Tim Burton

Hate to say it, but..

...I haven't really liked Burton's last few films.  I thoroughly enjoyed 'Big Fish', and thought perhaps it was a bit of a maturing in his filmmaking, away from the cartoon-ish qualities of a lot of his earlier film and more towards a magic-realism approach (though he always had elements of that). 

However, everything since then has to me almost felt like a regression of sorts--Corpse Bride seemed a bit of a rehashing of Beetlejuice/Nightmare Before Christmas, and Sweeney Todd?  Well, I just plain didn't really care for it, though I thought the cast carried it through fairly well.  Maybe I'm just being over-critical?  Thoughts?

Re:Hate to say it, but..

seely:

...I haven't really liked Burton's last few films.  I thoroughly enjoyed 'Big Fish', and thought perhaps it was a bit of a maturing in his filmmaking, away from the cartoon-ish qualities of a lot of his earlier film and more towards a magic-realism approach (though he always had elements of that). 

However, everything since then has to me almost felt like a regression of sorts--Corpse Bride seemed a bit of a rehashing of Beetlejuice/Nightmare Before Christmas, and Sweeney Todd?  Well, I just plain didn't really care for it, though I thought the cast carried it through fairly well.  Maybe I'm just being over-critical?  Thoughts?

Big Fish is possibly one of my favorite movies of all time. i think it's beautifully made and the story is so imaginative, plus I can see a little bit of the tension Burton must have felt in his own life with the reality and fantasy.  I can say that I wasn't a huge fan of Planet of the Apes, I just didn't really enjoy it much, and I really loved the old ones. We used to watch marathons of them when i was a little kid.  But, I absolutely love the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I think Johnny Depp was hilarious and I enjoyed the world he made so much. I think Tim Burton and Roald Dahl were a match made in heaven.

Re:Hate to say it, but..

The thing that I find interesting about Tim Burton is that he has such a pat style - you could pick his films out of a crowd almost anywhere ( like Baz Luhrmann also has a set style).   I recently saw Sweeney Todd and though I loved his vision for the film ( it must be difficult to adapt a muscial to the silver acreen), i kept thinking that there was something very early 90s about it. I think I would've liked it alot more if the film came out around the same time as Edward Scissorhands.  Actually, i felt that the style of the film said more about Burton and the era he matured in than anything else (it's the same reason we see so many remakes of '80s material now- Transformers, Strawberry Shortcake, The Smurfs float in the Thanksgiving parade- the 80s generation is at an age where they have more of a say in work force and as a result what they remember being popular is making a comeback).

My favorite Burton film is still Edward Scissorhands- I tera up at the end almost every time. So many of his films seem to take   a page out of the Scissorhand handbook though- not making them bad films, just... predictable and  slightly dated.

Re:Hate to say it, but..

I try to pretend Planet of the Apes never happened.  I had mixed feelings on the newer Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  I really like Gene Wilder's interpretation, and grew up watching that over and over, but I really did enjoy Depp's crazy and slightly off kilter interpretation of the role--perhaps truer to the book.  Its hard to beat out nostalgia.

Definitely agree about Roald Dahl and Burton... just heard today that Burton has started to work on a film version of The Witches.  I can't wait to see how creepy it is.

csprague:

Big Fish is possibly one of my favorite movies of all time. i think it's beautifully made and the story is so imaginative, plus I can see a little bit of the tension Burton must have felt in his own life with the reality and fantasy.  I can say that I wasn't a huge fan of Planet of the Apes, I just didn't really enjoy it much, and I really loved the old ones. We used to watch marathons of them when i was a little kid.  But, I absolutely love the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I think Johnny Depp was hilarious and I enjoyed the world he made so much. I think Tim Burton and Roald Dahl were a match made in heaven.