Frankenweenie (2012)

Tim Burton’s 1984 live-action short Frankenweenie has an odd place in his career. Not only did it have a more niche audience for the longest time, only seeing a home video release within certain releases of The Nightmare Before Christmas, but the short’s creation also led to Disney firing him for what they considered a waste of company resources. Fast forward to 2007, when Disney hired Burton to direct two 3D films, one of which was a feature length remake of Frankenweenie, this time in stop-motion. The finished product would release in 2012 to generally positive critical reception and also had the honor of being both the first black-and-white feature and first stop-motion film shown in IMAX 3D. In the context of its creation and release, Frankenweenie is certainly a technical achievement, as well as a personal one considering that not many people can say they got to remake a project that got them fired by the same company that hired them. In the context of the rest of his output, however, Frankenweenie’s second chance at life doesn’t change the fact that it’s not one of Burton’s best creations.

Stubs - Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2022) Starring Dean Fleischer Camp, Lesley Stahl. Voices by Jenny Slate, Isabella Rossellini. Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp. Screenplay by Dean Fleischer Camp, Jenny Slate, Nick Paley. Based on Characters created by Dean Fleischer Camp, Jenny Slate. Produced by Elisabeth Holm, Andrew Goldman, Caroline Kaplan, Paul Mezey, Dean Fleischer Camp, Jenny Slate, Terry Leonard Run time: 90 minutes. USA. Color. Stop-Motion, Animated, Comedy, Drama.

One of the surprises when the 2023 Academy Awards nominations for Best Animated Feature Film were announced may have been Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. Compared to some of the other nominated films, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Turning Red and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Marcel was not as well-known.

The film, which took seven years to make, thanks in part to the stop-motion animation, is based on a trilogy of stop-motion animated mockumentary short films directed by Dean Fleischer Camp, who co-wrote the script with Jenny Slate, that were initially released in 2010. Originally shown at the Telluride Film Festival in 2021, the film rights were purchased by A24 films and released in the U.S. on June 24, 2022. A darling of the festival circuit, the film made $6.3 million during its theatrical release.

Dean (Dean Fleischer Camp), a documentarian, and his subject Marcel (voiced by Jenny Slate).