Dog days

It's not unusual for directors to turn an acclaimed short into a first feature. But to leave a gap of nearly 30 years between films - and switch from live action to animation?  That has to be quirky native Californian Tim Burton.

Long before Edward Scissorshands, Beetlejuice and Batman there was from 26-year-old Burton, the glorious 29-minute 1984 horror comedy Frankenweenie in which young Victor (Barret Oliver), a science nut, managed to re-animate his beloved dead pooch, Sparky.

Now Burton, at 54 an honorary Brit these days following his marriage to local heroine Helena Bonham Carter, has been beavering away at 3 Mill Studios in Bow, East London to produce a full-length Disney cartoon version of the same tale.

No stranger to animation with credits as director and/or producer on The Corpse Bride, The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach, Burton has brought Frankenweenie back to life with a voice cast including Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Landau, Martin Short, Christopher Lee and Charlie Tahan (as Victor).

Sounds like a sort of ruff justice.