Have Your Say: When Did Tim Burton Jump the Shark?

Peter Martin, Managing Editor

The arrival of Tim Burton's Dark Shadows in theatres this week fills me with dread -- and not the good kind.

When Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Burton's feature directorial debut, burst on the scene in 1985, it was a blast of fresh air, a kiddie tale cleverly targeted at the demented adolescent yearning of young adults. Burton followed that up with Beetlejuice in 1988, the first full-blown manifestation of what has become his signature style: dark fantasies leavened by childish humor and adorned in sumptuously colorful costumes and production design, accompanied by Danny Elfman, a master of minor-chord musical scoring.

To greater or lesser extent, Burton has been reworking the styles, themes, and jokes from Beetlejuice ever since. He rescued Batman from the memory of the 60s TV show, explored the moody depths of twisted suburbia in Edward Scissorhands, remained deeply unhappy with Batman Returns, produced the exceptional The Nightmare Before Christmas, honored the cinematic work ethic in Ed Wood, desecrated 50s sci-fi classics in Mars Attacks!, and plunged into his deepest approximation of true horror in Sleepy Hollow.

Those were all fine, fascinating, often memorable efforts, all made in the studio system and all worthy of revisits. But the turning point in his career seems to have come with his ill-fated remake of Planet of the Apes in 2001.

For all of his skills as a visual storyteller, Burton could not do much of anything with Planet. Lacking a compelling reason for the remake -- other than the studio's desire to exploit a popular property -- and perhaps affected by a rushed production schedule, this was the first of Burton's pictures that felt like a job for hire.

Throughout the decade following that disappointment, I've found it increasingly difficult to enjoy Burton's work. His visual style remains distinctly his own, but his films lack the sparkle and energy that marked his earlier efforts. The fantasy of Big Fish feels lackadaisical, the whimsy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory comes across in a forced manner, and even Corpse Bride failed to engage completely.

Sweeney Todd and Alice in Wonderland continued this downward trend, and advance word on Dark Shadows has not been encouraging. Circumstances prevented me from attending an advance screening last night, so dim hope still prevails, but I can't say I look forward to his films anymore; they feel increasingly like the work of a creatively exhausted director who keeps making movies because studios like the profits that he makes them.

But maybe that's just me. What do you think? Are you still on board with Tim Burton? Do you think his best work lies ahead? Or do you believe he's run out of tricks? Should he continue working with Johnny Depp? Have your say in the comments below.

Around the Internet:

MarsHottentot

It's funny. It wasn't until only recently that I realized "Wow. I don't much like Tim Burton". I guess for years I respected his vision even though, on reflection, I haven't really loved anything since Beetlejuice. Though I like Ed Wood and kinda like parts of Mars Attacks!, I can sincerly say that I've walked out of his films feeling underwhelmed. I guess I bought into the 'gothy overcoat' much of his work wears, I suppose he's the cinematic equivalent to The Cure in that way. I hated Batman; still one of the dumbest movies I ever seen.

theshape31

I loved everything he did prior to Ed Wood, but only one after it (Sleepy Hollow). He definitely jumped the shark at Ed Wood, no doubt.

lannyfisher

Planet of the Apes was bad, but I had primarily chalked that up to bad casting. (Mark Walberg = fail).

Alice in Wonderland was absolutely awful, thoroughly boring, and I wondered what the hell Burton was thinking.

I'm starting to think that Burton, Depp and Bonham-Carter should try going their separate creative ways for a while, because their little "dream team" isn't working so well anymore. Depp is excellent at his comedy roles, but he also excels at dramatic roles. He should team up with someone like David Cronenberg and step into the role of a very deep, fleshed-out character.

Burton should give German Expressionism a rest for a while and try something outside of his comfort zone (such as Scorsese doing "Hugo" or Jim Cameron doing "Titanic").

Bonham-Carter always puts on a great performance, and should continue working on whatever she wants.

Niels Matthijs

Personally I think his adaptation of Alice was his best work so far (not his most original though). I've never been a big Burton fan, never really found his mix of mature and kiddy to work very well. I always felt he should've done more with the concepts he explored, instead he always gets stuck around halfway a project's potential.

Not really looking forward to this film though, I'm a bit tired of Depp doing the same thing in different clothes over and over again. I am moderately excited about Frankenweenie though, but that's probably my soft spot for stop-motion.

Greg Christie

Behind every good man is a great woman. Burton went to shit the moment he started thinking with his little head and started fucking his actresses. He was a fantastic art director and illustrator/animator who was always a hack (not meant as an insult). He never had any real passion or talent for directing and constantly admits himself. He's not a story teller, he's merely a designer who started as an animator for Disney on The Fox and Hound. He lucked out on getting Pee Wee after doing Frankenweenie and the script matched his sensibilities. His ex-wife Carolyn Thompson helped pen many uncredited re-writes on Beetlejuice (the original script is HORRID!, and as much as I love the film, its structure is a mess because it was practically written as they shot it.) Carolyn Thompson wrote Edward Scissorhands and Nightmare Before Christmas, and did a lot of uncredited edits on Ed Wood. But Burton went and fucked Lisa Marie and everything went to hell. And then he moved onto dating Estelle Warren before marrying Helena Bohen Carter and became the ultimate hipster goth couple. It's almost unfair to say that Tim Burton turned into a shitty director over the years, he was never really any good, just really lucky in getting attached to the right projects. He's been a hack his entire "artistic" career and should be viewed as a commercial graphic designer rather than an auteur.

Will

I pretty much agree with this entire article. He needs to start anew and cast someone other than Depp for a while.

callieatom

He is simply parody of himself, Mars Attacks (which I really like) did mark the end of his creativity, this piece hits the nail on the head!

I especially hate his own sense of hype/branding ''What would people like to see Tim Burton re-imagine?'' as though the world was just aching to see him mangle Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland...He became a very lazy director and what was once his strongest suit (visual flair) has become predictable and gaudy. No need to be precious about him, he has now spent more years making rubbish than he did making good.

icn1983

I loved "Big Fish" and didn't mind "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" as much as I thought I would. As for the question of when did Tim Burton "jump the shark"...I don't know, although I do cringe a bit when he's billed as "the director of 'Alice in Wonderland,'" but only because he's directed so many of my favorite movies.

Oh and all the people who listed "Mars Attacks!" are just wrong. That movie is a brilliant satire and would be great on a double-bill with "Starship Troopers."

soupcrusher

this movie looks like he's attempting to bring back the kind of humor that made his earlier films so fun. but that attempt is leaving us with bad jokes showing Barnabus interacting and reacting to the 60s. cars! tv! hippies! maybe the cast could hold it up? atleast eva green is nice on the eyes.

as for jumping the shark, frankenweenie. the man has actually gone and remade his own work. shark jumped.

rondertaker

really its been downhill since pee-wee.

multimediaculture.wordpress.co

I can't say Burton's jumped the shark. He has some good ideas every now and then. I think his pairing with Depp is ruining him, though. Instead of focusing on making a great story and world, he just focuses on making Depp weird - which doesn't seem to take much effort.

James Dennis

Nothing worth a penny for me since Batman. Everything I've seen since smacks of a smug, brand Tim Burton love-in with his signature quirky-sensational visuals, which really are just a bore.

andrewz

I find Ed Wood to be his last great film. I enjoyed Mars Attacks, but found it uneven. Saw Sleepy Hollow in the theater and vowed to never watch another Burton movie there. I've kept that vow to this day.

For me, it is almost as if Burton's just an arrogant SOB. He doesn't care what anybody but him thinks about a property such as Batman, PotA, or Alice in Wonderland. And he's going to have Helena Bonham Carter in it somewhere. What started out as a career outside the Hollywood mainstream now only seems to be a shell devoted to the worst aspects of said town.

heartattackandvine

i see the fact which is pointed out by "Darvant" - burtons style still seems very unique compared to a hell lot of other big studio productions these days. BUT compared within his own work, i defenitely got bored quite a while ago - i feel pretty much like Peter Martin does in his article - i hated his go at TPOTA and for me since then there was no tim burton film that had that special something going on as his earlier works did. actually i don't even care much about his movies anymore, which is a sad fact, because i once thought of him as one of the best there is...

this one sums it up really well (and funny):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFzLRP8e4vE

and then i sometimes i'm afraid it might be the fact that he's still alive

so far i got bored with pretty much every artist who is doing the same style over and over again - that does not happen with artists that are already dead because we have a already complete work to judge - seeing that work getting created makes us wanting something else after a decade or so otherwise we get bored

Fausto

Personally I think that everything after Ed Wood just can't reach the beauty of his first movies, even if i really (really) enjoyed Big Fish. I liked Mars Attacks and Sleepy Hollow, but they're not enough to allow people to say "Burton is the best"! I feel exactly the same way as almost all of you, everytime i learn a new Burton movie is coming to the theatres I feel something like boreness, there's just a hint of him in these films and it's there only to earn as much as possible for the studios.

I'd like to tell you that saying those things to a passionate Tim Burton's fan, i gained a new enemy! Never say bad things about Burton in front of his fan!

p.s. Johnny Depp? He's just a puppet now, not even the "shadow" of the great actor he could have become has survived... I think is one of the worst collaboration actor/director that we see nowadays!

Dravnt

See, I disagree with ya'll but for a completely different reason.

While I agree that a lot of those movies listed including & after Planet of the Apes didn't prompt the same "freshness" that his 90s films did, flip side is that Hollywood cranks out a very formulaic string of crap continually.

Tim Burton's films, though lately falling into the "crap formula," are done in such a unique style that the sheer differences from everything else makes it fresh.

My desire is to simply enjoy the Burton film style for what it is: his signature on films.

ChevalierAguila

Everything after Mars Attacks (which is pretty damn good) has been crap.

G

Apes. No question, everything he did in the 90s was good. Everything since Apes has either tried too hard to remind people who he is or has been undercooked.

That said, Dark Shadows is the only recent movie of his that I'm looking forward to only because it's been a long time since anything like this was made.

Mike

Sweeney and Big Fish were pretty great but I have such a hard time getting past Planet of the Apes since it -- and so many others following -- have been so bad. He needs to stop with the re-makes, re-imaginings, whatever. Charley & The Chocolate Factory, POTA, and Alice in Wonderland stunk on ice.

Gozan

" He needs to stop with the re-makes, re-imaginings, whatever. "

I'm pretty sure only Corpse Bride and partly Mars Attacks are not adapted material.

Avi

"Sweeney Todd" is a excellent film with almost 90% on Rotten Tomatoes!!

Gordon

I thought Mars Attacks! was pretty weak. I don't know what anybody sees in it besides Lisa Marie and some neat effects.

Sleepy Hollow was mediocre at best.

Even Big FishÂ â the best of his work since Planet of the Apes â felt, to me, like a less imaginative sibling of Baron Munchausen.

So I wouldn't even say he jumped the shark so much as his talent slowly slid downhill.

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