Creators: Tim Burton

Creators

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Tim Burton

Whether you like him lately or not, at some point you loved something that this guy had a hand in.  Some think that he has "jumped the shark" or has become a parody of himself, but in spite of either I can't help but admire Tim Burton for being an artist that's true to himself... or at least, a version of himself.  

But hell, I wouldn't have chosen to talk about Tim Burton as an artist/filmmaker that I admire if I just wanted to gripe about him.  To be honest, there's a lot more to like about Tim Burton and his work than to dislike (as far as I'm concerned.

I'll start with the fact that he was a Disney animator back in the 80s, with apparently some uncredited work on that horrible Black Cauldron movie and not much else.

He was let go for wasting too much time animating his own pet project called "Frankenweenie."

Soon after he directed a version of Aladdin that involved Robert Carradine from Revenge of the Nerds, Leonard Nimoy, and James Earl Jones.  Never thought all of them would be together for a project?  You can definitely see the budding style that Burton will come to be known for.  Plus, freaking Darth Vader as the Genie... Awesome.

Next on this list is a childhood favorite of mine, Pee Wee's Big Adventure.  If you've never seen this, or haven't seen it since you were a kid, you're due for a rewatch. You have only yourself to blame if you hate it.  I still will occasionally tell people "Large Marge sent me."

BEETLEJUICE!  I have to say, I wish Keaton was still making movies with Burton, because I think he would liven them up...

...like this.

Burton's Batman movies are my favorite live action versions of the character.  I love Nolan's trilogy, but the Gothic Gotham and graphic designs of Burton's two films feel like batman.  It also helps that Keaton is my favorite Bruce Wayne/ Batman.  He plays it weird and detached like Batman aught to be.

I think Returns is my favorite of the two.

Can't talk about Tim Burton without talking about his stop motion.  I attribute any stop motion film done today as resulting from the creation of this movie.  It made stop motion a viable storytelling medium rather than an outmoded special effect tool.

There are many more Burton creations I could laud (Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands, Mars Attacks, Sleepy Hollow) but I think I'll just skip to the one I like most.

Big Fish is a spectacular film.  In some ways it doesn't feel like a Tim Burton movie, and I think that is why it has such a transcendent feeling about it.  He didn't get caught up in his "Schtick" and worked hard to tell a story well.  There were a few Burton-y moments, but the overall palette of this movie is much more colorful than most of his other work. Instead of getting only the gloomy and subdued parts of life, we see life in its full spectrum: From gloom and mystery to triumph and wonder.  In big fish, we see the artist in Tim get out of his comfort zone and express something that reaches out beyond his usual audience and strikes a chord with the world beyond Edward Gorey's neighborhood.

So long.