I used to adore Tim Burton Movies, but recently, they've not been so great, I mean Abraham Lincoln:Vampire Hunter? Dear Lord that film was awful on so many levels, it had no decent storyline,the characters were a shambles (and to an extent so were the actors for not doing anything about it) and it just really didn't work for me.
His re-hashes of the Batman... well they just helped loose all the sense on what a superhero/comic-hero film is all about, and that too wasn't so great.
Sweeney Todd, despite the badly done CGI blood which really was down to the SFX team/editors and CGI team, was a compelling film,and a great musical, I must admit when I first saw it, I wasn't expecting that at all. It had shown the legendary tale in a whole new light. Along with some cheesy, catchy songs, and a Burton twist, it was overall a good film. Not amazing, but quite good and extremely watchable. Burton isn't renowned for his gore anyway, and most of his films, don't include much, if any at all.
Nightmare before Christmas, is an amazing film, the characters, and their backstories are just so well done. It's in a way relatable to anyone who's felt tiresome of the everyday norm and sets out to find something new to do, but realising that sometimes, no matter what we do, we have to return to the Norm eventually, and can't stay different forever. Which is conformity, everyone has to do it eventually. If you look beyond the music, and sugar coated horror, you see such an indepth and emotional film. However, it is an all round great film, and you can see it differently everytime you watch it, which to me, entails a good film.
Beetlejuice, is another amazing film, the storyline, characters, events... it's all just fantastic, add the dry humour and visuals, and you have a great film. There's so much too it, and if you haven't seen it, well you should, because it's just wonderful. It's a timeless classic that I quite happily will watch again and again. There's more to it than meets the eye, and although the storyline does have a basic sense, the way all the characters tie in, and have to face their own problems which also conflict with others, just shows how much depth the film has.
Now, most people don't know this, but following the movie Beetlejuice, Burton and his team, then created, a TV series, which was originally aired from 1989 till 1991, now obviously, I didn't watch it on the TV because, I wasn't alive then, but as an avid Burton fan-girl, I decided to take it up and watch all 94 episodes, and I have to admit, they're quite something! Obviously, if you didn't enjoy the movie, there isn't much point, however, I'm not going to spoil it and just advise that anyone who admires his work, really should add this to their "Need to Watch" List.
Edward Scissorhands, is without a doubt one of my all-time favourite film, there's just so much in the film, (and if you haven't realised, I love films that have depth!) and the characters, the ideas, and everything that's in this movie just work so well. The time it was set in aswell, I think helped to aid how much it really showed that being outcasted, had to happen sometimes, because people just can't accept what isn't the same or "norm" to them. In my opinion, there's just so much I could talk about this movie, but I think we all can agree how great this film is! but what I will say is you can't claim to be a fan of Tim Burton if you haven't seen this film, because this is without a doubt one of his greatest films he ever made.
Mars Attacks!, the pure hilarity and mis-shapen humour of this film is what makes it so brilliant! I still remember the first time I watched this film, and found it so out-there that I realised this was one of those films that would never get old. I still find it as funny now as I did the first time. The characters uselessness for the most part, just add to the cheesiness of it all. There wasn't much else to it, just a good, up-lifting comedy. The aliens, and their brains though, I mean seriously, as if you couldn't tell when they were in disguise, the fact it's not as graphically renowned as the newer films, add to the magical comedy. I enjoy this film, but most don't appreciate it.
Corpse Bride, now I do love this movie, I think it's great, much in the same style as "Nightmare before Christmas" and "Emily" who is one of the main female protagonists in this movie, does have an act of "Sally" from "NBC" however, if you look at them as two seperate films, you can see there is depth, and so many different emotional statures covered, the main story line, and then the storyline which runs alongside it, with crossovers, twists and turns at all the while just a simplistic nature, this is another good film from Burton and team.
9, now I actually thought this was a really good film, and at times, I did find it emotionally turning. It does have a whole different light on Burton's usual works and is quite a compelling tale of survival. A tale of friendship, adventure and all other things, that are needed for them to save their race/the world. It wasn't what I expected from this film at all, and even though I've only seen it a few times, it is a film that does engage you from the beginning to the end.
Frankenweenie, well what's not to like about this film? I do prefer the 2012 remake of his earlier movie, which was originally done in the 1980's. It's a classical tale, and just all round a good film. There's not much I could dislike about it either.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, now I grew up watching the original, where Gene Wilder played "Willy Wonka" and I loved it, so I was a little aprehensive about the remake (After seeing Burton's verisons of Batman) and hoped, that there would be something new brought to the table. I was shocked when I first watched this film, it was so much better than I would have thought it had been, it did seem to follow more strictly to the original book by Roal Dahl, where as the original film was based loosely but had more details from the book, where as some of the factors in the Burton verison, followed a little more of the storyline, but less detailed as in the first. However, it was a good film, it wasn't a bad remake compared to some of the remakes we see these days. I do like both films and have seen both so many times.
Alice in Wonderland, Burtons remake of this was wonderful, although, much to contrary opinion, I do believe this is more focused on the 2nd book "Alice through the looking glass" inwhich, she returns to wonderland, to save it. Where as in the original disney version of this film (because Burton's version was also disney) she is more following the events that happen in "Alice's adventures in wonderland" and was a great film. Which is why I can appreciate Burton's version as well because it isn't the same old thing just remade it's a completely different story. Now as another point, most people haven't seen the other version of alice in wonderland, which was a little more, well to the book and a little scary, because of the way it was composed. However,back to Burton's version, it was good, and I did enjoy it quite a bit more than I would have thought I would have originally. Also, unlike the original verison, it doesn't have all the musical-ness that usually follows in Disney movies.
Dark Shadows, this was a good film, it wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either, and I've only seen it twice, so I don't really have much to say for this one, but does follow Burton's now not so unique Auteur Theory.
Sleepy Hollow, this was another good film, so much depth and storyline, and as one of Burton's earlier films, was generally better. A really good take on the original legend, and then adding more to it, to make it a completely new light on the story. The characters are well done, and just each factor adds to the movie in it's own unique way.
Planet of the Apes, (2001 version), I personally thought this was a good movie, and even though has been remade countless times, this will always be my favourite version, just because of the way it handled everything different to the other versions.
Ed Wood, I actually didn't like this movie, and thought it could have been done a lot better than it was, another one of Burton's "Not so greats"
Now, I think I've gone on enough about his movies, and generally, don't have a favourite, I've really outlined the ones I did and didn't like and that's about it. You probably wonder how I actually know so much, well one reason is, in Media we did about Auteur Theory,and our assigined Auteur was Tim Burton. I've been watching his films since about 1998, and have always taken an interest and will give each film a try, even if the critics say it's good or bad, because I like to make my own decisions. I also just spent a lot of time researching movies and directors. xD