Nearly seven years have passed since Tim Burton’s last clay animation film “Corpse Bride”. While I personally love all of his work and was excited to see the new addition “Frankenweenie”, it turned out to be somewhat of a letdown. Based upon a previous idea of Burton’s back in ‘84, the tale is basically a cheesy pet version of “Frankenstein”.

His original idea involved a cast of real people, which would have made the movie more lovable and creative. Victor [the boy scientist] is the stereotypical image in Burton’s morbid creative world of his signature skeletal characters with massive eyes. The cast includes actors like Martin Short, Winona Ryder, Martin Landeu and Christopher Lee; it surprised me that Burton strayed from his trend duo, Johnny Depp and Helena Bohman Carter.

Overall the movie is funny with its references to previous iconic movie monsters, but lacks the macabre genius that Burton uses so well. Compared to previous films, “Frankenweenie” falls flat and is rather redundant and dull with the plot. As a Burton fan, I just added it to the collection of his bizarre yet wonderful films, but it was still a poor use of $10 that only die-hard fans would waste it on.