Before he branched out into live-action filmmaking, Burton was first and foremost an artist and animator, and the macabre style of his early work – the animated short Vincent, for example – informed the look of his 80s and early 90s Hollywood hits, particularly Beetlejuice, Batman and Edward Scissorhands. With these breakout movies, Burton established a style that could be described as Edward Gorey’s grotesque faux-Victorian storybooks brought into Reagan-era suburbia. Gradually, though, Burton drifted from the immediately recognisable style of those early films, and into the more generic (though hugely successful) arena of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and Alice In Wonderland.  The good news, first of all, is that Frankenweenie looks gorgeous. Burton’s distinctive character designs are evident in every frame, and there’s a pleasing earthiness to the stop motion production that’s actually brought out by its stereoscopic presentation – yes, this really is a film that benefits from the introduction of 3D. Frankenweenie’s use of the process doesn’t necessarily highlight scale or depth – as, say, Transformers: Dark Of The Moon or Avatar did – but texture.  Stripped back as they are to light and shade, the best black-and-white movies have always possessed a sumptuous, tactile sense of texture in any case (just look at the gritty patina of the post-war landscape of The Third Man), but the combination of expertly lensed 3D and monochrome in Frankenweenie allows the eye to feast on every blade of grass and rusted pipe. It’s a movie made with love and utmost care, but at the same time, it’s mildly thrilling (at least to this writer) to note the occasional ruffle of fabric on a character’s shirt, or the rare shimmer in the soil at a character’s feet – telltale reminders that what you’re watching has indeed been fashioned from the hands of human beings, one frame at a time.  In this regard, Frankenweenie’s Mary Shelley/James Whale-inspired story is perfect for the medium. Just as the young Victor (Charlie Tahan), grieving after a road accident kills his dog Sparky in a baseball-related incident, brings his pet back to life in a thunder storm, so Burton and his army of artists bring the characters of Frankenweenie to life, frame by frame. After establishing its suburban Frankenstein theme, Burton takes us on strange tangents. Some of them could be described as padding to draw Frankenweenie out to a feature length, but they’re still unexpected, funny and delightful. Although all the characters in the movie are captivating in their own way, particularly Edgar (Atticus Shaffer), an Igor-like classmate, and Elsa van Helsing (Winona Ryder), Victor’s quiet next-door neighbour, the star of the film is Frankenweenie himself. Full of energy and expressive movement, he’s a truly engaging creation. A true return to form for Burton, Frankenweenie deserves to do well – I only hope that its black-and-white presentation doesn’t deter family audiences from seeing it. Ironically, it’s the most colourful movie Burton’s made in years. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.