The World of Stainboy (2000) User Reviews

Very different!!!!!!!

[TOMNEL · 8/10 · 19 February 2006]

stars: Glenn Shaddix as The Police Chief.

This is really weird. Its about superhero Stainboy that never really does anything to stop the villain but always prevails. He fights such enemies as Match Lady, Staring girl, Toxic Boy and others. Stainboy never talks, but instead everyone else does. In every episode he is pestered by the chief (Shaddix from Burton's Beetlejuice and Nightamre Before Christmas). They are directed and written by Tim Burton and even the music for these are done by Danny Elfman. 6 episodes were made, the last of which amused me the most.

Contains some animated violence/gore and some language.

My rating-B.

Dark Story Representing Dark Emotions

[sameasy0urs · 6/10 · 11 March 2004]

I felt when watching this film that we are getting a glimpse at what's going on in Tim Burton's head (much like we do with anything else he creates). The film is quite strange and with a run-time of less than 8 minutes, it's hard to really develop any kind of plot line. This, of course, is quite needed because we as the average viewer may not understand the concept of what a "stainboy" actually is. Once the film is over, we question everything we had seen before. We see Stainboy and he is told by a chief that he can go home because there is no trouble in their town. He goes home and turns on the TV. A commercial for stain remover comes on and he begins to get sad. You see, he is basically a stain himself. He lays down and remembers his life filled with rejection and sadness. He is abandoned by his parents and sent to live with a bunch of other freaks. At the center, the chief from the beginning shows up and mentions Stainboy by name. He faints and returns to his reality where the chief is telling him to get up. This time, the chief is in his home and we see on the TV the same scene from the beginning. This raises the question of how much we have just seen is actually true. Is he actually a stain, or does he just feel so rejected? Was he actually abandoned or does he just feel that way because he feels different? I think this is a very personal movie and most people will just think it's stupid. Look beyond the face value and try and find the meaning behind it. I think Tim Burton is expressing his true feelings and he does so in a very original and creative way.

A highly entertaining adaptation of Burton's characters

[jamiedarlow-37510 · 8/10 · 3 April 2020]

In this mini series animated by Flinch Studios and written and directed by Burton, we get to watch Tim's characters brought to life from the pages of his book 'The Melancholy Death Of Oyster Boy & Other Stories' Each episode focuses on one individual with Stainboy being assigned cases to bring in unusual children that are seemingly causing havoc in Burbank. There's 'Staring Girl', Toxic Boy', 'Bowling Ball Head', 'Robot Boy' and 'Matchstick Girl' with the final episode being a look at Stainboy's origins. I was reminded a lot of the animation work of David Firth, mostly known for the 'Salad Fingers' series which, if you haven't seen, needs to be seen to be believed! Stain Boy is similarly bizarre and creepy in places but with a more childlike innocence than good old Salad Fingers! It's a wonderfully off-kilter series and a good introductory presentation for the book which is well worth a read. Burton has since reflected that he'd like to adapt the characters into a stop-motion format but said the animation they used at the time was a fun different experiment

The Extremely Peculiar But Wonderous World Of Stainboy

[Mhjm6 · 10/10 · 21 October 2005]

Tim Burton is my favorite director and he has created a black comedy/stop-motion animation/short-film series about a superhero named Stainboy. Firstly, I read "The Melancholy Death Of Oyster Boy" which is where Stainboy originates from. This is not much different. Here's what it's about: Stainboy is a lonely superhero who works for the police, detecting out any strange and/or harmful activities that occur daily in Burbank. Some examples involve other characters {but not all} from Oyster Boy. They include Roy the Toxic Boy, Robot Boy, the Staring Girl, Match Girl and one character that wasn't in the book called Bowling Ball Head. Each cartoon is about 5 minutes long and each one has one of these characters that Stainboy has to confront, as directed by his boss, Sargeant Glen Dale who is voiced by Glenn Shadix.

Highly recommended. 10/10 stars.

Stains Represent Stainboy...Stainboy Represents Tim Burton

[Tyler_R_Weston · 10/10 · 3 August 2004]

Tim Burton has always impressed with his unique styles in filmmaking. I grew up loving his films, particularly The Nightmare Before Christmas. I had heard of Stainboy not too long ago, possibly a few months ago. At first I had no idea who Stainboy actually was. This may sound pretty silly, but I pictured Stainboy as a boy who kept wetting the bed or something like that. Well, now I know that he can wet his beds, but not with urine. Instead, with greasy stains. I also discovered that Stainboy is a superhero, whose only power is to stain. I found a link on imdb.com to watch a video clip of Stainboy, which was titled The Birth of Stainboy. I enjoyed watching this short clip very much. In fact, I watched it over and over again. I thought that The Birth of Stainboy was partial to a long-length movie. Then I discovered that Stainboy was an Internet cartoon series. So I found the link to atomfilms.com and I was stunned by the remaining five Stainboy cartoons I had missed. I was truly stunned by Stainboy's unique--and short--adventures. Then I heard that the characters from Stainboy were originally from Tim Burton's poetry book, The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories. I quickly became obsessed with Stainboy and quickly purchased The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories. I also took great interest to the other bizarre children that Stainboy encounters in the cartoon series and the bizarre children from Tim Burton's book. The book may possibly be a tad inappropriate for young children, but I am 14 and I know I love it. Tim Burton never ceases to amaze me and I cannot predict and wait for whatever else he has in store. Stainboy is unlike any other superhero, and that is one thing that makes him special. Every Tim Burton character is special. I love them all and I am glad that I introduced myself to Stainboy and Tim Burton's book. Believe it or not, I never knew that Tim Burton had written a book. If Tim Burton illustrated the pictures in his book, I must say he has powerful imagination. He's very artistic in anything he does. If there are future Stainboy episodes coming soon, I am eager to see them. Tim Burton is my hero for his inspiration to me. I recommend Stainboy very much. If you are thrilled by the short cartoon series, you will be even more thrilled by The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories.

Stainboy vs. Other Super Heroes = no match at all!

[independantyam · 9/10 · 7 July 2004]

It is difficult to describe what Stainboy is. What we can say is that Stainboy is another one of Burton's darkly mischievous and funny creations. Directly from his book The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy, Burton takes Stainboy's character from a sketch to a full-fledged character who tackles his counterparts in, well, rather unique ways.

The series is almost a parody of superheroes (what kind of a power is staining, anyways?), yet you as the viewer will indefinitely find yourself cheering him on towards success. Although the villains aren't as evil as they could be (and bizarre nonetheless), the creators have envisioned a world mirroring our own, where superheroes are simply strange creatures, and life is simply screwed up.

Pretty Weird...

[LeBatEnRouge · 3/10 · 19 November 2006]

I expected this to be a lot better. I love Tim Burton's work, so I was really excited to see these online short films. Well, they weren't at all what I had expected.

I don't really know what exactly it is I don't like. I guess they're just sort of dull. The sound bothers me, and most of the characters, although I loved Roy the Toxic Boy, and Stainboy.

The Match Girl episode probably bugged me the most, although it was pretty funny.

I also don't like the way some of the characters die. Like how Match Girl basically set the gas station on fire, or how the Girl Who Stares died, in general. Roy's death was amusing, surprisingly. Death by a car freshener. Very original ;-) That made me laugh so hard...

There are some things that aren't appropriate for kids. Just some language and gore. That's about all I have to say! 3/10

Stain Boy Rocks:)

[dthibo · 10/10 · 2 June 2006]

Stain Boy was created by Tim Burton,Stain Boy does not have any powers except for the fact that stains come out of his body. Stain Boy is an internet series. The episodes are,"The Birth of Stain Boy", "Toxic Boy", "Staring Girl", "Robot Boy", "Match Girl", and "Bowling Ball Head". All of the episodes (except for 1) name the villains that Stain Boy has to defeat. Sgt. Glen Dale is the guy who tells Stain Boy who to defeat and where they live or stay. In "The Birth of Stain Boy" you find out that less than a week after Stain Boy was born his dad wanted to get rid of him his mom did not want to but she gave up, the last thing she said to Stain Boy was "He's right you are a freak, but remember I'll always love you thats what mothers do." Well thats my comment on Stain Boy, Bye!:)

Only famous because it's Burton

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 7 July 2015]

This is a collection of half a dozen animated short films from 15 years ago. Most of these run around 5 minutes, some a bit more, some a bit less, so the whole thing goes on for about half an hour. The tone is basically what you would expect when Tim Burton ("Vincent") directs an animated superhero. The animation reminded me more of a poor man's version of Don Hertzfeldt. Lisa Marie and Glenn Shadix, who do most of the voice acting, have worked with Burton on several occasions before already. Unfortunately, these Stainboy cartoons are almost never funny. The general idea is always the same. Stainboy's boss instructs him about a new super-villain. Stainboy goes out to find him, meets him, looks lost, but somehow the enemy always manages to defeat himself. It's only entertaining for the first 1.5 or 2 of these short films. The matchstick girl word-plays were already pretty cringeworthy. The animation is black-and-white for the most part (with shades), but here and there they include also a strong bright color as an opposite to the bleakness, mostly red. All in all, a very forgettable project in my opinion. Not recommended.