BLU-RAY REVIEW

Frankenweenie 3D

Featured In Issue 174, February 2013

3D Picture5
Picture5+
Sound5
WSR Score5
Basic Information on new release titles is posted as soon as titles are announced. Once reviewed, additional data is added to the database.
(Studio/Distributor):
Walt Disney Home Entertainment
(Catalog Number):
106865
(MPAA Rating):
PG-13
(Rating Reason):
Thematic elements, scary images, and action.
(Retail Price):
$49.99
(Disc Type):
Single Side, Dual Layer (BD-50)
(Widescreen Edition):
Yes
(Full Screen Edition):
No
(Running Time In Minutes):
87
(Color Type):
Black & White
(Chaptered/Scene Access):
Yes
(Closed Captioned):
Yes
(Regional Coding):
A, B & C
(Theatrical Year):
2012
(Theatrical Release):
Yes
(Direct-To-Video Release):
No
(Disc Release Date):
01/08/13
(THX® Digitally Mastered):
No
(Director):
Tim Burton
(Screenplay/Written By):
(Story):
(Music):
(Director Of Photography):
(Production Designer):
(Visual Effects):
(Costume Designer):
(Editor):
(Supervising Sound Editors):
(Re-Recording Mixers):
(Executive Producers):
(Co-Producers):
(Producers):
(Academy Awards):
(Principal Photography):
(Theatrical Aspect Ratio):
(Measured Disc Aspect Ratio):
(Disc Soundtrack):
DTS HD Lossless 7.1
(Theatrical Sound):
(Theatrical Re-Issue Soundtrack):
(DTS Bit Rate):
(Dolby Digital Bit Rate):
(Additional Languages):
(French Language):
(Spanish Language):
(Chinese Language):
(Subtitles):
(Cantonese Language):
(Mandarin Language):
(Japanese Language):
(Italian Language):
(German Language):
(Portuguese Language):

From Disney and creative genius Tim Burton comes the hilarious and offbeat "Frankenweenie," a heartwarming tale about a boy and his dog. After unexpectedly losing his beloved dog Sparky, young Victor (Tahan) harnesses the power of science to bring his best friend back to life—with just a few minor adjustments. He tries to hide his home-sewn creation, but when Sparky gets out, Victor's fellow students, teachers, and the entire town learn that getting a new "leash on life" can be monstrous. Based on a screenplay by Lenny Ripps. Based on an original idea by Tim Burton. (Tricia Spears)

Special features include the Original Short: "Captain Sparky vs. The Flying Saucers" (HD 02:26), "Miniatures In Motion: Bringing Frankenweenie To Life" (HD 23:06), the "Frankenweenie Touring Exhibit" (HD 04:36), the "Original Live-Action Frankenweenie" Short (SD 30:03), Plain White T's "Pet Sematary" music video, sneak peeks, and upfront ads. The four-disc set includes a DVD, a Blu-ray Disc™, a Blu-ray 3D, and a digital copy.

The 1080p MVC 3D picture is an immensely engaging black-and-white presentation of puppets and sets that tells Tim Burton's imagined story of the dog Sparky brought back to life. The imagery is impressively realized in 3D in a positive parallax inward perspective. The natural immersiveness is wonderful. Of course, the gray scale is perfectly balanced and contrast is excellent, with deep blacks and revealing shadow delineation. Resolution is perfect, with the finest detail and nuanced texture resolved. As for dimensionally, 3D depth and perspective is exemplary and consistently natural in appearance. The picture is pristine throughout. This will not disappoint, and the creative imagery is absolutely engaging in the 3D dimension. (Gary Reber)

The DTS-HD Master Audio™ 7.1-channel soundtrack is wonderfully holosonic®, with an active orchestral music score that extends to every channel, for an incredibly immersive and enveloping soundfield experience. The wonderful orchestral score is seamlessly present throughout. The music is punctuated with deep organ sounds, with an impressive sonic timbre. The .1 LFE channel is perfectly balanced and applied, with deep energized bass extending to sub-25 Hz during the more intense dramatic segments. Atmospherics and sound effects are aggressively directionalized and occupy every channel. Foley is effectively realistic and enhances the theatrics. Dialogue is nicely delivered with excellent integration. The sound is dynamic and dimensional, with superb fidelity, and the addition of the two channels makes for an incredible, natural-sounding immersive soundfield experience. Particularly, the ending scenes are a tour de force in dynamics and surround magic and are reference quality throughout! Unfortunately, the added two channels are positioned to the far left and right back of the soundfield instead to the 90-degree side positions, due to the original theatrical mix in Dolby 7.1 Surround Sound, which does not adhere to the optimum home 7.1-channel format. This necessitates a rewiring of 7.1-channel sound systems optimized as to the recommendations preferred by Dolby® and DTS®, with the additional two channels positioned 90 degrees relative to the sweet spot listening position. Still, when the system is arranged for this presentation format, the spatial soundfield result is impressive, far more dimensional than just reproducing the soundtrack on a 5.1-channel system. (Gary Reber)