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Director Tim Burton is one of the most successful artists in Hollywood. He's a "brand name" director who sells tickets a la Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock and other iconic figures. You know what to expect: quirky projects, a strong visual flair, black humor and excellent actors. His movies are often acclaimed and usually massive worldwide successes. I love his taste in projects and talent and invariably get excited by the movies he's making...and invariably disappointed when they come out.
The latest example: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street ($34.99; DreamWorks). Surely this project is tailor-made for him: a Gothic musical with buckets of blood and a role suited to Burton's partner-in-crime Johnny Depp. And yet (again), the movie doesn't come close to working: the biggest crime here is not the cutting of throats but the lack of trained throats. You really shouldn't make a movie with one of the best and most challenging scores in Broadway history by casting people who can at best deliver only one-tenth of the song's power. Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, and even Sacha Baron Cohen -- couldn't they have cast at least one person who can sing?
Whatever keeps Sweeney Todd from coming alive, the film is hardly alone in the Burton canon when it comes to projects that seem like perfect fits but don't come close to delivering. Burton's feature debut was the delightful Pee-Wee's Big Adventure in 1985, but I give most of the credit for that to Paul Reubens. (Just look at the brilliant TV show he oversaw as well.) Beetle Juice in 1988 was an offbeat hit (again, most of his movies are commercially successful) but even at the time it seemed barely above the level of a so-so sitcom.
1989's Batman should be unassailable -- it drew inspiration from dark re-imaginings of Batman, featured soaringly oppressive sets and a (wildly over-praised) performance from Jack Nicholson as the Joker. But have you watched it lately? The movie is remarkably stolid. Keaton looks lightweight as Bruce Wayne, Kim Basinger is a joke as the love interest, Nicholson is beyond scenery chewing (the "scary" scene where we watch the Joker dance to a song by Prince is just embarrassing) and the action scenes are incompetent.
Need further proof? Check out 1992's Batman Returns. We all fondly remember Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman (she really was great) but ignore the tediousness that dominates the rest of the film, from the endless backstories of the villains (like the original, it's a movie where Batman seems to play second fiddle) to the insanely awful action "climax" featuring penguins waddling around with missiles strapped to their backs.
In between those two is Edward Scissorhands from 1990 and since a lovely performance can hide many flaws, this one holds up pretty well. But anything other than Johnny Depp is obvious and flat here, like the heavy-handed satire about cookie cutter suburban living. 1994's Ed Wood is easily Burton's best work -- ironically a loving homage to a director who lovingly made bad movies.
Mars Attacks! (1996) is just a misfire, the word that typifies everything from here on out. Sleepy Hollow (1999) seems like a slam dunk when you hear about it but holds no interest after you've seen it once. Planet of the Apes is a legendary 2001 disaster, Big Fish (2003) just aimless whimsy, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) creepy (and visually just a rehash of the original) and Sweeney Todd emotionally flat. That's a lot of duds surrounding the one or two movies that might make you say, "But I liked that."
The one area where Burton has been consistent, the one area where he perhaps should have been focused all along, is animation and stop-motion movies. His shorts Vincent and Frankenweenie are droll, the marvelous Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas was directed by Henry Selick but has Burton's heart and soul, and Corpse Bride is a solid follow-up. So with two new projects apparently in the works, I'll hold out the most hope for the feature-length animated version of Frankenweenie. The other project is a new adaptation of Alice in Wonderland and of course it makes sense, it seems an obvious project that should bring out the best in him and...and...we've been down that road too many times before.
Also out this week: John From Cincinnati: The Complete Series ($59.98; HBO), which features creator David Milch's commentary on the pilot and finale -- he's profane and quirky and wonderfully random but you still won't have a clue as to what's going on in this metaphysical surf show; Father Knows Best Season One ($34.99; Shout) lacks the bite of Leave it To Beaver or the kitschy appeal of The Brady Bunch and certainly never approaches the heights of I Love Lucy but families don't change that much and it's comforting to think that at least one time long ago life seemed that simple; Ron Livingston stars as a crusading Vietnam Vet in Music Within ($27.98; MGM) and he's happy to be upstaged throughout by Michael Sheen as a wheelchair-bound buddy; one of the most beautiful actors ever is celebrated in The Alain Delon 5-Film Collection ($39.98; Lions Gate), with movies ranging from the 60s to the 80s and throughout Delon's savvy taste in scripts like The Swimming Pool and Diabolically Yours kept him from being just a pretty face; the Coens aren't the only brothers to triumph as a team, as demonstrated by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, who see three of their films released on DVD including Fiorile, Kaos and their masterpiece The Night Of The Shooting Stars ($26.98 each; Koch Lorber); Blue Man Group's How To Be A Megastar Live! ($19.99; Rhino), a DVD of their latest concert (a mock discussion of how to create the perfect concert performance) with a CD and tons of extras makes one thing clear -- if Blue Man Group weren't so commercially popular, they'd get more props from critics; Reservation Road ($29.98; Universal) is apparently paved with good intentions, since an acclaimed novel by John Burnham Schwartz, a solid director in Terry George and an excellent cast including Mark Ruffalo, Joaquin Phoenix, Jennifer Connelly and Mira Sorvino failed to make the slightest impression with audiences or critics; the eighth and final season of That '70s Show ($49.98; Fox), which includes interviews from the final week on the set of a show that definitively proved casting is everything; flashy new packaging can't disguise the fact that The Girl Next Door ($14.98; Fox) is sub-sub-par Risky Business but since star Emile Hirsch went on to do great work on Into The Wild, don't be so quick to dismiss the talent as much as the project they were working on; for people (like me) who never tire of the Beatles, snatch up John, Paul, Tom & Ringo -- The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder ($24.99; Shout), which includes two full episodes with Lennon and one each with McCartney and Starr; TV can hit great heights but it's often just comfort food, as demonstrated by Ted Danson's genial crank on the unremarkable but successful Becker First Season ($36.98; Paramount); The Cutting Edge: Chasing The Dream ($26.98; MGM) is another sequel to the modestly enduring ice-skating romance, but this time the hockey player...is the girl (!) and if that sounds like an exciting twist you'll probably enjoy it or at least enjoy looking at the cute leads Francia Raisa and Matt Lanter; the only Law & Order franchise where emoting isn't against the rules continues with Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Year Six ($59.98; Universal); and the best TV mystery show where being a card-carrying member of the AARP means you're MORE likely to get a guest-starring role continues with Murder, She Wrote Eighth Season ($49.98; Universal).
So tell me: do you think Tim Burton is over-rated, under-rated or just an offbeat sensibility that somehow connects with audiences again and again?
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Posted March 31, 2008 | 09:24 PM (EST)