| Tim Burton Movies are Magic |
Tim Burton movies are always a treat. Director Tim Burton has contributed more to the genre of fantasy than any other director. Every one of his films reflect his unique vision, which is a delicious blend of quirkiness and eccentricity. He has a knack for capturing offbeat characters and the story worlds they inhabit.
 Tim Burton's 2005 movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Too often, filmmakers lose so much of the magic of fantasy when they try to transport a story from the written page to the big screen. But Tim captures the fantasy spirit so wonderfully in movies such as Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish and Sleepy Hollow. Watching these Tim Burton movies is like stepping into a dream. The story-world becomes your world and the characters’ journey becomes your own.
The good news is that we fantasy fans have even more great Tim Burton movies to look forward to. He’s remaking one of his earliest movies called Frankenweenie, about a boy who brings his dog back to life, due out in 2009.
And he’s about to become the first modern-day director to turn Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland into a blockbuster movie, and I dare say a huge success. Tim’s version of Alice in Wonderland will star Mia Wasikowska as Alice and is due in theaters in 2010.
These are all movies that Tim directed. He also wrote, co-wrote and/or produced some of them too. They are mostly but not all fantasy.
Here are my Top Ten Tim Burton Movies
 10. Batman Returns (1992)
The mysterious Catwoman puts the moves on Batman as he tries to stop the grotesque villain Penguin from taking over Gotham City.
 9. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
A sadistic barber and his equally deranged tenant set out on a bloody murder spree to wipe out London's corrupt upper classes.
 8. Corpse Bride (2005)
A shy groom recites his wedding vows in a woods and accidentally slips his wedding ring onto the finger of a corpse, making her his wife.
 7. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
Willy Wonka is wackier than ever is this version of Roald Dahl’s famous book.
 6. Sleepy Hollow (1999)
This movie gives a fresh take on the age-old Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Ichabod Crane is a New York detective who goes to the small town of Sleepy Hollow to solve a series of brutal murders.
Here come the Top Five Tim Burton Movies:
 5. Batman (1989)
A murderer falls into a pit of acid and becomes The Joker, a crazed criminal bent on wreaking havoc on Gotham City. And the caped crusader is the only one who can bring him down.
 4. Beetlejuice (1988)
A newly-deceased young couple go to great lengths to rid the house they lovingly decorated of its wealthy new owners – only to become the main attraction among their guests.
 3. Big Fish (2003)
Experience the colorful life of Edward, a gifted storyteller at the end of his life, as he recounts for the final time his friendship with a giant, his stint as a circus worker and the lengths he went to to win the heart of his beloved wife.
 2. Ed Wood (1994)
A lousy director with transvestite tendencies tries to make his mark on Hollywood with a series of low-budget horror movies.
1. Edward Scissorhands (1990 - below)
Edward, who as his name suggests has scissors for hands, lives all alone in the mansion his father left him until a kindly saleswoman takes him in. This heartwarming movie combines the talents of Burton and leading man Johnny Depp.
| | Tim Burton Characters |
Tim Burton characters range from sadistic killers to quirky candy makers to adventurous salesmen and their loyal lovable friends. The director of some of the most enchanting fantasy movies of all time is as powerful onset as his characters are on the big screen. He has written, co-written, produced and/or directed dozens of movies and brought to life some of the world’s most memorable characters.
Here are portraits of five of the most memorable Tim Burton characters, The Joker, Edward (from Big Fish), Ed Wood, Willy Wonka and Edward Scissorhands:
 The Joker
portrayed by Jack Nicholson in the 1989 movie Batman(left)
Heath Ledger’s inspired performance as the Joker in the 2008 movie The Dark Knight shouldn’t be allowed to overshadow Jack Nicholson's Joker, which is just as memorable – if somewhat less disturbing.
In Burton's Batman, the Joker is a criminal called Jack Napier, who becomes horribly disfigured after falling into a pit of chemicals. He returns a few years later as the psychotic and unpredictable Joker, ready to take on Gotham and bring Batman down.
This Joker is less ruthless than the one famously portrayed by Ledger but is equally destructive in his own way. He disfigures the face of his girlfriend and murders Gotham residents with a poison that makes them laugh themselves to death. And in the final scene, he reveals himself as the murderer of Batman's parents, who he shot to death in an alley.
 Edward
portrayed by Ewan McGregor (who plays him as a young man - left) and Albert Finney (who plays him in his later years) in the 2003 movie Big Fish
Many Tim Burton characters seem to have a way of perceiving the world that has more to do with fantasy than reality. This is especially true for retired traveling salesman, Edward, whose stories of his past are full of fancy and exaggeration.
In the movie, we meet Edward at the end of a long and colorful life as he recalls his most memorable experiences. Theyinclude an encounter with a witch, a friendship with a giant and a stint working in a circus, all of which he gives a fairy tale twist.
Edward is a charming, sweet, loveable man and a gifted storyteller. His stories live on through his son, Will, who learns to embrace his dad’s gift in the last days of his dad’s life.
 Ed Wood
portrayed by Johnny Depp in the 1994 movie Ed Wood (left)
Tim’s movie, Ed Wood wasn’t inspired solely by a book or his own imagination but a real-life man. Edward Davis Wood lived from 1924 to 1978 and was the jack of all movies trades, the master of none. He was a screenwriter, director, producer, actor, author and editor, best remembered for the awful movies he made.
Tim’s portrayal of a young Ed is of a delightfully delusional and eccentric man with transvestite tendencies and an unwavering belief in his movie-making skills. The most touching storyline has to be his relationship with horror star Béla Lugosi, who he befriends in the last years ofBéla's life.
Ed is one of the most interesting of all the Tim Burton characters. He is far more adored in death than he ever was in his life, thanks in part to Burton and Depp, whose combined talents made this movie a cult hit.
 Willy Wonka
portrayed by Johnny Depp in the 2005 movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (left)
Many Tim Burton characters are rejected for being different. But it is their differences that make them special and beloved, - at least to me!
Enter Willy Wonka, the founder of the Wonka Candy Company and the greatest candy maker in the world. The quirky and eccentric character was first conceived of by Roald Dahl in his 1964 book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and famously brought to life on screen in the 1971 movie, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
In Tim’s version of the movie, which is as weird as it is wonderful, Wonka is the son of a dentist, who forbids him from eating candy and forces him to wear a large ugly head brace. In rebellion, Wonka leaves home and opens a chocolate factory where he can eat as much as candy as he wants.
After rival candymakers try to steal his secret recipes, Wonka shuts up the factory and hires a team of little men called Oompa Loompas to help him run it. But faced with his mortality, Wonka opens the factory one last time to find a worthy heir, with outrageous results.
Edward Scissorhands
portrayed by Johnny Depp in the 1990 movie Edward Scissorhands (below)
The day I fell in love with one of the Tim Burton characters was the day I got to know the most sensitive, compassionate and misunderstood of all his creations, Edward Scissorhands. Edward is the sole human creator of a lonely inventor who dies just before giving Edward a real pair of hands. So Edward has a bunch of scissors for hands and it is in this state that a kindly saleswoman called Peg Boggs finds him and takes him in.
Edward’s naïve trusting nature endears him to Peg’s family, especially her daughter, Kim. But her neighbors turn on him eventually and drive him back to the mansion where he was ‘born’ to live out his life in isolation.
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For Tim Burton Sleepy Hollow was an opportunity to showcase his skills as a director of horror as well as fantasy. He shot almost all of the movie on sets in England for about $30 million. It proved a box office hit, raking in over $200 million. Let's look first at the original legend of Sleepy Hollow and then at Tim's hit movie.
Washington Irving Sleepy Hollow
 The movie by Tim Burton Sleepy Hollow is loosely based on Washington Irving’s short story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The legend, first published in 1820, documents the disappearance and possible demise of schoolteacher Ichabod Crane.
In Irving’s version, Ichabod goes to the New York town of Sleepy Hollow to teach children at the local school. A practical but superstitious man, he suffers no nonsense in the classroom yet believes every myth and legend he hears. He is particularly unnerved by the story of a decapitated rider called the Headless Horseman, who is said to haunt the town’s local woods.
One night, after being jilted by his love interest Katrina Van Tassel, Ichabod takes to the woods on horseback. The Headless Horseman appears and gives chase. And just when Ichabod thinks he’s escaped him, the Horseman throws his severed head at the schoolteacher, knocking him off his horse.
The next morning villagers find Ichabod’s abandoned hat beside a squashed pumpkin and assume he’s fallen victim to the Horseman. However, a townsman called Abraham van Blunt, who competed (successfully) against Ichabod for Katrina’s affections, wears a knowing look whenever Ichabod’s name is mentioned, leading some to believe he had a hand in his disappearance.
Tim Burton Sleepy Hollow
 Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane in the 1999 movie Sleepy Hollow
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Directed by: Tim Burton
Starring: Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Sir Michael Gambon
Some of the story elements, most notably the town of Sleepy Hollow and the legendary Headless Horseman, appear in the movie. But most of the characters and places are different to those in the original story by Washington Irving and the plot is entirely new.
In the movie by Tim Burton Sleepy Hollow is a dark town of nightmarish possibility and Ichabod Crane is a police officer in New York City with a passion for science. Ichabod’s superiors send him to Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of grisly murders - and to get him out of the way, offended as they are by his promotion of scientific methods such as fingerprinting and autopsy examinations.
On arrival in Sleepy Hollow, Ichabod is keen to put his scientific theories into practice
Amidst the terror and gore, Ichabod manages to fall in love, with the daughter of the wealthy Van Tassel family, Katrina. He soon discovers that Katrina's stepmother has been summoning the Headless Horseman to commit the murders - and that Katrina is next on her hit list.
In a desperate attempt to save his one true love, Ichabod uncovers the Horseman's grave and his entry point into this world and reunites the Horseman with his severed head. Freed of the stepmother's control, the Horseman returns to Hell, taking the stepmother with him. And so peace returns to the sleepy town. but the townspeople assure him that the murders were not committed by any human hand. Ichabod is skeptical of their supernatural claims at first but changes his mind after he encounters the Headless Horseman.
Unlike the unfortunate Ichabod in Irving’s tale, the one played by Johnny Depp wins Katrina’s heart and returns to New York with her. Surely not even Washington Irving could conceive of a girl turning Johnny Depp down!
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