Tim Burton’s stop-motion feature Frankenweenie was released in 2012.
The film expands Burton’s 1984 live-action short of the same name, which follows a boy who brings his dead dog back to life. In the feature version, the boy is Victor Frankenstein and the dog is Sparky. The story transfers Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein concept into a suburban setting populated by eccentric schoolchildren and families.
Frankenweenie was filmed in black and white and presented in stereoscopic 3D. Its visual style deliberately recalls classic horror and science-fiction cinema, including James Whale’s 1931 Frankenstein. The longer version adds more characters, experiments, and consequences while retaining the short’s central bond between Victor and Sparky.
The movie was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and became Burton’s third stop-motion feature after The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride. It is sometimes confused with the 1984 short because both share the same title and basic premise.