Movie Review: Dumbo

Dumbo ** ½ / *****

Directed by: Tim Burton.

Written by: Ehren Kruger based on the novel by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl.

Starring: Colin Farrell (Holt Farrier), Michael Keaton (V. A. Vandevere), Danny DeVito (Max Medici), Eva Green (Colette Marchant), Nico Parker (Milly Farrier), Finley Hobbins (Joe Farrier), Alan Arkin (J. Griffin Remington), Joseph Gatt (Neils Skellig), Deobia Oparei (Rongo), Sandy Martin (Verna The Secretary), Sharon Rooney (Miss Atlantis), Lars Eidinger (Hans Brugelbecker), Roshan Seth (Pramesh Singh), Michael Buffer (Baritone Bates), Sarah Bennani (Lindsay), Douglas Reith (Sotheby).

 

The most interesting thing about Tim Burton’s Dumbo is that the director has seemingly made a Disney film about how evil Disney is. That’s a choice to be sure, and just about the only thing in Dumbo that is really of interest. This film is almost exactly twice as long as the 1941 animated original from Disney, and makes the strange choice to essentially shunt the animal characters to the background in favor of an expanded human story that never really clicks. There is, as is always the case with Burton, some great Production Design and Costume Design, but little else that really brings the film to life. You can still tell its Burton there directing this – but like most of what he’s done in recent years, it feels hollow compared to his best work.

 

The story is set just after WWI, when Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell, doing an interesting accent) returns from the war, minus an arm, and returns to the circus where he is a stunt horse rider. His two kids – Milly and Joe (Nico Parker, quite good, although given not much to do and Finley Hobbins, who I have already forgotten) are there to greet to him, but his wife died while he was away. The ringleader, Max Medici (Danny DeVito – the best performance in the film) sold off his horses while he was away to try and stay solvent, so now Holt is put in charge of the elephants – including Mrs. Jumbo, who is very, very pregnant. Soon little Dumbo will come out, with his huge ears, that get him mocked and laughed at by everyone. That is, until Milly and Joe figure out that Dumbo can fly using those ears. The tragedy of the film is when Dumbo and his mother are separated (we all remember the hug through the bars in the original – redone here, with nowhere near the impact) – and his desire to be with her again. But before we get there, we have to go to Coney Island – where conman V.A. Vandevere (Michael Keaton) shows up – to buy Medici’s circus, to get his hands on that famous flying elephant and bring him to Dreamland – which is essentially Disneyland – to be his latest attraction. This excursion to Dreamland at least allows the Production Designer to have a field day, and gives us Eva Green – who once again is one of the best things about a not very good Tim Burton movie (I want Burton to make a great film again for a few reasons – one of them is to give Green a role her talent actually deserves).

 

The special effects in Dumbo are pretty good – without ever quite being great. Dumbo, the character, looks best when he is doing the least. They have clearly styled him to look like many a Burton outcast before him (I was shocked to discover the performance of Dumbo was not done by Johnny Depp doing motion capture) – and he is adorable, and you immediately like him. Yet, I’m not sure they ever quite nail the flying elephant thing – he doesn’t quite soar the way he should, and the flying scenes are more awkward than anything else.

 

Also, while I get why Burton and company decided to tell a human story here – and not have the animals speak – it kind of overcomplicates the story in a way that it doesn’t need to be overcomplicated. Afterall, at its heart, Dumbo is the story of a kid who misses his mom – and if done right, that story will work every time. Here, there are so many characters you don’t care about – some many talented actor, doing not such great work – the biggest disappointment being Keaton, reuniting with Burton for the first time in decades, and just kind of phoning it in – that the simple story that has continued to make children and their parents cry for nearly 80 years now gets lost somewhere in the mix.

Movie Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Directed by: Tim Burton.

Written by: Jane Goldman based on the novel by Ransom Riggs.

Starring: Eva Green (Miss Alma LeFay Perigrine), Asa Butterfield (Jake), Samuel L. Jackson (Barron), Judi Dench (Miss Avocet), Rupert Everett (Ornithologist), Allison Janney (Dr. Golan), Chris O'Dowd (Franklin Portman), Terence Stamp (Abraham 'Abe' Portman), Ella Purnell (Emma Bloom), Finlay MacMillan (Enoch O'Conner), Lauren McCrostie (Olive Abroholos Elephanta), Hayden Keeler-Stone (Horace Somnusson), Georgia Pemberton (Fiona Fruanfeld), Milo Parker (Hugh Apiston), Raffiella Chapman (Claire Densmore), Pixie Davies (Bronwyn Bruntley).

 

Tim Burton has been flailing artistically for a while now – really only the delightful animated film Frankenweenie has been really good of his last five films (also including Alice in Wonderland, Dark Shadows and Big Eyes). He still has a soft spot for society’s outcasts, the gothier and paler the better – and he does seem to find properties that, on paper anyway, should be a natural fit for his sensibilities. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is a perfect example of a film that really should be in Burton’s wheelhouse – and yet, the resulting film is just kind of flat. Some of the problem lays in the source material – Ransom Riggs’ novel is the first in a trilogy, and spends so much time setting everything up, that the story takes a backseat to exposition, which drags the movie down a little bit. Still though, the plot of Dark Shadows was paper thin, and Burton turned that movie at least into a visual delight, with some good comedic moments. This film just kind of sits on the screen waiting to end.

 

The story is overcomplicated, but I’ll try to condense it. Florida teenager Jake (Asa Butterfield) is reeling from the death of his beloved, eccentric grandfather (Terrence Stamp), who used to regale Jake with stories of his childhood during WWII, at an orphanage in Wales, populated by children with peculiar powers. With the help of his therapist (Allison Janney) – Jake convinces his father (Chris O’Dowd) to take him to Wales to see the orphanage so he can get “closure”. What he discovers instead is that the orphanage is nothing but a bombed out wreck – the victim of Nazi bomb in 1943, that killed everyone in it. Soon though, Jake discovers there is more when he enters a “time loop” – something only the “peculiar” can do. Sure enough, the orphanage was destroyed in 1943, but Miss Peregrine (Eva Green), who runs the orphanage, has the power to reset time every 24 hours, rewinding it over and over again so that she can and her children never get destroyed by that bomb. No one else in this time loop knows this is happening – just the peculiars. Jake meets not only Miss Peregrine – who aside from resetting time can transfer herself into a bird – but also her charges – the beautiful, blonde proto-Burton woman Emma (Ella Purnell), so light she will float away if not where lead boots, Olive (Lauren McCrostie), who can set things on fire with her hands, Enoch (Finlay MacMillan), who can bring things to life – and on and on. The orphanage is basically Xavier’s School for the Gifted, if it was in 1943 Wales, and the children never grew up. The movie spends so much time setting all this up, that the introduction of a bad guy – Barron (Samuel L. Jackson) seems rushed, and his plan fairly ill thought out. Jackson is able to cackle menacingly, of course, and seem like a real badass, so he does that well at least.

 

There are moments of the film I liked – I do like the cinematography by Bruno Delbonnel, who does wonders with dark, foggy establishing shots throughout the film. There is a wonderful action sequence, where skeletons fight long limbed, eyeless monsters covered in candy (don’t ask) that is pure Burton magic. Eva Green is a campy delight as Miss Peregrine. This is her second time in a Burton film (following Dark Shadows) – and if there is hope for Burton in the future, it rests on Green taking over for Johnny Depp as his go to weirdo.

 

But more in the film doesn’t work than does. I liked Ella Purnell just fine as Emma – although I have to say I find it a little creepy (and not in the way Burton intended) how she is made up to look like a lot of other Burton, wide eyed naifs in his filmography (like Burton is Scottie in Vertigo). I also feel like as a filmmaking, Burton has been hurt by his recent over-reliance on CGI effects. His best movies from the 1990s – even ones that used computer effects – still had a retro, hand-made feel to them – as his films have grown in budget, and become slicker, they’ve lost that charm-  and Burton, once a distinctive visual stylist has become more homogenized.

 

It’s certainly become fashionable to hate on Tim Burton over the past few years – and he has made it easy to do so with the likes of Alice in Wonderland, Big Eyes and Dark Shadows, and now this one. I will admit to liking those more than most (although, not that much) – and to being a fan of both Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Sweeney Todd. So perhaps there is hope for Burton after all. I’d be delighted with another animated film as good as Frankenweenie. The fact that his next two films though are a remake of Dumbo and a long time coming sequel to Beetlejuice doesn’t fill me with hope though.

Movie Review: Big Eyes

Big Eyes
Directed by: Tim Burton.
Written by: Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski.
Starring: Amy Adams (Margaret Keane), Christoph Waltz (Walter Keane), Krysten Ritter (DeeAnn), Jason Schwartzman (Ruben), Danny Huston (Dick Nolan), Terence Stamp (John Canaday), Jon Polito (Enrico Banducci), Elisabetta Fantone (Marta), James Saito (Judge), Delaney Raye (Young Jane), Madeleine Arthur (Older Jane).

Tim Burton’s best film, to me anyway, has always been 1994’s Ed Wood. That film was Burton’s portrait of the “worst director in cinema history” – a man who made Z-grade sci-fi, horror and melodrama movies during the 1950s. Wood had all the passion of a true artist, but none of the talent. But Burton loved Wood just the same – and his portrait of him was extremely sympathetic, and in many ways help to rehabilitate his reputation. Burton was still in the first decade of his directing career when he made Ed Wood – and was at the height of his powers. Around that same time he made two great Batman films (in particular Batman Returns) as well as Edward Scissorhands. His films were always visually distinctive, but with a few exceptions, they were also somewhat hollow – great to look at, but without much underneath. In the two decades since Ed Wood, that has just become more and truer of Burton’s work. He has had a few triumphs since Ed Wood – Sleepy Hollow (1999) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) chief among them. But more and more it seems that as an artist, Burton doesn’t really have all that much to say – and since he has continued to repeat his macabre visual style in film after film, even that has somewhat worn thin. Personally, I think he should do more animation – his best film in recent years was Frankenweenie (2012), which indulged all of Burton’s obsessions, and allowed him to mine some nostalgia at the same time. But while there are things to admire about all of his recent films, they have increasingly become emptier and more soulless than before.

Perhaps that is what drew him to the story of Margaret Keane that he tells in Big Eyes – and why he choose to collaborate with his Ed Wood screenwriters, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, yet again. There is a little bit of Wood in Keane – whose paintings were critically despised at the time, and haven’t been rediscovered as anything other than kitsch in the decades since. But at the height of their popularity, they sold a hell of a lot paintings and posters and post cards, etc. of young girls with haunted and huge eyes. Some have interrupted Big Eyes as Burton’s statement in his own defense – the movie does after all quote Andy Warhol on Keane – that he loves it, and they have to be good. If they weren’t, why would millions of people love them so much?

Big Eyes tells a very bizarre story. It starts with Margaret fleeing one horrible marriage, her daughter in tow, and moving to San Francisco, where she immediately gets herself into another horrible marriage. When she first meets Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz) – he seems to be perfect. Another artist, like herself, but he also has a steady job making good money, while he tries to get his art career off the ground. They marry quickly, and he tries to sell both his and her art – and is amazed when her art starts to sell like hotcakes. Walter was a genius in some ways – a great salesman, he knows how to play the media, and sell himself as an artist, even if he isn’t one. Knowing that people like the meet the artist, he pretends that he painted all those waifs with the big eyes – and she goes along with it, in part because she’s too scared to do anything else. Besides, she is shy, and Walter isn’t. Their empire grows and grows, and she starts to be tormented by all the lies they are telling. And things start to fall apart – eventually culminating in a bizarre trail, where Margaret sues her now ex-husband Walter for slander for continuing the lie that he is the real artist.

There is a story, buried, here somewhere that Burton and his screenwriters only hint at. That is about what the meaning of being an artist really is. Margaret is an artist – she paints to express herself, and knows why she does it. Whether you think she is a good artist, or a hack, like many did, is really up to you – but Margaret is an artist, and her art is personal to her. There are a few moments where it seems like Burton is going to push this story somewhere deeper – a surreal scene in a grocery store for instance, but then he backs off – too in love with the bizarre story to dig past its surface.

Part of the problem is the performances by Adams and Waltz – which are both fine on their own, but don’t fit together at all. Adams plays Margaret quietly and subtly – although there are hints that she is more bizarre than the movie makes her. Waltz goes wildly, crazily over the top as Walter. Both performances are fine – but they belong in different movies.

So once again, we are stuck with the surface of a Burton movie to derive pleasure from. The film doesn’t have the same dark, macabre look that many Burton films do – instead favoring the brightly colored, phony happiness of the 1950s. The film does, for the most part, look great – although Burton indulges himself a little too much at times (a bizarre confrontation between Walter and a New York Times art critic, played by Terrence Stamp, for instance). The surface of the movie is all studied artifice, and unfortunately Burton doesn’t push far enough to see behind that surface. So, in general, it’s another Tim Burton movie – a wonderful surface, masking emptiness. What makes this more disappointing than other Burton movies is that the elements for something more are there – Burton doesn’t seem very interested in exploring them however.

Movie Review: Frankenweenie

Frankenweenie
Directed by: Tim Burton.
Written by: John August based on the character by Tim Burton.
Starring: Catherine O'Hara (Mrs. Frankenstien / Weird Girl / Gym Teacher), Martin Short (Mr. Frankenstein / Mr. Burgemeister / Nassor), Martin Landau (Mr. Rzykruski), Winona Ryder (Elsa Van Helsing), Charlie Tahan (Victor Frankenstien), Atticus Shaffer (Edgar 'E' Gore), Robert Capron (Bob), Christopher Lee (Movie Dracula), Conchata Ferrell (Bob's Mom), James Hiroyuki Liao (Toshiaki), Tom Kenny (New Holland Townsfolk), Dee Bradley Baker (Persephone van Helsing / Shelly / Were-Rat / Colossus / Mr. Whiskers / Driver), Jeff Bennett (Giant Sea Monkeys), Frank Welker (Sparky Frankenstein).

Perhaps Tim Burton should concentrate on animation from now on. He has been the driving creative force behind three animated films so far – The Nightmare Before Christmas, A Corpse Bride and now Frankenweenie – and the three films are far more consistent in quality than the majority of his career. And animation suits his dark, visual style – which is the highlight of most of films anyway – even better than live action films. Frankenweenie may not quite reach the heights of Nightmare Before Christmas, but it still one of the most enjoyable animated films of the year – and one that feels more personal than much of Burton’s films. It is easy to see Little Victor Frankenstein, the main character of Frankenweenie, as the director himself as a child – obsessed with monster movies, death and science experiments. Frankenweenie feels like an ode to Burton’s own childhood – and it makes this film one of the best Burton has ever directed.

The movie is a feature length version of the Burton’s (live action) short that he made almost 30 years ago at the beginning of his career. In the film, Victor Frankenstein is just a regular suburban kid – lonely because he has no real friends, and spends of all of his time in the attic making ingenious little 3-D monster movies with his toys, and his beloved dog Sparky – who is his only real friend. But when Sparky is tragically killed in an accident, Victor decides to use some of the lessons learned from the strange, new science teacher Mr. Rzykruski about electricity and reanimation to good use. But of course, bringing a dog back from the dead is one thing, keeping a secret is quite another.

The movie has a wonderful visual look – in black and white, which is appropriate given that much of the movie is homage to the monster movies Burton grew up loving. Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein are both obvious references, but really only scratches the surface of the movie references that Burton makes in this film. One of the pleasures for movie buffs watching the film will be to spot as many as they can.

And yet, while many of Burton’s films have made references to the movie of the past that he loves, Frankenweenie goes beyond that – and actually crafts a heartfelt story about a boy and his dog. One of the hardest things in childhood is dealing with death – and a pet’s death is harder than most because it often hits children before they know anyone else who has died. Pets offer the kind of unconditional love that people just do not offer – and having that suddenly taken away is truly heartbreaking. Frankenweenie gets that, and tells that story with genuine emotion, that had me on the verge of tears at times – which is rare for a Burton movie, which are generally style over substance affairs.

The style, though, is great. This is one of the better 3-D movies I can remember. One of the reasons is that 3-D generally makes everything darker, and given that the movie is in black and white anyway, it doesn’t negatively affect the movie.  For another, Burton doesn’t really use the 3-D to shoot stuff directly at the audience – he uses it more to add depth than anything else. The character design leaves no doubt who directed the movie. Frankenweenie is a dark, visual delight – but one that goes deeper than most of Burton’s films do. This is one of the best animated films of the year.

Movie Review: Dark Shadows

Dark Shadows *** Directed by: Tim Burton.
Written by: Seth Grahame-Smith and John August based on the television series by Dan Curtis.
Starring: Johnny Depp (Barnabas Collins), Michelle Pfeiffer (Elizabeth Collins Stoddard), Helena Bonham Carter (Dr. Julia Hoffman), Eva Green (Angelique Bouchard), Jackie Earle Haley (Willie Loomis), Jonny Lee Miller (Roger Collins), Bella Heathcote (Victoria Winters / Josette DuPres), Chloë Grace Moretz (Carolyn Stoddard), Gulliver McGrath (David Collins), Ray Shirley (Mrs. Johnson), Christopher Lee (Clarney), Alice Cooper (Alice Cooper).

Dark Shadows is a prototypical Tim Burton film – which is both good and bad. It has everything you have come to expect from Burton – the dark, meticulously designed art direction, costumes and ,cinematography, his quirky, outsider of a hero played by Johnny Depp, sexy, big eyed, slender statuesque, pale women, and his mixture of comedy and the macabre. But like many of his films, Burton is more concerned with the design and look of his film, than the story itself. For much of its running time, Dark Shadows is an amusing fish out of water comedy, with a very slight story. The result is that the last half hour or so of Dark Shadows is an absolute mess – as Burton tries to wrap up all the loose story threads he barely focused on for the first three quarters of the movie. It is an unsatisfying way to end an otherwise enjoyable little Burton film.

Baranbas Collins (Depp) was the son of wealthy parents in the 1700s in America. The Collins make their money in the fishing business – but Baranbas makes a crucial mistake by having an affair with a servant named Angelique (Eva Green) – and then jilting her for another woman he intends to marry. What Baranbas doesn’t know is that Angelique is a witch – and when she cannot have him, she intends to not let anyone else have him either – killing his fiancé and turning him into a vampire, before burying him deep in a coffin to let him suffer. Two centuries later, in 1972, workmen uncover the coffin, and Baranbas escapes – determined to rejoin the once proud Collins family, no fallen on hard times, and remake their business. What he doesn’t know is that Angelique is still around, and is now a captain of industry in their small town.

Burton and Depp have a great deal of fun with Baranbas waking up after 200 years in the ground, and not being familiar with all that has gone in the preceding years – from thinking the McDonalds sign is representative of the Satan, to his confusion about the TV and the lack of horses that have been replaced by cars, and confusing his free spirited teenage ancestor Carolyn (Chloe Grace Mortez) for a prostitute. Depp, who enjoys going over the top in his performances for Burton, is clearly having a blast playing Baranbas – and that seeps into the other performances as well – Michelle Pfeiffer as the slightly sinister Collins matriarch, Helena Bonham Carter as a drunken psychologist, Mortez as the teenage girl with a secret and of course Green as the witch. Everyone is having a blast in the movie, which is usually a good sign that the audience will have fun as well.

The film looks great – of course it does, since it is a Burton film. He loves large, sinister houses and in Collinswood, the dilapidated family mansion, he has created one of the better ones of his career. He also has a blast recreating the style of the 1700s in the early scenes, and throughout with Barnabas’ clothing, but also the look of the 1970s – as he pumps through a lot of period music throughout, which sets the tone well.

The problem with Dark Shadows is that Burton and his writers (Seth Grahme-Smith and John August) have so much fun setting up comedic set pieces, and fish out of water moments, that the story itself is paper thin. The film has so many little subplots that are barely developed, and then when it comes to the climax of the movie, they have to wrap them all up. The fight sequences that end the film, as well as the monster movie like villagers, doesn’t really fit in. What fans of the soap opera that is the basis of this film will make of the film I have no idea – I have never seen an episode. But Burton really does go melodramatic in his tone for the film, but then pushes it into comedic territory. I think that was the right choice. While I do think that the last half hour of Dark Shadows is an absolute mess, I enjoyed so much of what came before, I cannot dislike the movie as a whole. At this point in Burton’s career, we know what to expect of him – and Burton delivers exactly what you would expect in this film. So you probably already know whether this film is for you or not.

Ranking Tim Burton

Tim Burton is one of the most distinctive directors working today – even if you hate his films and many do, you have to admit, you know a Burton film when you see one. It seems to be pretty evenly split as to people who love his stuff, and people who think they are empty vessels with nothing but the same visual look every time out. I am more mixed then most – I enjoy most of his films, but do not love very many – many are enjoyable the first time through, but find don’t find much reason to revisit them after that first time. It has been 27 years since he made film debut, and this week, we’ll see his 15^th feature in Dark Shadows. So let’s look back and what has come before that. (By the way, Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my favorites that Burton has been involved with – but he didn’t direct it, so it’s not on this list).

14. Planet of the Apes (2001)

Perhaps the harshest thing I can say about Burton’s Planet of the Apes is that it doesn’t for a second feel like a Tim Burton film. If Burton is going to make a movie, he damn well better put his own spin on it, but this Planet of the Apes doesn’t feel like his – it doesn’t feel like anyone’s for that matter, just another anonymous would be blockbuster. Mark Wahlberg is a bland hero, Helena Bonham Carter not a very convincing ape love interest. I did love Tim Roth’s over the top villain, and the twist ending works, because while it’s similar to the twist of the original film, it isn’t the same. Still, when I see a Tim Burton film, I want to see a Tim Burton film – and this is the one film that doesn’t feel like his own.

13. Peewee’s Big Adventure (1985)

Burton’s film debut is scattershot, but at times, absolutely hilarious. Overgrown man child Pee-Wee Herman has his beloved red bike stolen, and goes on a cross country journey to try and track it down – and meets some strange people along the way, and ends up in pretty strange places (like the Alamo). The movie is almost more like a series of comic vignettes than a complete film. Yes, at times it is hilarious, and remains a must for a certain type of film fan, but for me it perhaps Burton’s least complete film. Enjoyable yes, but a great film, no.

12. Alice in Wonderland (2010)

There is probably not another director working today who I would rather see direct a live action version of Alice in Wonderland. Burton puts a kind of unique spin on the material – a quasi-sequel to Lewis Carroll’s classic if you will, because now Alice is older, and returning to a Wonderland she doesn’t remember – but certainly remembers her. But for whatever reason, this Alice is not wholly satisfying – perhaps it’s because Johnny Depp seems to be trying too hard to be too crazy as the Mad Hatter. The last act, which for whatever reason decides to pile on the action instead of keeping its demented fairy tale tone, certainly does not help. Alice in Wonderland is still a good film – enjoyable to see once, especially to see Helena Bonham Carter’s performance as The Red Queen, but still I have to say, I was a little let down by this one.

11. Beetle Juice (1988)

Michael Keaton is brilliant as Beetlegeuse, a demon who specializes in “exorcising the living”, which a newly dead couple desperately need when a new family moves into their house, and they want rid of him. He goes brilliantly over the top as the demented ghoul, in the first film that truly showed what a Tim Burton film would look like – and it does look great from start to finish. The problem is, Keaton is a supporting character, and no one else is as interesting as he is – when he’s off screen, you wait for him to get back. Yes, it’s enjoyable, but if I run across it on TV now, and it’s a scene not involving Keaton, I breeze right on by.

10. Batman (1989)

When I revisited Burton’s original Batman film a few years ago – on the eve of the release of Batman Begins – I was somewhat disappointed. I hadn’t seen the film is years, but it certainly had an effect on me as a kid. And Jack Nicholson’s performance as The Joker is still a thing twisted comic genius. And the Gotham City Burton invents is as distinct a visual environment as he has ever created. And yet, everything around The Joker was somewhat disappointing, not as good or as magical as I remembered as a child. Perhaps it’s just nostalgia playing tricks on me, but while I can continue to watch Batman Returns again and again and again, I won’t be revisiting the original any time soon.

9. Big Fish (2003)

Big Fish was Burton’s attempt to be taken a little more seriously as an artist – and yet, it is still undeniably his film. It is about a dying old man (Albert Finney), who has been telling tall tales about his life to his son (Billy Crudup) for his whole life – and now, as he lies dying, his son finally wants to hear the truth – but Finney, of course, cannot help but embellish his life, and the romance between him and his wife. Seen in flashback, Ewan McGregor is a young Finney, who goes from one outlandish experience to the next. It is an enjoyable journey, and visually exciting just like all of Burton’s films. And yet, despite the fact that Burton is trying to be more serious here than in the past, the film feels even emptier than much of his work. Yes, Big Fish is fun, but it doesn’t really add up to as much as Burton thinks it does.

8. Mars Attacks! (1996)

Tim Burton followed up his tribute to the “worst director in history”, Ed Wood, with a film that feels like Wood could have directed it. It is a purposefully cheesy homage to the not purposefully cheesy 1950s sci-fi movies that Wood, and other made, and which Burton loved so much as a child. And taken as a purposefully cheesy comedy, Mars Attacks is utterly hilarious – with its aliens with their oversized heads, who vaporize humanity, to Jack Nicholson’s delirious triple performance, to the over acting by the entire cast, and of course, the brilliantly nonsensical way the human defeat the Martian invaders. I know many hate Mars Attacks, and I cannot really argue with those who do, but I find it hilarious if I’m in the right mood.

7. Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (2005)

Burton may not have had a directing credit on The Nightmare Before Christmas, but he certainly took the lessons he learned from it (not to mention his early short films, like the brilliant Vincent) to direct so far his only animated feature. His films are so stylized; they often resemble live action animated films anyway. His distinctive look makes this animated film – about a shy young man (voiced by Johnny Depp, of course) who is set to marry the woman he loves, but accidentally ends up marrying a corpse instead. This film does not have quite the same magic of Nightmare Before Christmas, but it is still one of the most entertaining films Burton has made – uniquely his own, funny, stunningly animated, and a couple of nice songs to go along with it.

6. Sweeny Todd (2007)

As someone who loves the stage version of Sweeny Todd – a brilliant musical by Stephen Sondheim, it took me a little while – and more than one viewing – to truly fall in love with Burton's film version. The musical is a very demanding, difficult one for singers – that requires big, versatile singing voices, and I have to be honest, and say that Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter do not have those voices. And yet, on a second viewing, knowing that these two weren’t going to go big with their voices, the creepiness of their underlying performances came through – Depp as the demented barber hell-bent on revenge, and Bonham Carter as the pathetic woman who loves him. I’m still not sold on the two young lovers – which Burton never makes as crazy as they should be (they are, in a different way, as insane as the central characters), and yet I did love the visual look of the film, and I eventually fell in love with the lead performances. I have seen this a few times in the last five years, and its perhaps the only Burton film I feel gets better each time I see it.

5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

I know what I am about to say will be seen by somewhat blasphemy, but yes, I prefer the Burton/Depp version of Roald Dahl’s classic more than the Mel Stuart/Gene Wilder version – and it’s mainly because of Depp’s wildly eccentric, daring performance as Willy Wonka. Unlike Wilder’s performance, where he is somewhat lovably eccentric, Depp turns Willy Wonka into a creepy, sad little man. He is essentially an overgrown man child, prone to cruel, sadistic, childish outbursts. Depp is said to have been inspired by Michael Jackson, and it shows in his performance – his Willy Wonka is as creepy as I always though Jackson was. Of course, the Chocolate Factory allows Burton to indulge in his usual over the top, yet brilliant, art direction, costume design and cinematography – and Freddie Highmore is appropriately lovable as young Charlie, but to me, Depp elevates the movie with his brilliant performance. I know many hate his performance, but I could not help but love it.

4. Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Sleepy Hollow is absolutely wonderful comic horror film – a masterpiece of art direction, costume design and cinematography that make it perhaps the most visually distinctive of all of Burton’s films. Johnny Depp makes a wonderful Ichabod Crane, ahead of his time in terms of forensic science, who uses devices of his own design (the creepiest looking fictional tools this side of Dead Ringers) to investigate a series of deaths that the locals of Sleepy Hollow insist were committed by the Headless Horseman – which of course Crane does not believe. When he finally does see it with his own eyes – he does the only logical thing – hide under his covers. The ending of the movie is too conventional, and yet, you have to admit that any explanation for how and why a headless horseman is committing murders would be somewhat unsatisfying. Still, Sleepy Hollow is a visual masterwork – and contains one of Depp’s best performances.

3. Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Edward Scissorhands is the saddest of all Tim Burton films – and Tim Burton characters. Played by Johnny Depp, the title character is the creation of a mad scientist (Vincent Price, of course), who finds himself abandoned and alone, not knowing what to do with his life after the death of his father – and finding himself trapped in suburbia, with a strange, but loving family – but a world that does not want him. This is Burton’s take on the monster movies he loved in his youth – when the monsters were objects of sympathy, who simply did not understand why the world hated them so much. It is also a visual wonder of a film. This was Johnny Depp’s first appearance in a Burton film – and remains one of his best. His performance is silent, but heartbreaking, in one of the only Burton films I can watch again and again and not get bored.

2. Batman Returns (1992)

This will likely be the most controversial placement on this list for many people – but for me, Batman Returns remains one of Burton’s very best films, miles  beyond the original film, and so creepy that every time I see it, it brings me back to my 11 year old self who was freaked out by the film. Michael Keaton is fine as Batman, but the Burton Batman films were always about the villains. Danny DeVito’s demented penguin is an absolute treat – even if he bears no resemblance the comic book villain. But for me, this film will always be defined by my favorite performance by Michelle Pfeiffer ever, as Catwoman. That cat suit remains transfixed in my mind, as does the sexy purr of her voice. The film is exciting from beginning to end, dark violent, creepy – another visual masterwork by Burton – but it is elevated by Pfeiffer well beyond most superhero movies. I do not envy Anne Hathaway, who has big shoes to fill this summer in The Dark Knight Returns.

 

1. Ed Wood (1994)

I don’t think Burton is ever going to top his 1994 film Ed Wood – it is his most personal film, and the one that perfectly marries his visual style with its subject matter. Ed Wood is commonly called the worst director in film history – he had no idea how to make a movie, and was so in love with every shot, no matter how many mistakes there were, he never sees the flaws in his own work. And yes, Burton’s film mocks Wood – but it does so in a good natured way. It also has a fair amount of respect for the man – Wood had the passion to be a filmmaker, if not the skill. For me, this will always be Johnny Depp’s best performance – he dives headlong into the role and goes for broke. Martin Landau won an Oscar for his performance as the legendary Bela Lugosi, who late in his life, addicted to morphine, found himself working with Wood. The black and white photography is brilliant - and–perfect for Burton’s sensibility (I have a feeling he’d shoot more in black and white if they let him). The film is a hilarious comedy, and a heartfelt tribute to the passion that goes into filmmaking. Burton has never made a better film – in fact, he’s never even come close. This is his masterpiece.

Movie Review: Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland ***
Directed by: Tim Burton.
Written By: Linda Woolverton based on the books by Lewis Carroll.
Starring: Johnny Depp (Mad Hatter), Mia Wasikowska (Alice), Helena Bonham Carter (Red Queen), Anne Hathaway (White Queen), Crispin Glover (Stayne), Matt Lucas (Tweedledee / Tweedledum), Stephen Fry (Cheshire Cat), Michael Sheen (White Rabbit), Alan Rickman (Blue Caterpillar), Barbara Windsor (Dormouse), Paul Whitehouse (March Hare), Timothy Spall (Bayard), Marton Csokas (Charles Kingsleigh), Leo Bill (Hamish), Michael Gough (Dodo Bird), Imelda Staunton (Tall Flower Faces), Christopher Lee (Jabberwocky).

Tim Burton has always been able to create movies that like no one else’s. The success or failure of those movies very rarely has anything to do with the visuals – which are usually a marvel to look at – but with the stories themselves. The few times he has made a truly great film – Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow – are when the story actually matches the visual outlook. The rest of films are a mixed bag – often visually colorful and inventive, but emotionally hollow. Such was my reaction to his version of Alice in Wonderland. While I was dazzled by the visuals, and quite enjoyed the movie as a whole, it never really connected with me on any sort of emotional level. As such although I liked the film, it was kind of like eating Chinese food – you enjoy it while you’re eating it, but a half hour later you’re hungry again.

Burton has made significant changes from the Lewis Carroll novels he is adapting, but that doesn’t really bother me. The spirit of the books are there in every frame of the film. In this version, Alice (Mia Wasikowska) is 19 and is being pressured into a marriage with the nice, but nerdy and annoying Hamish (Leo Bill) because her family, which was once rich, has fallen on hard times, and Hamish’s family can help out. There is a huge party thrown in honor of their engagement – the one snag being that Alice hasn’t actually said yes yet. When Hamish proposes, she runs off and ends up falling down the rabbit hole. Everyone there seems to know Alice, but she has no idea what is happening. This is her dream world, so she assumes nothing here can hurt her. The strange creatures she meets – who are split as to whether she is “the” Alice or just “an” Alice know different. Alice is thrust into the middle of a war between the benevolent White Queen (Anne Hathaway), and her cruel older sister the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter), who has seized power militarily, and holds Wonderland in her grip of fear.

As I mentioned off the top of this review, I loved the visuals of the movie. The 3-D works marvelously well, but I couldn’t help wondering if this was the type of film that may have worked better in 2-D. 3-D has the awe factor going for it, but I find that 2-D can be more immersive. You are better able to see, and appreciate, all the visual details in the film. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the 3-D in the movie, which Burton uses more to add texture and depth, rather than to do crazy things like point harpoons at the audience.

This wonderful is a darkly colorful oasis of strange environments and creatures. I loved the Blue Caterpillar (with the voice of Alan Rickman), who sits there smoking his “Water Pipe”, while dispensing invaluable advice. Even better was the Cheshire Cat, brilliantly voiced by Stephen Frye, who seems even more mysterious than in previous versions. Johnny Depp has the top billing as the Mad Hatter, but it is a supporting role. Depp plays it with the same sort of crazed over the top brilliance he has shown in Pirates of the Caribbean and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. While his act can at times wear a little thin, most of the time he is onscreen, you cannot take your eyes off of him. Helena Bonham Carter, with a head inflated by CGI, is even better as the Red Queen, a petulant, spoiled brat of a woman who, like always, screams “Off with her head” every time she is crossed. Anne Hathaway seems to have been cast more for her looks than her acting ability as the White Queen, but I have to admit I quite enjoyed her every time she was on screen – she seems to be constantly posing for pictures. Newcomer Wasikowska is fine as Alice – a little bit spunky and modern perhaps – but overall she carries the movie admirably. The environments these characters move around in are dark and foreboding – perhaps a little scary for younger children, but for everyone else it will be wonderous.

I enjoyed the movie too much not to recommend it – and I think that the vast majority of people who go see the movie will get what they came to the theater for. But for, as a fan of Burton, I was still slightly disappointed. I maybe one of the only people who thought that his version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was superior to the 1970s version, but I did nonetheless. I expected a similarly twisted view on display in Alice in Wonderland. But despite many of the same ingredients this time around, the movie just doesn’t work as well as it should. It is still a fine film – don’t get me wrong. But I expected more from the film – and from Burton.