Director's Spotlight: Tim Burton

 
I haven't seen all of Tim Burton's films, and honestly I have no desire to. He's a pretty terrible filmmaker, overall, I think. Especially when you consider how distinctive his movies always look. I guess really when it comes down to it, I feel like he's a production/costume designer who got to be called a director. His skills are for single frame or single use ideas, not for story telling or narrative or even characters. He started as an animator, and it shows in his ability to create a nice single frame but not much more. His movies have a great distinct look, but he's an awful storyteller. That said, there are a couple of moments of beauty in some of his movies, particularly the Vincent Price stuff in Edward Scissorhands, and there are moments in Big Fish that work well too, but he can't put it all together in the end.

Now, that said, Ed Wood is a tremendous movie. I've always joked that I think Burton could really emotionally connect to the story of a terrible filmmaker, but whatever the reason, Ed Wood is a beautiful, wonderful movie.

Contrast him to his friend Henry Selick, who is the actual director of The Nightmare Before Christmas (it's called Tim Burton's A Nightmare Before Christmas, but he didn't direct it), and Coraline, which is better than everything Burton ever did put together. Selick has a very similar sensibility, similar character and production design ideas, but is a pretty good storyteller. Makes for much different movies in the end, even if I couldn't finish Nightmare Before Christmas the last couple times I tried to watch it. That could've been just my mood at the time. Anyway, my ratings for Burton's movies overall are:

1. Ed Wood - 9.5/10
2. Sleepy Hollow - 6/10
3. Sweeney Todd - 6/10
4. Beetlejuice - 5/10
5. Pee-Wee's Big Adventure - 5/10
6. Edward Scissorhands - 4/10
7. Mars Attacks! - 4/10
8. Big Fish - 4/10
9. Batman - 3/10
10. Batman Returns - 2/10
11. Alice in Wonderland - 2/10
12. Planet of the Apes - 2/10