At heart an animator, Tim Burton leaves an unmistakable stamp on all of his films. Extraordinary, intricate, and either beautiful or Gothically anti-beautiful production designs; intelligent and compelling and, yes, humorous storytelling; his films seem like he literally did everything himself. Still, though, they leave more than enough room for brilliant actors to add their own touches.
 Tim Burton grew up in ‘60s Burbank a block from a huge cemetery. The fact that that’s funny says it all. His taste for the macabre is obvious. His early childhood heroes included B-movie monster-makers and Vincent Price. A loner in school, he preferred to draw. Accepted into the Disney-funded Cal Arts (a classmate of Pixar’s John Lasseter), he stood out, and was hired by Disney as an animator.
Bored working on films such as Disney’s “The Fox and the Hound,” Burton was made a conceptual artist, where he contributed to “The Black Cauldron.” Still out of sync with his employer, Burton started working on his own projects, the animation shorts “Vincent” and “Frankenweenie.” Because the latter got a PG-rating, it couldn’t be released with other Disney fare and, except for a quick European tour, was shelved.
These “horror-film” shorts, though, got the attention of, among others, Stephen King. That, somehow, led to Paul Reubens, aka Pee Wee Herman, which led to Burton’s first big adventure, “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.” Far  exceeding box-office expectations and picking up critical accolades along the way, Burton was next offered “Beetlejuice.” Though it was supposed to be a dramatic horror film, Burton had the wisdom to let Michael Keaton vamp in his title role, turning it into a classic black comedy. Also, where “Pee Wee” wasn’t exactly overflowing with either quality actors or great performances, “Beetlejuice” had more than enough of both.
Proving that he could direct actors as well as visual effects, Burton was handed even more of both with “Batman.” Though everyone was concerned when he brought along Michael Keaton to play the title role, opposite no less than Jack Nicholson’s Joker, the choice was a canny bit of casting. Not only did Keaton bring dimension to the Dark Knight, Burton’s vision was grounded enough to offset and enhance Jack’s macabre silliness. Again garnering critical raves from a summer box-office extravaganza ostensibly directed to kids, Burton reached the call-your-own-shots level, which he used (but certainly didn’t use up) on his own story, “Edward Scissorhands.”
Starring Johnny Depp, his alter ego, the allegorical film takes on many themes, not the least of which is an aborted father-son relationship. Burton admits on the “Big Fish” DVD to not having the best of relationships with his then-deceased father. It is at least one of the themes that unites three of his best films, “Big Fish,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” and “Edward Scissorhands.” It is also evident in his “Batman” films, and even in Ed Wood’s seeking out Bela Lugosi as a father figure.
Returning to his favorite medium, stop-motion animation, Burton produced the classic “The Nightmare Before Christmas” in 1993, then meandered through the rest of the twentieth century with his idiosyncratic trio of “Ed Wood,” “Mars Attacks!” and “Sleepy Hollow.”
Not exactly going mainstream, Burton seemed to rid himself of enough closet skeletons in the new millennium to make in his last three films, two of his best: “Big Fish” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” The notable musical “Corpse Bride” is a signature stop-motion achievement, which couldn’t help but be compared unfavorably to “Nightmare,” though it’s wickedly funny and both brilliantly and darkly realized.
And his next project? Perhaps the project he was born to direct: Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd,” starring, of course, Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp. Tim Burton will not stray from his boyhood cemetery for too many moons at a time.
-- Nate Lee
GREAT SCENES:
Burton works magic in his many dinner-table scenes, which are probably in every film. From Bruce Wayne and Vicki Vale eating at opposite ends of a twenty-yard table in “Batman” to Edward trying to eat peas with his “scissorhands,” there are some magnificent scenes at the dinner table throughout his work.
BEETLEJUICE - Perhaps the best dinner-table scene of any film is the “Day-O” scene in which the intruding humans are possessed and made to sing and dance calypso - even Dick Cavett - in order to scare them out of a “haunted” house.
BIG FISH - The whole Spectre scene, where Ewan McGregor “arrives early” to the perfect idyllic town, is hypnotic. Time stands still when Ewan’s Ed Bloom first sees his true love. Bloom courting Sandra in a field of daffodils. Albert Finney and Jessica Lange fully clothed in the bathtub.
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY - The famed Oompa Loompas are all multiple shots of one actor, an incredible feat and a fascinating visual through-line. The squirrels testing for “bad nuts” has to be everyone’s favorite.
EDWARD SCISSORHANDS - Each time Edward is furiously sculpting with his scissors, it’s hilarious and fascinating, first with the dogs, then with their owners. His ice sculpting, with Winona Ryder dancing in the snowflakes, is visual poetry. Johnny Depp’s walk is hilarious.
PEE WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE - Though the film’s charm doesn’t hold up as well as the tv show, the opening breakfast-making scene is forever camp. Pee Wee dances for the bikers. Danny Elfman’s score could be one of his best.
GREAT FILMS:
Big Fish
Batman
Batman Returns
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (love it or detest it)
GREAT “TYPICALLY TIM BURTON” FILMS:
Beetlejuice
Edward Scissorhands
The Nightmare Before Christmas (creator and producer)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Corpse Bride
  
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