Guillermo del Toro would love “Stitch Head.” This animated, family-friendly take on the classic “Frankenstein” tale has a soft spot for its monsters, most of whom are soft and squishy themselves.
Steve Hudson writes and directs, based on the graphic novel of the same name by Guy Bass. When he focuses on the delicacy of the detail—the sweetness of the oddballs within this heightened Gothic world—“Stitch Head” can be both hilarious and heartwarming. Some of the themes feel familiar (the monsters may look fearsome, but they’re the ones who are afraid), but Hudson presents them in a way that’s entertaining for all ages.
The first act is the strongest, but as the story progresses, it turns into a formulaic exploration of the perils of fame. As it grows louder and more brash, it becomes less interesting. Still, the character design is delightful, as are many of the voice performances.
Asa Butterfield (“Hugo”) stars in the titular role. He’s the first creation of a mad scientist (Rob Brydon) who designs bizarre hybrids in his castle laboratory, high on a hill above the town of Grubbers Nubbin. (The castle looks like a monster itself, with about 1,000 turrets, some of which have faces made of windows and stone staircases.)
Every time the professor pops out some new being that’s both hideous and adorable–a shark that walks upright and has muscular, human arms, or a frog with a giant, coiled spring instead of legs–Stitch Head, as he’s known, is there to welcome them and walk them through what the rest of their life will look like. Although at Castle Grotteskew, it’s known as Almost Life, as an amusingly rudimentary black-and-white movie reel explains.
Stitch Head is even-tempered and good-natured–a reliable right-hand man whose resourcefulness is underappreciated. He toils, unloved, running through the same routine day after day. With his sweet moon face and his soulful eyes (one brown, one blue), he’s a natural leader for the misfit toys who are stuck in the castle, forgotten, for all of eternity. “Stay hidden, stay quiet, stay safe,” he advises these monsters with the nightly bedtime story he reads them, and he’s taken those words to heart himself. Hudson suggests Stitch Head’s loneliness and isolation with melancholy blue lighting within the castle’s cavernous spaces, and Butterfield’s gentle delivery makes him a hugely sympathetic figure.
Upon the birth of a creature named Creature (Joel Fry), Stitch Head makes his first real friend. He’s a furry, one-eyed, big-hearted lug with a skinny, human arm sticking out of his chest (with a watch on the wrist, which is always useful). The two have a lively chemistry with each other, and that bond will be the basis for the film’s prevailing sentiment: Don’t be afraid to be yourself and let your freak flag fly. Again, not original, but valuable for kids to hear.
Speaking of freaks, everything changes when a janky traveling circus comes to town, led by the obviously villainous Fulbert Freakfinder (Seth Usdenov). He lures Stitch Head away with promises of celebrity and adoration; the attention-starved Stitch Head doesn’t realize that being put on display for money is just a different kind of exploitation.
“People love me!” he proclaims to Arabella (a charming Tia Bannon), the fearless and inquisitive local girl who’s actually interested in him as a “person,” and not as a spectacle. “Stitch Head” becomes a different movie at this point and a less compelling one, as it focuses on the gawking crowds and the shlocky merch Freakfinder sells them. The songs that accompany the circus acts are upbeat but not terribly memorable.
And the film becomes something different again—although it does feel relevant to our times—as the townspeople who once worshipped Stitch Head eventually turn into an angry mob, attacking the castle with literal torches and pitchforks.
“Just be whoever you’d be if you weren’t afraid,” Stitch Head tells the frightened monsters, who’ve been sheltered from the outside world all their lives. It’s a nice idea, and a pleasant-enough diversion for the whole family this Halloween.
