The other day, I asked some people on Twitter if they were excited about the new movie coming out today, 9. More specifically, I asked if I was the only one who really hoped it didn’t suck.
For the most part, the response was overwhelmingly in favor of it not sucking.
What struck me, though, was that many people thought it wasn’t going to suck because Tim Burton was involved. This gave me pause. While I’ve always recognized Burton as one of the established purveyors of dark, quirky fantasy stories, for some reason that I couldn’t quite put a finger on, I found myself shaking my head at the sentiment that the man has the golden touch.
In fact, I couldn’t help thinking he had the opposite (The copper touch? No, copper’s pretty valuable as scrap…the nickel touch? Sure, I’ll go with that). But that didn’t seem quite right, either. I mean—he’s Tim Burton. You don’t get that kind of reputation without doing something good.
So I kept prodding the proud followers of @bantamspectra, and true to form, they came through in commendable fashion. What I asked was: what’s your favorite Tim Burton movie. They reminded me that this man has made some classics (and some stinkers, which was probably what I was keying in on—yes, I’m talking about your movie, you dirty ape. Seriously, with so many good actors, how could that movie have been so bad? Oh, yeah—all the good actors were dressed as frickin’ monkeys).
As such, I’ve decided to make a list of the movies that Tim Burton has made that have made his fans, well, fans. And while not necessarily ranked (because, regrettably, I haven’t seen all of these movies), I do believe this could work in a “best of,” starting with “the best.”
Edward Scissorhands--Honestly, I think this is a no-brainer. It really combined the best of what Tim Burton does: create a world that could be real but is also patently absurd, tell a full story about what is essentially a one-trick pony, and convince people that Johnny Depp is a good actor.
Oooh--didn't expect that last one. Whole other story, though.
Anyway, it all worked. The acting (even Mr. Depp) was truly wonderful, the story was a beautiful analogy of small-town bigotry (think Frankenstein--the movie, not the book), and the scene with Wynona Rider dancing in the ice-shavings is a classic piece of cinema.
I'll admit--it's not my favorite movie, but I understand why people love it. And I'm humble enough to realize that sometimes others' opinions might outweigh my own.
The Nightmare Before Christmas--Here's the big one that I've never seen--much to the shock and outrage of those follow Spectra on Twitter. What they explained to me is that it's awesome (I guess it's rather hard to go into it more than that in 140 characters). That seems to be a rather strong endorsement.
So while I wait for the Netflix to arrive, I'm going to talk about it anyway (as most good "experts" can). What I think is so appealing about this film is that it combines two holidays: Christmas and Halloween...
Okay, that's silly. No, I think what works (and what I've heard about it that's so great) is that the animation was extremely tight, the songs are fun and yet still carry that Burton shadow, and it was something so wildly different from what everyone expected. Because while Christmas has its share of dark movies--and there is a glimpse of Seus in this movie (from what I can tell), it still did something that mainstream animation hadn't really done--animation for adults.
And no, Heavy Metal really, really doesn't count.
Batman and Batman Returns--Before Batman had nipples, before it was necessary for someone to come in and remember that Frank Miller had re-created a hero that blurred the edges of good and evil, Tim Burton envisioned a Gotham that was both surreal and gritty. A place that needed Batman--not just to clean it up, but also to balance out the subtle (yes, subtle) absurdity of the Joker and the Penguin. Michael Keaton was the right man for the job, Jack Nicholson probably deserved Oscar consideration, and the combination of the over-the-topness from the television series and the harshness of Miller's reinterpretation of the character made these movies fun, action-packed, and, to be fair, a little scary.
And the inspired choice of Prince to do the brilliant:
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure-- You may not remember that, in the 80s, one of the biggest stars in the world was Pee-Wee Herman, aka, Paul Reubens. The insanity that was Pee-Wee was perfectly suited for Tim Burton to make his major motion-picture debut (he had done other movies before this, but none with this kind of commercial success or budget).
What makes this movie so great was that it really was just an excuse for Reubens to play his ridiculous character for a few hours, in a variety of situations--ostensibly to find out who had stolen his bicycle.
Yes--finding his bicycle was the big adventure.
And yet, the movie worked. It's genuinely funny (which is amazing, considering how annoying Pee-Wee can be), and the little touches that Burton clearly added (the Large Marge scene, for example), again, scared me a little. We were out of the safety of Pee-Wee's Playhouse, and into the "real world."
Side-note: Phil Hartman was one of the writers on this movie. Man, I miss that guy!
Beetlejuice-- This is my favorite of his, mostly because I wanted to play with the model town Alec Baldwin created in the attic.
Seriously, though, I like to think of this as my introduction into horror. I know, I know--I'm a bit of a lightweight if I consider this horror--but the truth is it has all the elements: ghosts, haunted house, monsters, violence. It just so happens that it's also really funny.
Again, I think people might forget that Michael Keaton was a big deal in the Eighties--and for pretty good reasons (reason number one: Johnny Dangerously), and he was pretty close to the top of his game with this movie and the subsequent Batman flicks.
I think, too, that Burton was proving to us that he could combine humor and fear into successful movies, perhaps one of the first directors to consciously do this (I say consciously, because some of those early monster movies were unintentionally funny--a fact Burton pays homage to in Ed Wood).
Too, he has another of his classic scenes in this movie--again starring Wynona Rider (with others)--dancing in the dining room.
Although I feel Burton has gotten to the point where he may over-rely on having the same people in movies (yes, I'm talking about Mr. Depp again), here the cast and the performances are fresh.
While I only have six movies here, I don't feel too bad about that. Clearly, I see his "early" work as being the height of his creativity and brilliance, but that's not to say he hasn't done anything good since "Nightmare."
For instance, I think Ed Wood is a solid movie (although I'd actually just rather watch "Plan Nine from Outer Space," I definitely enjoyed aspects of Sleepy Hollow, and found Mars Attacks! to have its campy moments (although I felt it, ultimately, failed).
But movies like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory--a movie that didn't need to be remade in the first place--the aforementioned Planet of the Apes, and Sweeny Todd (sorry, but you can't replace Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury in these roles with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter) have just pushed me away from the Burton fan-club. And while I have high hopes for 9--which he isn't even directing--I can't help but fear that something like Alice in Wonderland is ultimately going to be disappointing.
Here's hoping he can find some of that old magic.
What do you think?
I don't know. Here's the thing, I had a chance (thanks, Netflix!) to watch both The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline over the Memorial Day weekend. I was excited about this because I love animation and hadn't yet seen either of these films. My thoughts on Nightmare are that, in it's time, I'm sure it was masterful, and it's still pretty good, but I was struck with one thought after seeing it: we've come a long way since the early 90's in animated/claymation/what-have-you filmmaking.
Then I made the mistake of watching Coraline soon thereafter. I'll warn people away from doing that, as Coraline is a vastly superior film (my opinion here) in both visuals and storytelling. ALTHOUGH, since seeing Nightmare I've had the song, "What's This?" stuck in my head. And that's not all together unpleasant.
Anyway, I love your list here and can't nitpick it.
Is it bad if I enjoyed Burton's Planet of the Apes? Not great, but still enjoyable. My only actor that I would have changed would of been Marky Mark Wahlberg.
Ha ha - Marky Mark! Oh, where were the Funky Bunch for that one? I would have enjoyed that movie on a whole other level. Kinda.
I have no beef with the Planet of the Apes as done by Burton, but that might be because I wasn't a big fan of the original either. Just not a movie that gets to me as a viewer. So, it's cool by me. Not that I have any authority on the matter, but...
Listen--who am I to judge someone for liking or disliking a movie?
A blogger, that's who.
Seriously--I don't Burton necessarily does bad movies, I just find that he doesn't always do good ones. And, more importantly, that this wasn't a good one.
And, trust me: I am a fan of "bad" movies--I can appreciate the campy appeal. I just thought that, at least with the original Planet of the Apes movies, there was this subtle knowledge that they were making ridiculous films. Here, it was clear they were trying to cash in on that--but failed.
By the way: there's an interesting interview with Tim Burton on Tor.com: http://bit.ly/NtqbC
As a friend of mine so succinctly put it "Depp and Burton need to get a divorce."
I'm looking forward to 9. It looks good, and like it might be more on the Nightmare Before Christmas end of the Burton spectrum. I admit it, I'm a sentimental soul and I prefer a happy, hopeful ending.
What I am NOT looking forward to is the retake on Alice in Wonderland with Depp as the Mad Hatter and in which we make Wonderland into a nightmare place straight out of the old Tom Petty video. Now, what with a mad queen and a place that makes sense only if you can follow a truly weird logic flow (and the story itself is about the discipline of logic believe it or not) would seem a no-brainer, but I'm worried about HOW Burton's going to do it. I'm really afraid it's going to be dark not for the sake of a good story but for the sake of being, well, dark (oooo...it's Dark! It's EDGY! It's COOOOOL). Gimme a break.
I can second each and every one of those concerns regarding Alice in Wonderland (v 2.0). I saw a trailer for the film recently and it just didn't sit well. Is it possible to impose a divorce between Burton and Depp? It might do them both some good to see other people for a bit. *sigh*