) is a young boy who creates movies starring his dog, Sparky (a Bull Terrier, whose name is a reference to the use of electricity in the film). After Sparky is hit by a car and killed, Victor learns at school about electrical impulses in muscles and is inspired to bring his pet back to life. He creates elaborate machines which bring down a bolt of lightning that revives the dog. Victor is pleased, but when the Frankensteins decide to introduce the revitalized Sparky to his neighbors, they become angry and terrified.
Sparky runs away, with Victor in pursuit. They find themselves at a local miniature golf course and hide in its flagship windmill. The Frankensteins' neighbors, now an angry mob, arrive on the scene, and when they attempt to use a cigarette lighter to try to see in the windmill, it is accidentally set on fire. Victor falls and is knocked out, but Sparky rescues him from the flames, only to be crushed by the windmill. The mob of neighbors, realizing their error, use their cars and jumper cables to "recharge" Sparky. He is revived, and all celebrate. Sparky falls in love with a poodle whose fur bears a strong resemblance to the hairdo of the Bride of Frankenstein and the film ends with Sparky's electricity making the words, "The End" and it becomes still.
Cast
- Barret Oliver as Victor Frankenstein: a young boy expert in science who is sad after his dog's death.
- Shelley Duvall as Susan Frankenstein: Victor's mother.
- Daniel Stern: as Ben Frankenstein: Victor's father.
- Joseph Maher as Mr. Chambers
- Roz Braverman as Mrs. Epstein
- Paul Bartel as Mr. Walsh
- Sofia Coppola as Anne Chambers
- Jason Hervey as Frank Dale
- Paul C. Scott as Mike Anderson
- Helen Boll as Mrs. Curtis
- Rusty James as Raymond
- Sparky as Himself: Victor's dog. He dies and gets reanimated by Victor.
