Frankenweenie (PG, 87 mins)

Animation/Family/Comedy/Horror. Featuring the voices of Charlie Tahan, Winona Ryder, Martin Short, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Landau, Atticus Shaffer. Director: Tim Burton.

by Lewis Dyson

Laced with Tim Burton's mock-horror charm, Frankenweenie is a black-and-white, stop-motion re-imagining of Frankenstein as a young boy trying to resurrect his perished pooch.

Victor Frankenstein (Charlie Tahan) spends most of his time making home movies with his beloved dog Sparky, away from the rest of the inhabitants of picture perfect town of New Holland.

Tragedy strikes when Sparky is run over chasing a baseball into the road after Victor is coerced into playing by his well-meaning father.

But when the loner and his other creepy classmates are challenged to a science contest by their eccentric teacher Mr Rzykruski (Martin Landau), the inspiration comes to bring the pet back from the dead.

Reunited with his gradually decomposing yet energetic dog, Victor decides to hide him in the attic rather than scare his parents.

Inevitably Sparky makes a break for it and has an electrifying encounter with the next door neighbour's Poodle. As she gets a little too close to the bolts sticking from his neck, white lightening bolts appear on her beehive hairdo, a la Bride of Frankenstein.

It is one of many warm nods to classic horror movies throughout the film.

When the unsettling Edgar E Gore (voiced with aplomb by youngster Atticus Shaffer) discovers his classmate's secret, he blackmails him into telling him the secret of bringing pets back to life.

The hunchbacked child rushes off to the pet shop to buy a goldfish. "Which one would you like?" asks the owner.

"That one!" Edgar says pointing to the one floating upside down.

Once the secret is out, it's not long before the other children are bringing their deceased animals back to life, but this time with disastrous results for the townspeople.

Frankenweenie is heartfelt, funny and just the right side of morbid. There are plenty of gross gags for children to enjoy, while the big kids will be kept happy with the loving references to early creature features.

The 3D adds depth to the look of the stop-motion models and because it is in black-and-white, the darker image you normally have to put up with in 3D films is not an issue here.

:: No Swearing :: No sex :: Mild horror :: Rating: 7/10