'Frankenweenie' Trailer

Tim Burton's Frankenweenie is a great example of how tastes and trends change. When the young director made the first live-action black and white version of the story for Disney in the early '80s, the company fired him, saying the film was too scary for a family audience.

Now, almost thirty years later, strange and macabre stories are more powerful in popular culture than ever, thanks in part to the ground laid by the features Burton directed after Frankenweenie. And Disney enjoyed one of its greatest successes of recent years in Burton's Alice in Wonderland. So Frankenweenie became the Burton/Disney mulligan, as the director has now overseen a feature-length retelling of the comic remake/parody of Frankenstein, this time rendered in black and white stop motion animation. The first trailer is available now, and you can see it below.

There's a great resemblance to Corpse Bride in the animation, which isn't a surprise given the number of people who worked on both films. Trey Thomas, who was an animator on Corpse Bride (and films like Fantastic Mr. Fox, Coraline, and The Nightmare Before Christmas) served as animation director.

Thanks to Yahoo for the trailer. Here's the synopsis, in case the footage above didn't get the idea across. Frankenweenie opens on October 5.

After unexpectedly losing his beloved dog Sparky, young Victor 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 all learn that getting a new "leash on life" can be monstrous.