Audience-Alienating Premise: This was one reason this movie was a box office disappointment. A black and white stop-motion animated feature focused around death and reanimation is a hard sell for today's families, especially when it's topped off by a violent climax. Disney didn't help matters by refusing to move its release date to distance it from the more accessibleHotel Transylvania and the equally-dark-and-quirky-but-released-first ParaNorman; when the former became a Sleeper Hit that exceeded industry expectations and had strong weekly holds, and the latter got the earliest wave of critical buzz, that pretty much burned off demand for another Halloween film for 2012.
Ass Pull: It's one thing to use the power of lightning to resurrect a dead dog and a dead hamster, or even bring back the soul of a dead fish while vaporizing its body. But turning sea monkeys into mischievous gremlins, a live cat holding a dead bat into a winged vampire cat, a dead rat into a much bigger wererat, and especially an average turtle into a freaking Gamera monster?
Broken Base: On whether or not the animated remake was really necessary. Some appreciate it for its offbeat sensibilities and for expanding the story, while others see it as harmless enough, but pointless.
Creepy Cute: Some think this of Weird Girl, with her big eyes and soft voice. Even with his gruesome looks, her cat Mr. Whiskers can be this for cat lovers.
Ethnic Scrappy: Toshiaki is disliked for being a bit of a racist stereotype (he’s really smart and can’t pronounce the letter L properly). Nassor is also Egyptian, but he’s basically a Boris Karloff parody.
I Am Not Shazam: The dog's name is "Sparky" and the owner's name is "Victor Frankenstein." Sparky is a bull terrier. There are no wiener dogs in the movie.
Narm: Due to an unfortunate puppet design, the Frankensteins all appear to be perpetually smiling, even during the dramatic scenes.
Squick: Weird Girl apparently looks for omens in her cat's litter box.
Sparky. He’s not that unpleasant-looking, but the poor dog is literally roadkill.
Some consider Edgar to be this, mainly due to being a Perpetual Smiler.
What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: An Animated Adaptation of a short film that Tim Burton made back in 1984, has some very horrifying, violent, and disturbing scenes. Yes, that is expected in a Tim Burton movie, but none of his other animated films are anywhere near as violent as this one. And it got a PG rating from the MPAA, and is being marketed toward kids at Subway through mainly making it about a boy and his undead dog.
Win Back the Crowd: After a string of controversial choices from Corpse Bride to Dark Shadows, people found this to be a return to form for Tim Burton, with specific praise going to not using Johnny Depp in this and going back to the simple, charming story of outcasts that made his earlier films cherished. It even earned him his first Oscar nomination since Corpse Bride.
The Woobie: Admit it, you felt bad for Victor and/or Sparky at least once.
