Frankenweenie
Walt Disney Pictures | Release Date: October 5, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
74
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
31
Mixed:
6
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleAmy BiancolliOct 4, 2012
It is pure, retro-cinematic joy. Read full review
100
Boston GlobeTy BurrOct 4, 2012
The movie, a simple yet immensely pleasurable tale of a little boy and his undead dog, is good enough on its own. If you know the back story, it's even better. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumOct 3, 2012
Frankenweenie is a cool little flipbook of historical Burtonian style. It even brings back old friends, including "Beetlejuice's" Winona Ryder and Catherine O'Hara. Read full review
91
The PlaylistDrew TaylorSep 22, 2012
It says something, then, that Burton's best, most enjoyable, and most emotionally resonate film in years is actually an adaptation of one of his very first projects: Frankenweenie. Read full review
90
TimeRichard CorlissOct 4, 2012
Frankenweenie has that youthful verve and the ghoulishness of strange kids who will some day be eccentric creators. This movie is an attic experiment for its makers to be proud of and for audiences to cherish. Read full review
90
Boxoffice MagazinePete HammondOct 2, 2012
This magnificent stop-motion cartoon is alive - "it's alive! - with laughs and heart. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovOct 4, 2012
Frankenweenie is that rare film that's both kid- and adult-friendly. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia PuigOct 7, 2012
Frankenweenie is a love story between a boy and his dog. It is also a beautifully crafted homage to classic horror films, a study of grief and a commentary on the mysteries of science and those who narrow-mindedly fear its advances. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldConnie OgleOct 5, 2012
This delightfully twisted story about a boy and his (dead) dog showcases precisely what Burton excels at: blending the macabre and the heartfelt in a perfect, if oddball, union. Read full review
88
New York PostLou LumenickOct 5, 2012
Tim Burton's best film in years. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversOct 4, 2012
Getting creeped out has never seemed this totally cool. Read full review
85
MovielineInkoo KangOct 5, 2012
It's probably too early to peg Frankenweenie as Burton's comeback vehicle, but it's certainly the director's best movie in twenty years. Read full review
83
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallOct 4, 2012
Frankenweenie is stitched together with love and a bit raggedy, like Sparky the dog in question. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnSep 22, 2012
Burton's id explodes onto the screen with a plethora of demonic mutated critters. Read full review
80
EmpireAngie ErrigoOct 15, 2012
Very sweet, very funny, really quite touching and exquisitely handmade, by a film lover with humour and a heart, for a like-minded audience. Read full review
80
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottOct 5, 2012
Filmmaking is a product of the heart and the head, at least when it's at its best. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanOct 4, 2012
Burton's extraordinary powers of imagination are in dazzling bloom, from the gorgeous stop-motion animation to the goofy, homemade horror movies the children direct. Read full review
80
Village VoiceChris PackhamOct 2, 2012
Frankenweenie, scripted by John August, and based on a screenplay by Lenny Ripps from Burton's original story, is tight and brief, hitting all the marks you'd expect from an animated kid's film, and enlivened by Burton's visual style. The man should make more small movies like this one. Read full review
80
Total FilmKevin HarleySep 22, 2012
Burton's finest, freshest film in ages is a welcome homecoming. You'd call it patchwork pastiche, if it weren't so zapped with energy, feeling and imagination. It's alive! Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsOct 5, 2012
While the big-headed, spindly puppets don't evoke enough emotion to make the movie a must-see, Burton's 3-D design team pours its heart into the monochrome surroundings, from the suburban décor to Victor's laboratory to the carnival midway. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyOct 5, 2012
You have to feel pleased just for the existence of a film like Tim Burton's Frankenweenie. A 3-D, black-and-white, stop-motion animated film, it's a one-man blow for cinematic biodiversity. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanOct 4, 2012
It's great fun. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianMarc MohanOct 4, 2012
Frankenweenie seems like a genuine effort to pass along this love to the next generation, and if one kid who sees it goes home and demands to watch another movie featuring a giant turtle, it will have done its job. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliOct 4, 2012
This is a more personal movie for Burton than one might initially suspect. The very fact that he elected to re-tell this story after 28 years is an indication of how much it means to him. And I wouldn't be surprised to learn that, as a kid, he had a dog named Sparky. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertOct 3, 2012
This isn't one of Burton's best, but it has zealous energy. It might have been too macabre for kids in past, but kids these days, they've seen it all, and the charm of a boy and his dog retains its appeal. Read full review
70
NPRStephanie ZacharekOct 5, 2012
The picture is frustrating not because it's bad, but because of how almost-good it is. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyOct 4, 2012
He (Burton) has used that tonality deftly here, it keeps Frankenweenie visually stunning and the sensibility light. It's too bad the tale, like Sparky's wagging appendage, keeps falling off. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. ScottOct 4, 2012
While Frankenweenie is fun, it is not nearly strange or original enough to join the undead, monstrous ranks of the classics it adores. Read full review
70
VarietyJustin ChangSep 22, 2012
This beautifully designed canine-resurrection saga feels, somewhat fittingly, stitched together from stray narrative parts, but nonetheless evinces a level of discipline and artistic coherence missing from the director's recent live-action efforts. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanOct 4, 2012
Nothing in the longer Frankenweenie is new. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsOct 4, 2012
The entire project is carefully wrought in visual terms and more than a little familiar. Sometimes even a well-applied pair of jumper cables can't do the trick. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawOct 12, 2012
It's a likable film, though not a sensational development in Tim Burton's career. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicKerry LengelOct 3, 2012
There's no question it looks fantastic...As for the story, well, much like the original Frankenstein's monster, it is a haphazard assemblage of well-aged source materials jolted back to life with new technology, but it isn't quite as sophisticated as one might hope. Read full review
60
Time OutKeith UhlichOct 2, 2012
Though the tale demands a darker outcome, the director disappointingly goes the Mouse House happy-ending route with a reprise of the original short film's finale - one that somehow plays with even more cringeworthy sentimentality. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerDavid HiltbrandOct 4, 2012
It's not so much a miscalculation of his audience by Burton as it is a disregard. What lingers after Frankenweenie, far more than its stunning technique, is a sad suggestion of solipsism. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonOct 3, 2012
While Frankenweenie is pleasant enough as a curated tour through horror's past, it doesn't add much to its present. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthySep 22, 2012
It is nonetheless imaginative in a highly familiar and ultimately tedious way. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineNick SchagerSep 29, 2012
Tim Burton's sense of playfulness feels forced throughout, and as the film progresses, any humor or inventiveness takes a backseat to tumultuous set pieces that reference Frankenstein. Read full review
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