TODAY EXCLUSIVE — I am sitting smack in the middle of The Art Of Frankenweenie exhibit at Disney California Adventure Park, staring at the great Tim Burton. He’s staring right back. A few more seconds of utter silence pass and I start to debate in my head whether this is just plain awkward or if we’re sharing a moment.

To quote Pulp Fiction’s Mia Wallace, “That’s when you know you’ve found somebody special, when you can just shut the f*** up for a minute and comfortably enjoy the silence.” After all, the 54-year-old director is one of this long-standing Burton fan’s all-time favourite directors. And he’s most certainly “somebody special” in Hollywood’s A-list directorial club, whether you’re a fan of his polarising kooky style or not.

“I’m really bad at games!” he finally blurts. “That’s why people who know me never ask me to play games at parties!” He smiles sheepishly at me and starts to laugh. And I forgive him — for not being able to give me a quick-fire answer when we try and play word-association with his oeuvre of films. And for making Sleepy Hollow, Sweeney Todd and Planet Of The Apes.

Because this is the inimitable visionary who’s also given us Beetlejuice (1988), Batman (1989), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Batman Returns (1992), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Ed Wood (1994), Mars Attacks! (1996) and Big Fish (2003), forever leaving his unique stamp on film history. How can you stay mad at a resume like that?

And now he returns with Frankenweenie, a lovingly detailed black-and-white, 3D stop-motion animated pet project (pun fully intended) about a boy named Victor Frankenstein who successfully revives his dead dog Sparky. It is Burton-esque magic in full glory. And, seeing how it’s a remake of his 30-minute, live-action short film shot back in 1984, which was unceremoniously pulled from release by Disney after children cried in test screenings, it says a lot about Burton’s cache that the very same studio is now backing the 2012 version with full support.

And about how that same indelible skill for the pop-macabre, that made Burton too dark for Disney in the ’80s, and catapulted him to superstardom in the ’90s, is now a mainstream given.

Perhaps it’s just that the world has finally caught up with Burton and his universe of born outcasts and oddities who just want to find their place amongst us. And that’s exactly why Tim Burton will always be “somebody special”.

Why remake Frankenweenie as stop-motion animation and why now?

Tim Burton: I kind of went back and looked at my original drawings from it. It was something about that … and even if I loved doing it live-action, there was something about it you just couldn’t really get. And I love stop-motion animation! And the idea of doing it more like the original drawings. Stop-motion, black and white, 3D, and going back to other memories of that time, like the kind of kids I went to school with, teachers — it made it feel like a whole new project. Like even at the heart of it, it felt like a whole different thing.

I visited the Museum Of Modern Art’s Tim Burton retrospective and fell in love with the sketches you did as a child. Do you still draw inspiration from that little Tim inside of you?

Oh, yeah. I always think it’s important. It’s not that you remain a child, it’s just that there are times in your life that are very formative, you know? It’s like the kind of movies you grew up with, your environment, if you like to draw — all those things are important to you and it kind of shapes your life. So it’s good to think about it, because it’s a time in your life when it’s a bit more pure. And you’re seeing things in a new way. It’s always important to kind of try to remain seeing things in a different way.

Frankenweenie is most certainly a boy-and-his-dog story seen in a slightly different way. But I have to say, I still choked up! (Laughs) Did you go, “let’s make them cry a little” because it was for Disney?

No, no, no. The story was what it was. It’s got a happy ending, but that was always there. The whole point was at its root. With all the monster movies, Frankenstein and stuff, at the root of it, it was always that simple emotional connection you have with certain pets that you love.

And the human story behind it.

Yeah, it’s a very simple emotion that way.

You’ve made so many great movies, and I know it’s like asking you to pick a favourite kid, but you’ve got to have a favourite, right?

Yes, you said it, it’ll be like choosing one child over another. But I think things like maybe Scissorhands or Nightmare, or this (Frankenweenie), or Ed Wood … Every one is personal but maybe some are slightly more personal than others, you know?

So what is the scoop on Beetlejuice 2?

(Laughs) Okay, it’s being written. And I told the writer, just surprise me because I just wanted to see what reactions … I mean, I love the character ... Hopefully, I’ll be pleasantly surprised. I don’t know when it’s coming, but something is being written, so that’s something.

What do you hope kids going to watch Frankenweenie will take from it?

I just hope they see the artistry in it. Because like I said, this medium is such a beautiful one. I hope they get it … There are a lot of good themes in it like love, and devotion to something, and thinking about something, and doing it in new ways, and creating, and science and stuff. There are many positive messages in there that hopefully they’ll take away from it.

Frankenweenie opens in cinemas tomorrow.