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For the last 25 years, Tim Burton has been Hollywood's resident dark lord, their Goth "enfant terrible". His animated fixation on the horrifically beautiful and the comically sad have threatened to become an adjective, “Burtonian” ("Burtonesque"?), suggesting a unique vision of dark fantasy with comic and romantic undertones that is indefinable except by itself.
Tiny Tim grew up in Burbank, a suburban environment he later satirized in EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, and went to college at CalArts determined to become an animator. And so he did, working for Disney in the early 80s, while he did his own little film shorts. In fact, it was his short FRANKENWEENIE (1984) that got him fired by Disney. They didn't really get his style anyway, and so used as an excuse the fact that he may have used their resources to make a movie (one that was inappropriate for their own use) while working at the studio, and so fired him. But somebody had seen and liked FRANKENWEENIE... Pee Wee Herman. Pee Wee was big at the time, a cult item of some repute, and when he chose Burton to direct his first feature film, PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE, Burton’s career was off and running.
* Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985) [Director] - a surreal odyssey of a bizarro man/boy in search of his bike. With every framed lovingly filled with the detritus of childhood, even to the point of fetishism, the film has a wacky charm and unique style that announced the arrival of a new talent... but no one was quite sure whether that talent was Pee-Wee or Burton. It also marked the beginning of an important collaboration between Burton and composer Danny Elfman (from Oingo Boingo), who scored almost all his films and gave Burton's original vision a singular sound as well. This surprise hit for Warners made Burton the man they wanted for BATMAN. While working on that script, he went to work on his next film...
* Beetlejuice (1988) [Director] - Burton's vision of marriage and the afterlife is dark, disturbing and hilarious. Michael Keaton’s antic smarmy charm has rarely been used to better effect and Winona Ryder has never been, well, less annoying. Another hit, and it is here Burton begins his unique brand of "dark comic horror fantasy" [which I’ll refer to as DCHF], a sub-genre he came to define as Hitchcock did suspense films.
* Batman (1989) [Director] - Burton overlaid his DCHF touch on Warners’ iconic dark knight and the superhero movie was relaunched as a genre. His gritty Frank Miller-style take on the character, together with the puzzling and unpopular choice of Keaton as Bruce Wayne, made Warners very nervous, but they were buoyed by the casting of Nicholson as the Joker, and ultimately by $400+M in box office receipts. It turned out that Keaton’s slightly psychotic Bruce Wayne made him an apt doppelganger for the insane Joker, and so Burton was right, allowing him to offer us a "duel of freaks" against an expressionistic art-deco cityscape seemingly out of 1920s Germany. While the storytelling is sometimes slack (some might say turgid; I know I would) the movie's cumulative power is significant. The songs by Prince heighten the freak factor, but seem otherwise anachronistic in what feels like a period piece.
* Edward Scissorhands (1990) [Director/Producer/Writer] - After 3 huge hits in a row, Warners passed on Burtons next project, a highly personal story he started to develop as a teenager in Burbank. It is a story about feeling a misfit, an outsider, misunderstood even in the most mundane environs. This was Burton’s first effort as a triple threat (director, writer and producer), and his first collaboration with Johnny Depp, who would become, in many ways, his screen surrogate. The DCHF story is a satirical fantasy that is sad, comic, poignant and romantic, rather than dark per se. He also offers us the final performance of his own screen hero, Vincent Price, as Edward’s creator, much as Vincent may have been a spiritual father to Burton as an artist. It's a truly charming and lovely film, with a heartbreakingly beautiful ending. It is perhaps the best movie of Burton’s career.
* Batman Returns (1992) [Director/Producer] - Burton went back to Warners with the power to call his own shots on this first sequel and, though it was another hit, its confusing amalgam of villains, loss of focus on the hero, and increasingly dark tone put off the studio, critics and audiences. While it does have some virtues (notably Michelle Pfeiffer’s deranged take on Catwoman, and Danny DeVito’s sad grotesquerie of a Penguin, as well as Burton’s unique art direction), it was even more bloated and ponderous than its predecessor. He would not be offered the opportunity to direct any more Batman films after that (when Burton wasn't signed for BATMAN FOREVER, Keaton dropped out as well).
* Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) [Producer/Writer] - This was to be his first stop-motion animated feature, but he had to drop out as director due to BATMAN RETURNS. So he just wrote and produced it, bringing in his old CalArts pal, Henry Selick (who would later direct JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH for Burton as well, before going on to do CORALINE). This is a Burton DHCF with songs, and it has its charms. Too dark and scary for kids, Disney released it through its "Touchstone" label, and it didn't do particularly well, despite good reviews. While I admire it, the film has always left me cold.
* Ed Wood (1994) [Director/Producer] - Even though it's the only film in his career that is not a fantasy (no DHCF here), it's still a typically Burtonesque ("Burtonian"?) consideration of outsiders and freaks in black & white, garnering a nomination for the Palm D’or at Cannes. More realistic in his approach, Burton opts not to use a Danny Elfman score this time. The film's depiction of the final days of Bela Lugosi won Martin Landau an Oscar, and its knowing look at how Hollywood works, and its affection for artists (even untalented ones) who go up against that machine and manage to make ANYTHING, is both funny and compassionate. Depp once again holds the screen and gives the film a humanity at its core. Wood's relationship with Legosi is quite moving, and the scene between Wood and Orson Welles, commiserating over studio interference with their films as if they were colleagues of equal standing, says it all. For aren’t we all (even the talentless) entitled to make our dreams come true? This is my personal favorite among all of Burton's films.
ED WOOD was a flop of sorts and ends the initial decade of his greatest success and creativity. The next period is marked primarily by bad movies or flawed ones gone awry. During this time, he co-produced CABIN BOY (which may be one of the worst films ever made), BATMAN FOREVER (which he had little to do with), and JAMES & THE GIANT PEACH (as producer only, this is Selick’s film, and not a great one). And the films he did direct were not much better.
* Mars Attacks! (1996) [Director/Producer] - Burton tries to take on INDEPENDENCE DAY with this SF parody. It's bloated, stupid and pointless. If you spoof 50s SF films, you have to know what made them good, or at least show some affection for them, but he clearly doesn't. Anyway, what can you expect when you make a movie based on trading cards?
* Sleepy Hollow (1999) [Director] - While a commercially successful film, with mixed to positive reviews overall and an Oscar for its art direction, this third collaboration with Johnny Depp is where the wheels start to come off for Burton as both of them give into their most self-indulgent impulses. Depp plays Ichabod Crane as some bizarrely effete and lily-livered Sherlock Holmes, and Chris Walken’s headless horseman is excessively over the top by even Walken’s usual standards. The only one to survive is Miranda Richardson, as the evil witch driving the action (it’s the kind of role he would later give to the mother of his children, Helena Bonham Carter). The film is essentially a high-gloss homage to the low-rent Roger Corman and Hammer horror films of Burton’s youth, but he shows no interest in the narrative beyond its art direction. It’s basically a pretentious slasher film, with no one holding the reins.
* Planet of the Apes (2001) [Director] – This is what happens when a studio sets a release date before the script is finished. While moderately successful at the box office, it got terrible reviews (and deservedly so). Not a remake or a sequel, Burton was brought on (after years of development by other directors and writers) to do a “reimagining” of the original. But even with Rick Baker doing make-up, and Burton’s typically imaginative eye for art direction and production design, Mark Wahlberg crashes and burns in the midst of this ludicrous story. Needless to say, there were no sequels. But this does mark the first collaboration Burton has with his lady love, Helena Bonham Carter, who would go on to appear in every one of his subsequent features.
* Big Fish (2003) [Director] - Burton attempts to return to gothic fantasy (albeit “Southern” gothic), with a gentle tale of a sick old man (Albert Finney) telling tall tales about his life, tended to by his son (Billy Crudup) trying to see through the lies and connect to his dying father. The critics liked it, but it did not have much commercial success. It’s a series of fantasy vignettes (a southern-fried picaresque, if you will) that simply doesn’t add up to much. It feels more like outtakes from a Terry Gilliam film, or a corn pone PRINCESS BRIDE, than it does a Burton film. And the father/son dynamic at its heart is just uninvolving.
* Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) [Director] - Hugely successful, and with positive reviews overall, Burton goes back to the original text to create a story about another outsider/freak creating his own imaginary world within which he is king (i.e., "The Tim Burton Story"). Loaded with typical Burtonian (Burtonesque?) style and imagery, there are still 2 major missteps in my view. First, story-wise, he has added a significant subplot about Wonka’s father, in order to explain Wonka. But you should NOT EXPLAIN Wonka any more than you should explain a unicorn. He is creature of the imagination, not the tormented child of a dentist. To encumber the narrative with clichéd pop Freudian explanations derails it. Secondly, Johnny Depp’s performance is weird for weirdness’s sake. A cross between Michael Jackson and Howard Hughes, his bizarre characterization lives in the shadow of Gene Wilder’s indelible version, which is better in every way. And the original had better songs. So, this one didn’t work at all for me, despite its success.
Burton entered phase III of his career after CHARLIE (though some would include CHARLIE too), with a return to a more consistent vision and quality. During this period, he also co-produced"9" (like many of Burton's films, it was long on design, short on story and character, but its a fascinating film nonetheless) and ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER (which was terrible, but I enjoyed the hell out of it).
* Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (2005) [Director/Producer] - Burton finally gets to direct the stop-action animated feature he hoped to make. With his avatars Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp in the leads, his macabre musical is tender and romantic. It’s a poignant film, and one of the best of his oeuvre, as well as one of the best animated films of recent years.
* Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) [Director] - Burton’s return to form continues with a well-executed adaptation of the Sondheim musical. By choosing to again use Depp and Carter in the leads, non-musical actors starring in a famous musical could have sunk it. But they both sing surprisingly well, and the intimacy of film doesn’t require the big operatic voices that performed the roles on stage. And cutting a 3 hour musical to 2 hours is a tough task but, by and large, his choices were solid. However, the main focus of the film seems to be the color and quantity of the blood, which drenches every frame. Still, that is appropriate for a horror melodrama turned into a Grand Guignol.
* Alice in Wonderland (2010) [Director] – The biggest hit of Burton’s career, his reimagining of the tales of wonderland has its own unique beauty. Though some critics complain of a 3rd Act that is kind of standard action-movie fare, on the whole, Burton’s fusion of the 2 Alice books with the Jabberwocky poem, and other notions, creates a more engaging narrative than ALICE has ever had before. Originally a series of imaginative but pointless encounters, now it’s woven into a complete story all its own, albeit one that wonders and meanders all over the place, but with Depp and Carter offering hilarious support. Burton’s use of CGI complements it all quite well. While not my favorite, it’s certainly worth consideration.
* Dark Shadows (2012) [Director] - Oops. Depp in full camp mode, this horror comedy remake of the 60s gothic soap opera has some funny moments, but it is better forgotten. Quickly.
* Frankenweenie (2012) [Director/Producer/Writer] – His latest stop-action animated feature is a remake of the original short that started his career. Like CORPSE BRIDE, it ably combines a macabre preoccupation with death with a gentle sort of romanticism, while also depicting the pains of childhood. It’s Burtonesque (Burtonian?) to its core, a DHCF paying homage to the Universal horror films of yore. I prefer CORPSE BRIDE, but there’s no shame in that.
So it seems that, at age 55, Burton’s consistent level of success has not been terribly undermined by the inconsistent level of storytelling he's demonstrated over the course of his career. But one has reason to hope that he may have inadvertently developed a higher level of interest in the narrative form over the years, and that he may yet choose to mine more than just his childhood fixations for new stories to tell.
In ranking order:
ED WOOD
EDWARD SCISSORHANDS
BEETLEJUICE
BATMAN
CORPSE BRIDE
PEE-WEE
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SWEENEY TODD
ALICE IN WONDERLAND
FRANKENWEENIE
NIGHTMARE BEFORE XMAS
BATMAN RETURNS
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CHARLIE & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
SLEEPY HOLLOW
BIG FISH
MARS ATTACKS!
DARK SHADOWS
PLANET OF THE APES
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