Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Sometimes they come back...and it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Maybe Beetlejuice (the original movie) was an unlikely suspect to rise from its grave—it seemed like it had said all that it had to say—but no, there apparently were a few more characters left to carve onto that gravestone. It probably helped immensely that a) many of the original principals needed work, and could use an old standby to serve as a seed for something new, and b) the success of Wednesday and its young star Jenna Ortega (who is in serious danger of being forever typecast) provided source material for an injection of new life to the older work. Merge the two influences and voila, a revival arrives, bringing much of the sensibility of the original, if not quite its freshness, while adding enough touches of today to make something that can stand on its own terms. Much of the narrative here works as a slow build, not unlike the first entry, until at last the applied touches coalesce into a climax that is genuinely funny, well brought together, and satisfying in its resolution of the various plot lines. The whole story put together may be something not quite what a fan of the first flick, or of Tim Burton in general, might expect at first glance, but if you let yourself get into the ... um ... spirit of the thing, you’ll find yourself feeling like the effort was not a dead waste of time. One suspects, given the rule of saying the name three times, that a follow up will be on the way; the vote here says that enough was done this time around to make that possibility one that does not need to remain buried—though these characters could also go to their rest without it being a tragedy, either. Ultimately, I guess you can’t begrudge anyone grabbing whatever kind of afterlife they can.

Corpse Bride

Wow. When The Nightmare Before Christmas is the "normal" cousin, that's one weird family. Both that work of genius and this film bear a familial resemblance, though the younger relative is not quite the achiever that the elder cousin is. This one has a lot of the same visual inventiveness, the same mix of jokes and drama, and is mostly entertaining throughout. The only real problems here are a certain unevenness in the musical numbers; with this outing soundtrack master Danny Elfman tries to broaden the range of song styles, which only creates a certain choppiness rather than a smooth, unified score. Mostly, that's a quibble; there's more than enough good stuff here to make this flick a fun time.

Frankenweenie

I hate to be the one to have to say this, but this movie lacked a certain spark. The film had some nice touches--the Japanese kid and Gamera reference, for instance--but with a filmmaker as accomplished as Tim Burton involved, nice touches are the least you can expect. One interesting element was the undercurrent about the failure of U.S. society to appreciate and develop science and scientists, but it was little more than a couple of throwaway comments. I guess kids will enjoy it, but even then, I’m not so sure (they might not get why this film is in black and white, for instance; old references are lost on the young). Otherwise, it probably depends on how much you dig Burton and his oeuvre. Your call.

Dark Shadows

I don’t know; this Depp-Burton thing may have run its course. Not to say that this is a bad movie, but at certain points in this picture you get the impression that maybe someone else, singly or in a pair, could have brought something better to this revision of the old TV show. There are good moments here, some nice satire of the period (a good idea not to set the action in current times), but by the end the filmmakers have gone overboard; a little too much trying, not enough just leaving it alone and letting it be. You want to applaud effort, but not so much effort that it gets in the way.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

It seems that movie producers will never learn the lesson: they're not better/smarter/more inventive than the book writers who serve as their sources. Certainly not better than Roald Dahl. This version of Dahl's classic takes too many liberties in introducing Wonka's backstory, and makes the character less a fascinating enigma and more just plain weirdo. The changes detract from what is otherwise an admirable effort--especially in the other side of the dyad, where the story makes clear what a hero Charlie Bucket is. The kid really did deserve his very own chocolate factory.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street

Occasionally too over the top, but the film brings us nice direction from Tim Burton, beautiful cinematography, and just the right touch of insanity in a surprisingly effective story. All in all, we'll call it a fine mess.

Edward Scissorhands

And now you know my secret shame: it took me this long to get around to watching one of Tim Burton's best movies. What's to be said? It's like looking back at the moment when Johnny Depp really became a star, when Winona Ryder was still the next great thing. Mostly, it's just a wonderful movie, a modest fable about an outcast and how he stays that way, despite a brief interlude of acceptance. Whether you want hope or despair, you can find equal doses here, and you'll enjoy what you get to the fullest.

Big Fish

Not as good as it should have been, but the bar was set pretty high, so you still get a good movie. The fantasy sequences play much better than the worn-out father-son relationship plot. Credit for the good stuff goes to Ewan McGregor's bright performance and Tim Burton's inventive mind.

Planet Of The Apes (2001)

Visually, about what we would expect from Tim Burton. But some of the "philosophy" got lost in the update, making the story a little too straightforward and shallow. And no, that ending doesn't make much sense without going into headache-inducing time paradoxes.