The story about a boy and his dog
Long gone are the days when Tim Burton movies weren't immediately associated with Johnny Depp or his fiancee Helena Bonham Carter, or so we thought. Burton's remake, of his own short film, is lacking those two names, but not much else. This time around he teams up with familiar faces too (or should I say voices?), like Catherine O'Hara (Beetlejuice), Winona Ryder (Beetlejuice,Edward Scissorhands), Martin Short (Mars Attacks!), Martin Landau (Ed Wood,Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and Christopher Lee (Corpse Bride, Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, etc.), among others. This animated feature is part family movie and part "sci-fi"/horror (Disney approved, of course). It also features a score by a name, that has has also been linked to Burton's multiple times, Danny Elfman and a screenplay by John August.
Frankenweenie takes us to the town of New Holland where a young boy named Victor loses his dog and only friend, Sparky. Victor decides to bring Sparky back from the dead, using one of the things he loves the most--science. But, trouble ensues, when other people find out what he has done. Some people think it's monstrous and unethical, while others think it's the perfect science project. As you can see people in New Holland do not take well to change, and Burton makes it a challenge for his audience to decipher when exactly the movie takes place. As a nice Easter egg, he puts on the town's cinema "Bambi Coming Soon". This should be a clear clue that the movie takes place in 1942, but it doesn't make sense that the movie takes place then. I think it's one of many nudges Burton makes in this movie; this one saying that this town is behind for its time.
Other nudges the director makes in this movie can be found in the characters. All of them are either eerie (my brother called one of them: "The girl from The Shining.") or a clear pop culture reference to a horror or "sci-fi" movie like the character of Edgar (look for his picture and last name) and Nassor (who is a Boris Karloff look-alike). These characters are well rounded and when something looks unnatural is because the character in itself is unnatural. Even the dogs (Sparky and Persephone) and the cat (Mr. Whiskers) have clear personalities, which comes to show the attention to detail Burton has.
This movie is the perfect mix of monster movie cliches and a lovable story; it could have gone terribly wrong, but it didn't. It also has a good balance between the novel Frankenstein and all the cliches that are associated with the movies that are based on Mary Shelley's novel (for example, mob with fire and pitchforks, Victor's partner, Frankenstein's bride, etc.). In between all of this monster movie goodness, it teaches us that we do not have to fear what we don't understand, and instead of remaining ignorant we should inform ourselves. In a nutshell, the movie's message is for us to not be like New Holland's citizens. This movie is a definite change from what we have seen in Burton's recent movies (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland). Instead of continuing with the colorful palette he was using in those two films, he went back to his roots of stop-motion animation, darker colors (this movie is completely in black and white) and a creepy premise, with a story full of heart, and I think it's one of his finest moments. As a fun fact, I'll tell you that Disney Studios fired Burton, when he made the original short film, however this movie became one of Disney's crowning moments for this year, with special 4-D previews in Disneyland, art exhibits and so much more as some of the promotional events they had for the film.
Frankenweenie takes us to the town of New Holland where a young boy named Victor loses his dog and only friend, Sparky. Victor decides to bring Sparky back from the dead, using one of the things he loves the most--science. But, trouble ensues, when other people find out what he has done. Some people think it's monstrous and unethical, while others think it's the perfect science project. As you can see people in New Holland do not take well to change, and Burton makes it a challenge for his audience to decipher when exactly the movie takes place. As a nice Easter egg, he puts on the town's cinema "Bambi Coming Soon". This should be a clear clue that the movie takes place in 1942, but it doesn't make sense that the movie takes place then. I think it's one of many nudges Burton makes in this movie; this one saying that this town is behind for its time.
Other nudges the director makes in this movie can be found in the characters. All of them are either eerie (my brother called one of them: "The girl from The Shining.") or a clear pop culture reference to a horror or "sci-fi" movie like the character of Edgar (look for his picture and last name) and Nassor (who is a Boris Karloff look-alike). These characters are well rounded and when something looks unnatural is because the character in itself is unnatural. Even the dogs (Sparky and Persephone) and the cat (Mr. Whiskers) have clear personalities, which comes to show the attention to detail Burton has.
This movie is the perfect mix of monster movie cliches and a lovable story; it could have gone terribly wrong, but it didn't. It also has a good balance between the novel Frankenstein and all the cliches that are associated with the movies that are based on Mary Shelley's novel (for example, mob with fire and pitchforks, Victor's partner, Frankenstein's bride, etc.). In between all of this monster movie goodness, it teaches us that we do not have to fear what we don't understand, and instead of remaining ignorant we should inform ourselves. In a nutshell, the movie's message is for us to not be like New Holland's citizens. This movie is a definite change from what we have seen in Burton's recent movies (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland). Instead of continuing with the colorful palette he was using in those two films, he went back to his roots of stop-motion animation, darker colors (this movie is completely in black and white) and a creepy premise, with a story full of heart, and I think it's one of his finest moments. As a fun fact, I'll tell you that Disney Studios fired Burton, when he made the original short film, however this movie became one of Disney's crowning moments for this year, with special 4-D previews in Disneyland, art exhibits and so much more as some of the promotional events they had for the film.
Broken
I remember being ten. It was an eventful year. So eventful in fact, that even though I had a contract with the floor, I had my first big injury that year. But that’s not quite true, I had other big injuries, yet none I could remember. This one I remember.
It all started in a baseball game, during a hot Friday afternoon in April. It was at the time, when my dad was teaching me how to play, so I was very excited to be rooting for my fifth grade classroom to win this one. I can still hear the way the bat hit the ball and the way everyone cheered. I was watching from behind the home plate, and I jumped for some reason. When I touched the floor, I twisted my ankle. It hurt a little, but I didn’t pay attention to it. I sat down on the grass that surrounded our makeshift baseball field, and I tried to focus on the game instead of my ankle. After twenty minutes or so, Mr. Cumba, one of the teachers that refereed the game, said: “This is the last inning! The bell is about to ring!” The game ended, and I think we won, but I don't remember because of what happened next.
My best friend, Diana, came over to where I was sitting, and we started to talk about the game. Then, when we were about to head over to our homeroom, I tried to stand on my right leg, but couldn’t. Diana offered to help me walk over there. The distance between the parking lot, also known as our makeshift baseball field, and our homeroom was not far, but it felt a thousand miles away, as we made our way through the crowd. We were walking up the ramp, although Diana was the one walking and what I was doing was more like bouncing on one leg, yet I thought we were going to be in the clear, since our homeroom was only steps away from the ramp. But, when we reached the top and I thought everything would be okay, a group of running fourth graders crashed into us. Imagine a collision between them and us, who were walking slower than a turtle. Next thing I know, I was on the floor.
My ankle was throbbing more than before, but I didn’t know why. I opened my eyes and noticed two of the fourth graders were also on the floor. Then, I looked behind me and saw why my ankle was hurting more—Diana had landed on it.
If it hurt to walk before, now I was holding back screams of sheer pain. I tried to walk the few steps that were left between us and our homeroom, but Diana said to go to her mom's classroom, who was our Spanish teacher, instead. Of course, she walked, and I bounced my way there. We slammed the door open, and she asked what had happened. I can still see her panicked face, when we tried to explain, with our shaking voices. She asked to see my foot. I sat on a desk and let her examine it. She lightly tapped it, and I winced. “You have to go to the infirmary now! It’s already swollen,” she said. I remember thinking: “Swollen? How can it be swollen? I only twisted it.” She gave me a piggyback ride to the infirmary. The nurse came over to see what all the fuzz was about. They sat me down on a chair in the office’s reception, since the nurse’s office was already full. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one that got hurt during recess. Belisa, Diana’s mom, explained what had happened. While she did that, I was wondering if the bell had already rung. I looked at my watch, and, yes, it had rung almost ten minutes ago. I started to freak out because I was supposed to be in Science class, and Mr. Hernández was very strict, especially about punctuality. I just wanted the nurse to say I was fine, so I could be on my merry way. Then, the nurse said: “Well, let’s check it out.” She bent down and tapped my foot, making me wince again. After that, she tried to take off my sneaker. She couldn’t. When she compared my right foot with my left, that was the moment she knew this was a serious injury. She called my dad, who—guessing by the time it was—was getting ready for work. Belisa had already left, before the sneaker odyssey began, but a student of hers came into the office. It was an older boy—a sixth grader—and he was carrying my book bag. “Of course, I had forgotten it”, I thought. He said: “Mrs. Tosado sent you this,” and I thanked him. As he left, my thoughts started to spin, and I questioned: “What’s going to happen to me?”
Celeste, the secretary, was busy filling all the insurance papers, while I stared out the glass window, waiting for my dad. When I saw his white Rav4, come up the hill that led to our school, I couldn’t contain my joy. He entered the office, and the nurse explained that he had to take me to an ER because it was likely I had broken my ankle. Broken. It was broken. I tried to wrap my head around it. I could only hear the echo of the word. Broken. My dad took the papers and led me out of the office. When we got into the car, he called my mom, and from the way she was talking, I could imagine her going ballistic. He drove us to the nearest ER, and we had to wait there for almost two hours. The doctor who saw me, took an X-ray, and confirmed what was already suspected. He said to come back in two weeks, so he could check if it was healing properly. He prepared the cast. It was white and ugly, and I didn’t like it one bit. Then, the doctor gave my poor dad more instructions, and also handed me a cast shoe. This allowed me to “walk” short distances, although I didn’t consider walking the action of moving one foot and then dragging the other one along.
It was almost five in the afternoon, when we got home. My mom was happy to see me, and my brother didn’t understand why I had that funny looking thing around my leg. I lay down on the bed, and my mom lifted my leg up. I finished my night by watching Tru Confessions, which is a Disney Channel Original Movie.
When Monday finally rolled around, I had no idea what I was going to do. How would I carry my books? How would I move from class to class? How would I get lunch? The simplest tasks, that a week ago I took for granted, seemed impossible now. My mom carried my book bag up to my homeroom, and I felt like I was in kindergarten all over again. I liked being independent, but now I felt like an invalid. I walked over to where she was, kissed her goodbye and just sat on my book bag, looking miserable. I thought the next two weeks would be horrible. I’m glad I was wrong.
When my friends and classmates arrived, they all asked how I was, and they agreed to take turns carrying my book bag from class to class. Then, they all wanted to sign my cast. They brought colorful markers, signed their names and wrote get well messages all over it. Some even drew stuff on it like hearts and peace signs. Now, it didn’t look ugly. During lunch, the teachers moved me up the line, so I wouldn’t get hurt. I, also, got to make fun of my situation, alongside Coralys. She was a friend of mine, who had broken her left leg a few days before my ankle incident. We were the broken twins. We would walk around with our arms locked together and pretend we were one person with two broken legs. School wasn’t as horrible, as I had imagined it to be. People were going out of their way to make me feel better, and for that, I’ll always be grateful. I was happy, and the word "broken" didn't baffle me anymore. The cast came off two weeks later.
It all started in a baseball game, during a hot Friday afternoon in April. It was at the time, when my dad was teaching me how to play, so I was very excited to be rooting for my fifth grade classroom to win this one. I can still hear the way the bat hit the ball and the way everyone cheered. I was watching from behind the home plate, and I jumped for some reason. When I touched the floor, I twisted my ankle. It hurt a little, but I didn’t pay attention to it. I sat down on the grass that surrounded our makeshift baseball field, and I tried to focus on the game instead of my ankle. After twenty minutes or so, Mr. Cumba, one of the teachers that refereed the game, said: “This is the last inning! The bell is about to ring!” The game ended, and I think we won, but I don't remember because of what happened next.
My best friend, Diana, came over to where I was sitting, and we started to talk about the game. Then, when we were about to head over to our homeroom, I tried to stand on my right leg, but couldn’t. Diana offered to help me walk over there. The distance between the parking lot, also known as our makeshift baseball field, and our homeroom was not far, but it felt a thousand miles away, as we made our way through the crowd. We were walking up the ramp, although Diana was the one walking and what I was doing was more like bouncing on one leg, yet I thought we were going to be in the clear, since our homeroom was only steps away from the ramp. But, when we reached the top and I thought everything would be okay, a group of running fourth graders crashed into us. Imagine a collision between them and us, who were walking slower than a turtle. Next thing I know, I was on the floor.
My ankle was throbbing more than before, but I didn’t know why. I opened my eyes and noticed two of the fourth graders were also on the floor. Then, I looked behind me and saw why my ankle was hurting more—Diana had landed on it.
If it hurt to walk before, now I was holding back screams of sheer pain. I tried to walk the few steps that were left between us and our homeroom, but Diana said to go to her mom's classroom, who was our Spanish teacher, instead. Of course, she walked, and I bounced my way there. We slammed the door open, and she asked what had happened. I can still see her panicked face, when we tried to explain, with our shaking voices. She asked to see my foot. I sat on a desk and let her examine it. She lightly tapped it, and I winced. “You have to go to the infirmary now! It’s already swollen,” she said. I remember thinking: “Swollen? How can it be swollen? I only twisted it.” She gave me a piggyback ride to the infirmary. The nurse came over to see what all the fuzz was about. They sat me down on a chair in the office’s reception, since the nurse’s office was already full. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one that got hurt during recess. Belisa, Diana’s mom, explained what had happened. While she did that, I was wondering if the bell had already rung. I looked at my watch, and, yes, it had rung almost ten minutes ago. I started to freak out because I was supposed to be in Science class, and Mr. Hernández was very strict, especially about punctuality. I just wanted the nurse to say I was fine, so I could be on my merry way. Then, the nurse said: “Well, let’s check it out.” She bent down and tapped my foot, making me wince again. After that, she tried to take off my sneaker. She couldn’t. When she compared my right foot with my left, that was the moment she knew this was a serious injury. She called my dad, who—guessing by the time it was—was getting ready for work. Belisa had already left, before the sneaker odyssey began, but a student of hers came into the office. It was an older boy—a sixth grader—and he was carrying my book bag. “Of course, I had forgotten it”, I thought. He said: “Mrs. Tosado sent you this,” and I thanked him. As he left, my thoughts started to spin, and I questioned: “What’s going to happen to me?”
Celeste, the secretary, was busy filling all the insurance papers, while I stared out the glass window, waiting for my dad. When I saw his white Rav4, come up the hill that led to our school, I couldn’t contain my joy. He entered the office, and the nurse explained that he had to take me to an ER because it was likely I had broken my ankle. Broken. It was broken. I tried to wrap my head around it. I could only hear the echo of the word. Broken. My dad took the papers and led me out of the office. When we got into the car, he called my mom, and from the way she was talking, I could imagine her going ballistic. He drove us to the nearest ER, and we had to wait there for almost two hours. The doctor who saw me, took an X-ray, and confirmed what was already suspected. He said to come back in two weeks, so he could check if it was healing properly. He prepared the cast. It was white and ugly, and I didn’t like it one bit. Then, the doctor gave my poor dad more instructions, and also handed me a cast shoe. This allowed me to “walk” short distances, although I didn’t consider walking the action of moving one foot and then dragging the other one along.
It was almost five in the afternoon, when we got home. My mom was happy to see me, and my brother didn’t understand why I had that funny looking thing around my leg. I lay down on the bed, and my mom lifted my leg up. I finished my night by watching Tru Confessions, which is a Disney Channel Original Movie.
When Monday finally rolled around, I had no idea what I was going to do. How would I carry my books? How would I move from class to class? How would I get lunch? The simplest tasks, that a week ago I took for granted, seemed impossible now. My mom carried my book bag up to my homeroom, and I felt like I was in kindergarten all over again. I liked being independent, but now I felt like an invalid. I walked over to where she was, kissed her goodbye and just sat on my book bag, looking miserable. I thought the next two weeks would be horrible. I’m glad I was wrong.
When my friends and classmates arrived, they all asked how I was, and they agreed to take turns carrying my book bag from class to class. Then, they all wanted to sign my cast. They brought colorful markers, signed their names and wrote get well messages all over it. Some even drew stuff on it like hearts and peace signs. Now, it didn’t look ugly. During lunch, the teachers moved me up the line, so I wouldn’t get hurt. I, also, got to make fun of my situation, alongside Coralys. She was a friend of mine, who had broken her left leg a few days before my ankle incident. We were the broken twins. We would walk around with our arms locked together and pretend we were one person with two broken legs. School wasn’t as horrible, as I had imagined it to be. People were going out of their way to make me feel better, and for that, I’ll always be grateful. I was happy, and the word "broken" didn't baffle me anymore. The cast came off two weeks later.