89% Frankenweenie

All Critics (184) | Top Critics (35) | Fresh (163) | Rotten (21)

Burton's best film since 1994's Ed Wood or even 1990's Edward Scissorhands.

The stop-motion animation - a favorite tool of Burton's - is given loving attention, and the character design is full of terrific touches, such as the hulking flat-topped schoolmate who looks a bit like a certain man-made monster.

The best thing about an animated monster movie with this much heart is: It's alive. In the best possible way.

This 3-D, black-and-white "family" comedy is the year's most inventive, endearing animated feature.

Designed to appeal to both discriminating adults and older kids, the gorgeous, black-and-white stop-motion film is a fresh, clever and affectionate love letter to classic horror movies.

The most Tim Burton-y of the director's films, and not just because it contains a vast catalog of references to his own movies - everything from "Edward Scissorhands'' to the underrated 1989 "Batman.''

Maintains the legitimately dark tone of the original short while expanding the narrative in a pleasingly Scissorhands-esque direction.

In the very best sense, the film is wall-to-wall eye candy.

'Frankenweenie' is far from his best, but it is a timely reassurance that the old Tim Burton still exists and may be able to work his black magic again.

Beautiful, technically astonishing animation and the emotional whack of a lightning bolt cannot quite hide the stitches holding together a paucity of ideas and humour.

The jokes are built almost entirely around references to old black and white horror movies.

Even though it's not among his best films, I'm just happy that Tim Burton has finally made a movie I can recommend to people again.

Frankenweenie is rammed with credible horror references, so this is a great movie for children to see if you want to them to develop a good perspective of film history in years to come.

Visually captivating and smartly written, Frankenweenie brings Tim Burton's career back from the metaphorical dead.

I loved this. It is so beautiful and there's almost an innocence to it that Burton achieves.

It was wise to make the film in black and white, and 3D adds to the charm of this sweetly retro experience. Sparky is hereby added to my list of the cinema's most endearing woofers.

Burton is in lively, playful and sharp form here, deftly balancing blatant eeriness with a chipper cheeriness that excuses many a macabre event.

A loving homage to everything from Frankenstein to Godzilla by way of cosy American suburbia circa the analogue era, Frankenweenie makes superb use of black-and-white and shades of grey, thoughtful lighting and an equally thoughtful musical score.

Despite the gothic elements and macabre adult themes, Frankenweenie is more light than dark and more humorous than droll, with Burton cleverly tempering cold colouring with a warm soundtrack.

This is McDonalds moviemaking - plonk it down, fry it up, slap on a new label, drop fresh tears in the cauldron - and the special sauce rarely tasted so bland.

With its anti-intellectualism critique, classic horror film homages and beautiful production design, Frankenweenie is a great film for adventurous young audiences.

There is, unfortunately, never a point at which it's not completely obvious that Frankenweenie has been adapted from a short film...

Entertaining and with something to say, Frankenweenie is an ideal family film: it treats children with respect and its extraordinary attention to detail in the stop motion animation, painstakingly done, gives adults as much to enjoy

Uncluttered by the simplicity of the format, the attention to detail is extraordinary with concentration on the storytelling and the characters. That is why we are right there... through all the emotional hills and valleys

A funny and touching monster mash-up, with wonderfully strong work from the entire cast...this is essential viewing for animation fans.

An exceptionally appealing family comedy, a stunningly realised stop-motion celebration of cinema, and an audacious criticism of America's anti-intelligentsia plague in one.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/frankenweenie_2012/

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