Frankenweenie

In the spirit of non-political movie threads, I went to see this last night at the IMAX 3D. Seeing it in the middle of the week was the way to go - I had a semi-private showing (I think there were maybe 6-7 other people there) with no annoying kids at the Disney movie.

I thought it was a really good movie. I liked the call-outs to the other classic horror movies - Godzilla, Bride of Frankenstein, Wolfman, the Invisible Man, The Mummy, Dracula, Gremlins, as well as the visual references to the classic Frankenstein. I thought Sparky really came to life (so to speak) as a dog - watching him play by himself in the yard with a ball was exactly like my dog Waffles playing with a ball. Burton really held the beats for the dog's dying long enough to really make you feel bad (well, it made me feel bad - I kept thinking about my last dog who died in January) before returning to the kid movie ending.

He also had some sharp things to say about the anti-intellectual/anti-science streak that tends to run strong in parts of this country - through the speech of the science teacher at one point. At the same time, he clearly indicated the importance of having some connection emotionally with the world to be an effective scientist (as opposed to the mad scientist).

Of course, I like Burton's style. I think this was similar in feel to Corpse Bride, where the pain of loss is so much a part of the story.