Frankenweenie (2012)

I welcomed the Tim Burton-directed stop-motion “Frankenweenie” with a wide smile of spooked childlike wonder. For years now, Burton has been missing as a filmmaker. He has made many movies -– “Planet of the Apes” and “Dark Shadows” -- but none steeped in the dark satire and deep loneliness he displayed in “Edward Scissorhands.” This harkens back to early Burton, and is a remake of his infamous 1984 live-action short, ingenuously reimagined. Young Victor Frankenstein is a loner whose best friend is Sparky, his pet dog. Victor pops a homerun during a parent-forced youth baseball outing. Sparky runs for the ball, and is fatally hit by a car. Victor is devastated, and soon goes the way of his namesake by bringing Sparky back to life via an electric storm and a lab that is every bit a grade-school salute to James Whale. What comes next is where Burton flies high: Victor’s spooky classmates each has a dead pet they want to see given new life, and this freak show takes off as hilarious and sly introduction of monster mash-ups for the quirky young. Shot in black-and-white, this is the Burton I love. A