Tim Burton: Visionary Director or Shameless Self-Parody?

Barney takes an honest look at the recent works of Tim Burton.

 

After an incredibly successful directorial career spanning twenty-nine years (that’s right, twenty-bloody-nine!), it would be very easy to wonder if Tim Burton will ever run out of new ideas and ways to keep his films looking fresh.  Well if you think about it, he already has and quite a few times, in my opinion.

I feel I am able to say this as someone who admires his work and applauds his quirky style, so here goes:  I believe that he has indeed become a parody of himself.

Look at Edward Scissorhands.  It was a touching tale starring Johnny Depp in a quirky costume with funky hair, walking around a town illuminated in a subdued, bluish caste, frowned upon by society.  Now watch Dark Shadows (if you can bear to), Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and  Alice in Wonderland too, for that matter.

Don’t get me wrong, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter are both very good actors, but they are not the only actors in the world.  Burton’s films are becoming very predictable.  Most of them now star both of the aforementioned actors, usually in quirky costumes, with crazy hair, existing in a world with a very limited colour-palette and odd angles on buildings and Danny Elfman music playing over their interactions.

Edward Scissorhands was a beautiful film, and was the first to showcase such a quirky way of directing a great script, but Mr Burton seems to have re-hashed that format in so many films now that it is starting to look tired and clichéd.  At least to me it is anyway.

One has to wonder if he is now just accepting any script he receives, just so he can showcase his two favourite dress-up dolls in a film that has been made with a commercial Gothic look in mind.  Quirky for the sake of quirky.There’s no denying that he has become pretty legendary since his first feature film, PeeWee’s Big Adventure, but to keep that status going, things need to change, Timmy.

What I would love is for him to do what he did with Big Fish.  Use other actors, present an interesting or entertaining story in an eye-catching and unusual manner. In fact, 2014 sees the release of Big Eyes: one of the first feature films Burton’s made in a long time that does not include Carter or Depp. Early indications suggest that it may be a slight departure thematically from his most recent films and with a cast that includes Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz, it could be just the injection of original quality that his filmography needs.