Black and white and some fright, Frankenweenie recalls Burton's past

The movie is of a boy who brings his cherished dog back to life, only to open a Pandora¿s box of terrifying back-from-the-dead monsters.

Tim Burton's latest film Frankenweenie is a black and white, stop-motion animation in 3D and is based on a 1984 film that was not released because it was deemed too frightening for children. Photo by Matt Sayles / Invision/AP Photo
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Stop-motion animation but in 3D: cinema's past and future combine in Tim Burton's Frankenweenie, which the filmmaker says was inspired by his childhood.

His first animated feature since 2005's Corpse Bride, the movie tells the story of a boy who brings his cherished dog back to life, only to open a Pandora's box of terrifying back-from-the-dead monsters.

The movie, currently screening in the UAE, is based on a short film of the same name which Burton made for Disney in 1984, but which was never released because it was deemed too frightening for children.

While Burton's 1984 short told the story with real actors, the new version uses stop-motion animation techniques - where objects are moved in small increments between individual frames. It is also in black and white, which the filmmaker says was crucial.

"It had to be stop-motion and it had to be black and white. It's hard to put into words, but for me it makes it more emotional," says Burton. "I felt so strongly about it that if the studio had said: 'We'll do the movie but it has to be in colour', I just wouldn't have done it. It was that important."

The movie also pays tribute to classic horror flicks that Burton grew up with as a child in Los Angeles.

"I grew up feeling, which probably most kids do, like you're alone, no one understands you, you're different, all those kinds of feelings," he says.

"I tried to personalise everything. You can't do that with a lot of projects but this one was so much based on all sorts of memories." * AFP