Tim Burton
486 connections found
Filmography
Ed Wood 1994 
Batman 1989 
Planet of the Apes 2001 
Alice in Wonderland 2010 
Batman Returns 1992 
Sleepy Hollow 1999 
Mars Attacks! 1996 
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 2016 
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 2005 
Beetlejuice 1988 
Corpse Bride 2005 
Edward Scissorhands 1990 
Frankenweenie 2012 
Big Fish 2003 
Dark Shadows 2012 
Pee-wee's Big Adventure 1985 
Dumbo 2019 
Big Eyes 2014 
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street 2007 
Frankenweenie 1984 
Vincent 1982 
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice 2024 View:
Connections, in both directions
…the fact that this bureaucratic vision of death looks as if Beetlejuice’s afterlife had been designed by Ken Adam.
…un mundo que, conceptualmente, podría haber competido con la exuberancia de un The Good Place o el artificio meticuloso de Beetlejuice.
Freyne and co-screenwriter Patrick Cunnane flesh out the afterlife in a way that feels akin to the creation of the mind in Disney's Inside Out, or the afterlife in Beetlejuice.
The afterlife’s waiting room shares some DNA with Beetlejuice, as the recently deceased hop off a train and wait to meet their AC (afterlife coordinator) in a clinical lobby area.
Forget typical cinematic depictions of the pearly gates or Tim Burton's Beetlejuice dead-world weirdness.
Other afterlife rules (which are highly reminiscent of Tim Burton’s interpretation in Beetlejuice, but without the gothic aesthetic and horror elements) make less sense, such as the idea that each soul can choose only one paradise to live in.
X-Men (2000)
Directed by Bryan Singer
influenced Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016), Batman Returns (1992)
Plot Themes
The whole thing sounded too much like a copyright-skirting nod to Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, of “X-Men” fame.
Other viewers will see echoes of X-Men , Groundhog Day , Ladyhawke , Toy Story and even the 1980s Biggles movie, as the story progresses.
The movie's a testament to outsiders, as most of Burton's films are, though the source material (the novel) feels to me like inorganic matter, made up of too many easily identifiable fantasy reference points, from Harry Potter to the mutants of "X-Men."
Guided by Ransom Riggs’ YA novel on which the film is based, Burton riffs on X-Men and (to a lesser extent) Harry Potter, and while the combination may look winning on paper, the results are tragically clichéd and will likely leave fans of both Burton and the novel frustrated and confused.
It just can’t stop coming up with limitlessly peculiar stuff, much of which has a familiar odor: It’s “X-Men” meets “Alice in Wonderland” meets “Groundhog Day,” plus there’s a kind of Addams Family versus the Holocaust vibe — “They’re creepy, they’re spikey, they’re totally Third Reich-y.”
This is pretty much Burton doing an X-Men movie, with a plucky yesteryear vibe and evil Samuel L. Jackson thrown in for extra fun.
Daredevil (2003)
Directed by Mark Steven Johnson
influenced by Batman (1989)
Characters Visuals Themes
‘DAREDEVIL,” the blind hero of this poor man’s “Batman” played by Ben Affleck in autopilot mode and a red leather suit, has had his other senses so heightened he has to sleep in a sensory deprivation tank.
Como especie de respuesta a Batman, de DC Cómics, Marvel saca a la luz a un héroe que igualmente perdió a sus padres cuando chico, de personalidad oscura y cuyo traje característico también tiene un par de cuernos en la cabeza.
He’s more like the various aloof Bruce Waynes of the the Batman franchise than the more human heroes of Spider-Man or X‑Men .
The film's gloriously gloomy visuals and rapid-fire editing are clear indicators that Johnson has carefully studied all the successful superhero films, from Tim Burton's 1989 "Batman" on.
Mark Steven Johnson, who also wrote the script, directs crisply but timidly, in a style that could be summed up as "Batman" meets "The Matrix’’ meets "Spider-Man."
Johnson's inspiration is clearly Frank Miller's baroque and bloody Daredevil books of the early 1980s, deconstructionist comics that led to Miller's ominous mid-'80s reinvention of Batman (and subsequently, Tim Burton's Batman movies).
But Cruise plays Jack’s reactions so convincingly that you can’t help but go along with them, and Kosinski crafts an immersive world that borrows from the long history of science-fiction cinema (including Solaris, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Planet of the Apes, to name a few) without coming off as a direct rip-off of anything in particular.
Sci-fi zealots might find it fun to count off the references to “La Jetee,” “Planet of the Apes,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” and “The Empire Strikes Back.”
And it doesn't help that the film’s mysteries unravel so slowly that the film is three-fourths over by the time Act One breaks, nor that the plot developments are, on the whole, so by-the-numbers it’s impossible not to dwell on the crater-sized plot holes and the countless cribbings from much better movies like Total Recall, Planet of the Apes, and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
You know a pictures derivative when a list of titles in the same genre technically constitutes a string of spoilers Blade Runner, Independence Day, The Matrix, Moon, Planet of the Apes, Star Wars, WALL-E, 2001.
Plot points, images, and themes are cobbled together from a raft of sci-fi films including The Matrix, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Moon, Wall-E, and Planet of the Apes, among others.
It's a mixture of La jetée , 2001: A Space Odyssey , Planet of the Apes , Total Recall and Wall-E .
Groundhog Day (1993)
Directed by Harold Ramis
influenced Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016)
Plot Themes
Overseas, Abe's past becomes clearer, part of a time-continuum ploy Riggs devised, like Groundhog Day rebooted to World War II.
It just can’t stop coming up with limitlessly peculiar stuff, much of which has a familiar odor: It’s “X-Men” meets “Alice in Wonderland” meets “Groundhog Day,” plus there’s a kind of Addams Family versus the Holocaust vibe — “They’re creepy, they’re spikey, they’re totally Third Reich-y.”
It's the same day, over and over again, "Groundhog Day" style.
Miss Peregrine has been able so far to preserve in an endless cycle, “Groundhog Day”-style, the day prior to the fatal bombing by creating “loops” in time.
The result is basically “Groundhog Day” meets The X-Men, with a touch of “American Horror Story” thrown in for good measure.
The peculiar children of the film's title are certainly unique but you can find plenty of other films in the DNA of "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children," particularly skeleton soldiers from "Jason and the Argonauts," the X-Men franchise for making freaks lovable, "Groundhog Day" and even the underappreciated Hayden Christensen film "Jumper," which also has time shifting at its core and the same sort of evil force in Samuel L. Jackson.
Lisa Frankenstein (2024)
Directed by Zelda Williams
influenced by Beetlejuice (1988)
Visuals Characters Themes
As for the obvious Tim Burton flair of the film (including the house and neighborhood exteriors), it's in large part because of how much Lisa reminds one of Ryder's characters in Beetlejuice and Heathers, with McLaughlin adding, “Winona Ryder is a huge influence for me in that period, and we were absolutely inspired by her costumes in Beetlejuice and Heathers.
Lisa is in the vein of Lydia Deetz from Beetlejuice, though to call her a successor to the character would be overstating things.
In practice, it's like a gothic negative print of She's All That filtered through early Burtonesque whimsy, a la Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice.
This narrative is cut from the same cloth as a film like Beetlejuice (1988) and really mixes horror and comedy well.
Unlike the New York City-inspired utopia of Fritz Lang's 1927 masterpiece “Metropolis,” Furst's Big Apple is visibly corrupt and full of worms.
Only in the climax, in a cathedral belfry showdown reminiscent of the climax of Metropolis , does Nicholson seem finally to grow into the character — just in time for him to be killed off.
In the case of Batman, the far more appropriate adjective is "Expressionist", as in "German Expressionist", as in, "This film isn't merely influenced by Metropolis , it's an out-and-out copy".
Hook (1991)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
influenced Alice in Wonderland (2010), Big Fish (2003), Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016), Batman Returns (1992)
Themes Plot
The idea that Big Fish is some kind of turning point towards maturity for Tim Burton (a mid-life crisis like backhanded observation that also befell Steven Spielberg with Hook) is for thumbnosed critics unable to grasp that Burton has been making adult fairy-tales all the way back to Pee-Wee�s Big Adventure.
This story, inspired by Carroll and credited to screenwriter Linda Woolverton, recalls Steven Spielberg’s contemplation of a grown-up Peter Pan in “Hook,” which seemed at least partially the director’s effort to reconcile his own youthful enthusiasms with grown-up responsibilities.
Oh, it was inspired by that book (and its sequel, "Through the Looking-Glass"), using the same characters and many similar motifs, but like Spielberg's "Hook" in relation with J.M. Barrie "Peter Pan", "Alice in Wonderland" is actually a variation on the source material more than a straight retelling of the original story.Also not unlike "Hook" is the way our protagonist, Alice ("Alice?"), is now older, has all but forgotten her famous adventures and has seemingly lost her "muchness".
It actually has quite a bit in commonwith Steven Spielberg's 1991 flop Hook.
Playing like a sequel to the infamous story of the little girl falling down the rabbit hole, this film has more in common with Steven Spielberg’s lousy Peter Pan sequel Hook than with Burton’s best films.
This “Alice” adventure is conceived as more of a sequel, treading where “Return to Oz” and “Hook” already splashed up a storm.
Sweeney Todd (2006)
Directed by David Moore
influenced Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016), Dark Shadows (2012), Alice in Wonderland (2010), Ed Wood (1994), Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Visuals
It seemed like he might have been back on track, visually at least, with Sweeney Todd in 2007, but then, that was a bloody movie for adults, not a corporate tentpole family picture.
The middling results are especially puzzling since, like Sondheim�s blood-splattered arias in Sweeney Todd , Lewis Carroll�s topsy-turvy dreamscapes would appear to be a perfect fit for Burton�s own phantasmagoric gifts.
The "Sweeney Todd" actress is such a force here that she could make James Cameron's more visually impressive Pandora wilt in the background.
But I never expected that to be the strongest part of the film, considering this is Tim Burton we're talking about — director of "Ed Wood," "Beetle Juice," "Edward Scissorhands," "Corpse Bride" and "Sweeney Todd," and writer/producer of "The Nightmare Before Christmas."
In fact, there has been a quality of sameness in Depp's most recent three live-action collaborations with Burton (with Sweeney Todd and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory preceding this one).
Working from a screenplay by Jane Goldman (“The Woman in Black”), Burton delivers his most ambitious and engaging film since “Sweeney Todd” (2007).
Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
Directed by Don Chaffey
influenced Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016), Corpse Bride (2005)
Plot Visuals
The peculiar children of the film's title are certainly unique but you can find plenty of other films in the DNA of "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children," particularly skeleton soldiers from "Jason and the Argonauts," the X-Men franchise for making freaks lovable, "Groundhog Day" and even the underappreciated Hayden Christensen film "Jumper," which also has time shifting at its core and the same sort of evil force in Samuel L. Jackson.
Like some of the director's earlier works, this one features some moments of stop-motion animation (or at least computer animation made to appear that way) that are either lifted from other movies (a creepily modified toy battle scene reminiscent of views from "Toy Story") or are moments of homage, including a fun update on the legendary "Jason and the Argonauts" skeleton fight scene (that ends up far closer to Harryhausen's long-ago work than this year's earlier release of "Kubo and the Two Strings" that featured just one giant skeleton).
It’s all the more fun when the monsters finally turn up, with a joyous nod to the Ray Harryhausen skeleton battle from “Jason and the Argonauts” and a dining-room scene with bad guys gathered around the table to feast on a platter of children’s eyeballs.
While the finale pales in comparison to a lot of big-budget Hollywood action productions, it does have the advantage of using stop-motion animated skeletons, which pays homage to the stop-motion animation work of Ray Harryhausen in “Jason and the Argonauts.”
My favorite involves the children in a climactic battle with the monsters while receiving the aid of some reanimated skeletons — reminiscent of “Jason and the Argonauts.”
The piano Victor plays is labeled "Harryhausen," a tribute to the great and still- living animator auteur of Jason and the Argonauts, who visited the Corpse set, and the film's many dueling skeletons march in the footsteps of Ray Harryhausen's bony brigades.
Freaks (1932)
Directed by Tod Browning
influenced Dumbo (2019), Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016)
Visuals Themes
At first glance, the pairing of Ransom Riggs’s macabre 2011 coming-of-age novel Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and director Tim Burton would seem like a match made in movieland heaven: an Edward Gorey–inspired island of lost souls as filmed through the lens of old-school horror filmmakers, such as Tod Browning (1931’s Dracula and 1932’s Freaks).
Burton’s version of Riggs’ book, about children with alarming mutations and superpowers, is about what you’d expect: a tween-friendly version of Tod Browning’s shock-horror classic, “Freaks.”
There’s no inspiration from gothic art, another major influence, or even any attempt to borrow from Tod Browning’s Freaks , which seems like the best point of reference for this tale.
Burton’s inspiration for the circus is as much Tod Browning’s horror classic Freaks as the Disney original.
Iron Man (2008)
Directed by Jon Favreau
influenced by Batman (1989), Batman Returns (1992)
Visuals Characters Themes
Reversing a superhero trend that started with Tim Burton's decidedly dark 1989 "Batman" -- and which lesser directors have tried to ape in almost every subsequent superhero film churned out by Hollywood -- "Iron Man" avoids taking itself too seriously, as embodied in its vivid lighting design and brightly colored palette.
You may have never thought of Robert Downey Jr. as a superhero — and I don't want to hear why you think Michael Keaton was an inspired choice for Tim Burton's weak "Batman."
And while Bridges obviously relishes his role, chewing through his scenes with a voracious appetite, it is pushing-middle-age hipster Downey who, like Johnny Depp in "Pirates of the Caribbean" or Michael Keaton in "Batman," takes control of a role he has no earthly right inhabiting and turns it into something intrinsically, quintessentially, elementally his.
Michael Keaton and George Clooney, in the “Batman” series, brought an instinct for satire to comic-book movies, giving their mock-stentorian lines a twist.
Jack Nicholson as The Joker in "Batman" (1989) and Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lector in "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991) had their reputations boosted by brilliantly portraying villains.
Comparisons can be made between Iron Man and Batman.
The references extend from the 1931 Boris Karloff version of Frankenstein to 1965’s Gamera to Burton’s past work, and they invade every aspect of the film: the black-and-white color palette, character designs, scenes, shot setups, gags, dialogue, casting, and even a sequence where the protagonist’s parents watch the Peter Cushing/Christopher Lee feature Horror Of Dracula on TV.
The film also tosses in visual references to dozens of vintage horror and sci-fi pictures, from the Universal Studios classics of the 1930s to monster flicks of the ’50s and ’60s (and at one point, Victor’s mom and dad cuddle on the couch as they watch Christopher Lee in Horror of Dracula).
Whatever the explanation for this burst of "Creature Features" nostalgia, it's unlikely any upcoming "monster kid" movie will be as devoted to the genre as "Frankenweenie," a work that interrupts the animation only to share a live-action clip of Christopher Lee stalking a neck in Hammer's "Horror of Dracula" (1958).
When Victor sneaks into the house after disinterring Sparky, his parents are watching Horror of Dracula of their own accord, contently.
Sadly, that project never materialized; instead, we were belatedly treated to 2004's Turkey Hall of Fame contender Catwoman, with Halle Berry.
So let's just start with the decision to extract one of the most popular villains from the Batman canon and attempt to make her a superhero in her own right.
The last time Catwoman was portrayed on screen, it was by Michelle Pfeiffer in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns.
Halle Berry makes her bid for box-office superstardom in "Catwoman," a spinoff of the "Batman" franchise that is pretty slim pickings compared with some recent comic book adaptations (not just the "Spider-Man" movies but "X-Men" and even "Hellboy" come to mind).
Catwoman was introduced in the second of four Batman films Batman Returns.
Fans of the original Catwoman from any of her various Batman-related incarnations (comics, cartoons, TV show or Tim Burton’s Batman Returns) should be advised that the only thing the new movie has in common with the original is the name, a woman and a vaguely cat-like suit.
As such, "Justice League" stands on "Wonder Woman’s" shoulders to leap into infinity, and you’ll leave it believing "Aquaman," "Flashpoint," "Wonder Woman 2," "Cyborg," "Green Lantern Corps," "Batman," "Man Of Steel 2," can take the DCEU into the beyond.
Kudos to Danny Elfman, who went back to basics for his score, drawing heavily on his own theme from Batman (1989) but not ignoring the previous work of other composers (both recent and not-so-recent).
Justice League begins by awkwardly reintroducing two of DC’s marquee characters: the ageless Amazon warrior-princess Diana (Gal Gadot), better known as Wonder Woman, and the billionaire Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), who dons high-tech armor to fight crime on the industrial rooftops of Gotham City as Batman.
Some of that is down to Danny Elfman, Tim Burton’s former composer of choice, taking on scoring duties, and weaving both the ’89 Batman motif and John Williams’ ’78 Superman riff into the fabric.
But it suggests the Affleck Batman’s past is far closer to the Tim Burton films of yore than the straight-faced Nolan trilogy; a notion only reinforced by composer Danny Elfman (replacing Hans Zimmer) sneaking back a snatch of his original, ’89 Batman theme.
Apart from the Addams Family feel, find nods to Hammer horror (a cameo by Christopher Lee included), typically glib period source music ("Knights in White Satin," "Season of the Witch"), and a climax that evokes Death Becomes Her.
Troll dolls!), climaxing with a CGI-fueled confrontation between the blondes in the Collinwood foyer that revives unwelcome memories of Robert Zemeckis’ “Death Becomes Her.”
At one point, it even appears to emulate that macabre 1992 comedy “Death Becomes Her.”
Up until an f/x-laden climax that desperately conjures everything from "Rebecca" to "Death Becomes Her," Depp just about holds it all together, unsurprisingly emerging as the pic's most reliable element.
About their battle: It manifests itself in a special-effects showcase that needs the feather-light touch of “Death Becomes Her,” not the tromping stampede of “Jumanji.”
What is meant to be a wondrous tale, a big-fish story that evokes the spirit of "Forrest Gump" and displays Burton's surrealistic imagery and set design, is a disappointingly dull thud of a fantasy.
These two themes it lamely tries to spin for two long and charmless hours, somewhat like "Forrest Gump" on a high colonic.
Some viewers will no doubt compare Big Fish to the overrated Forrest Gump, but the two films could not differ more.
I’ll admit I deemed this as a “Forrest Gump” rip-off from the trailer, but I was pleasantly surprised by this tale of tall tales translated through such a grim story such as a father’s inability to communicate with his son, an amazing and beautiful film with Burton’s usual oddities and weird characters followed by his masterful use of odd special effects glossed over by a dreamy hazey point of view within the fantasies and tall tales of life and love.
Critics have already been comparing Tim Burton’s new film Big Fish to Forrest Gump, which is somewhat of a mis-association.
Is that because, like the similar fabulation in Forrest Gump, it offers a profoundly meretricious portrait of the US from the Depression to, roughly, the present?
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973)
Directed by Gordon Hessler
influenced Corpse Bride (2005)
Visuals
That would be Burton's tribute to Ray Harryhausen, the man who brought stop-motion animation to the level of artistry ("Jason and the Argonauts," "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad").
Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)
Directed by Sam Raimi
influenced by Alice in Wonderland (2010), Dark Shadows (2012)
Visuals
It will remind you of Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland,” but it’s much better than that.
And it’s all punctuated by a Danny Elfman score that serves as a reminder of how similar this effects-laden extravaganza is to the latter-day (and mediocre) work of Elfman’s frequent collaborator, Tim Burton – specifically, 2010’s “Alice in Wonderland,” also from Disney.
A not-so-subtle attempt by the Mouse House to cash in on the success of “Alice in Wonderland,” “Oz the Great and Powerful” feels like more of a sequel to that film than anything resembling Victor Fleming’s seminal classic “The Wizard of Oz,” no matter how many cheeky references are crammed into the story.
The end result is something akin to Tim Burtons “Alice in Wonderland,” which had a similar problem with hyper-detailed, brightly colored backgrounds becoming a messy smudge whenever theres any 3D action.
Unlike such financial bombs as John Carter, Battleship and the recent Jack the Giant Slayer, this Oz prequel will likely be a box office champion — parent company Disney is obviously hoping for grosses to match those of its 2010 offering Alice in Wonderland, Tim Burton's occasionally magical but more often misguided reworking of a beloved fantasy franchise.
“Oz the Great and Powerful” is headed to the dust bin of misguided attempts to replicate the recent billion-dollar success of Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland.”
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
Directed by Patty Jenkins
influenced by Batman Returns (1992), Batman (1989)
Themes Characters Plot
Because sometimes it’s handy to have, if I were to compare 1984 to any other superhero story, it would be a mix of Batman Returns (1992) and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987).
Barbara’s slow transformation to a more confident and unexpectedly powerful woman will get compared to Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns — and certainly Wiig’s endearingly insecure performance owes itself to that performance — but it’s actually closer to a traditional superhero transformation sequence, akin to something out of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man .
Too much of Wiig’s bumbling-and-mumbling act practically Xeroxes Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman origin from Batman Returns, removing the tribal warrior bite that her archenemy should be.
Loading up on villains can work, of course, but only under specific conditions: Tim Burton's 1992 film Batman Returns famously recruited both Catwoman and the Penguin to great effect — but both of those characters had already established significant cultural footprints: beloved by Nerds, recognizable by Normals.
There’s no Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns-level stuff here, but Cheetah is ferocious in her own way.
First up is Wiig’s Barbara Minerva, a geeky and frazzled archaeologist/amateur cryptozoologist whose journey to becoming the supervillain Cheetah feels an awful lot like the misadventures of Batman Returns’ Selina Kyle/Catwoman.