Frankenweenie

Young Victor Frankenstein (Charlie Tahan) is living in a stop-motion universe somewhere between the worlds of The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride, a monochrome suburbia populated by spindle-legged figures with large eyes. Although his school seems to be made up of kindred spirits of the morbid variety, Victor prefers to devote his time exclusively to his dog Sparky, but that friendship is sorely tested when Sparky is flattened by a car while chasing a ball. Fortunately, on the curriculum the next day the science teacher (Martin Landau) shows the class how to make a dead frog’s legs kick with the help of electricity. Victor scuttles off to the pet cemetery, disinters the pieces of Sparky and returns to his attic space and stitches ol’ Sparky back together. A slash of light and a crash of thunder later and it’s alive! Alive! Admittedly, Tim Burton’s latest is sort of fun visually, but with about 75 percent homage, 25 percent story and weak jokes that don’t really have punch lines, it makes for a vaguely unsatisfying bit of déjà vu all over again. Cinemark 14 and Feather River Cinemas. Rated PG.