Tim Burton - Love Him or Hate Him?

With the imminent arrival of Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, Cinemas Online discuss the director's famously dark style that so many people have come to love, but so many that have decided they hate!

Tim Burton has been directing movies since 1971, starting with a short film that he wrote and directed, called "The Island of Doctor Agor", but most people sat up and took notice with the arrival of Beetle Juice in 1988. Tim's seemingly dark style from Beetle Juice caught the attention of everyone else in Hollywood and led on to a flurry of popular movies, starting the very next year with probably his best work to date - Batman. Since then we've had; Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, Ed Wood, Mars Attacks!, Sleepy Hollow, Planet of the Apes, Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and of course, his latest arrival; Corpse Bride. There is of course one of Tim Burton's films missing from that list, which is of course; The Nightmare Before Christmas and not many people know that Tim did not actually direct this movie… he wrote it.

So, with the long list of hugely popular movies to his name, why is it that there is such a rift in public opinion regarding his style and the way it comes across in his films? Well, when you consider that Tim's directing style is so distinct compared to other movies out there, it is understandable that it will create a love/hate relationship with the public who spent their hard earned money on a trip to the cinema.

Remembering that this article is about the style of filming and not the stories themselves, there are those that think that Tim's style is very gothic in nature, bereft of subtle colour and can maybe (possibly unknowingly) be interpreted as being a little depressing. Could this have been caused from the very beginning when Beetle Juice first arrived on our screens? For the Batman film this could be excused, because of the fact that, the whole Gotham City story and that of the main character, is one which is dark to begin with… does this mean then, that this is why some people make allowances for Batman? - After all, it probably would have been "dark" regardless of who directed it.

It was to be over the next 4 years however, that people were making up their minds as to whether they liked this newer style of directing, with the releases of Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns and Ed Wood… all of which, can easily be described as dark. It is at this point, that people realised that Tim Burton didn't make Beetle Juice in a dark way in order to get attention; he did it because it was his own style and vision of story telling.

It was probably also at this point that certain people started to lose interest in the movies of Tim Burton. Although people may have thought that Beetle Juice was not only dark, but weird as well, it was almost as if they forgave Tim in favour of the excellent job he did on bringing the Batman character to life on the big screen. Even with the recent release of Batman Begins in 2005, Tim's adaptation of the comic is still considered to be the best of all the Batman movies made so far. But with the return to the weirdness and grim storytelling witnessed in Edward Scissorhands and the subsequent bleak outlook for Gotham City in Batman Retuns, Tim was not only pleasing millions but also displeasing millions at the same time. From this time onwards, you almost heard people saying to each other that if a film is directed by Tim Burton, then they won't even consider watching it. - A heavy criticism for not knowing anything about the film. The question then needs to be asked; with such a diversity of opinion, would the making of the movie trailers not be a way of enticing audiences to, at least, give the films a chance?

Even this writer has to admit; although I was excited to hear that Hollywood had announced that they were going to remake Roald Dahl's classic children's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I was disappointed to hear that Tim Burton was chosen to direct the film. I knew that the book was always a little on the twisted side (as were a lot of Dahl's books - after all, he also wrote books about giants that eat children etc) but I was always hopeful that Hollywood would lessen the blow of the more warped side of the story and concentrate on the magic of it all. I was even prepared to give it a chance when it was getting nearer to completion, hoping that Tim would "go easy" on the noir side of the book, in favour of the fact that it was, at heart, a children's story. But alas, one watch of the movie trailer for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was enough to confirm my worst suspicions that Tim had put his own "weird stamp" all over it and to this day, I have not yet seen the film. - In my opinion, somewhere in between the sickly sweet 1971 version and the deformed looking 2005 version would have been just right for me.

With all this said however, there is always two sides to every argument. It cannot be denied that Tim's visions and story telling have taken the world by storm! His films have sold millions upon millions of copies in most countries. Who is this writer to judge someone as successful as that? - Everyone is entitled to their opinion and the opinion of so many people over the world is that Tim Burton's style of directing, despite being described as gothic or weird, is also a breath of fresh air on a Hollywood movie industry that some consider to be running out of ideas.

With the release of Corpse Bride looming in the UK, it appears that this will be another Tim Burton movie which will be expected to be a smash hit, not just here, but all over the world.

Corpse Bride is released in UK Cinemas on 21st October 2005.