Frankenweenie

What’s it about?

When a boy’s beloved dog passes away suddenly, he does the unimaginable and pushes the boundaries between life and death through the power of electricity.

The facts

• Directed by Tim Burton (Alice in Wonderland, Corpse Bride)
• English language with some Japanese dialogue
• Runtime: 87 minutes
• Inspired by the Frankenstein tale

Why did it get this rating?

This film was cross-rated by the Film and Video Labelling Body. You can find out more about cross-rating here.

Horror

The visual style and character designs are like in Tim Burton’s other stop-motion films like Corpse Bride and The Nightmare Before Christmas.

There are dark, gloomy, and abnormal characters. For example, one character has abnormally large eyes and another one has a large hunchback.

Various dead pets are resurrected and mutate into horrifying creatures. They are visually terrifying as they have features such as sharp claws, teeth, and wings.

Violence

A mutated creature fights with Sparky. The fight turns violent, and they bite and claw each other. The fight ends when a burning wooden beam falls and impales the mutated creature. We briefly see their dead body.

Various animals are resurrected and mutate into horrifying creatures. They terrorise the townsfolk by chasing them and wreaking havoc.

A character jumps off the roof for a science experiment. We see them jump off and break their arm.

Sparky is hit by a car. We don’t see this, but do see the car stop after Sparky yelps.

Further information

• Why are ratings and content warnings important for me and my whānau?