Alice in Wonderland (2010)

3/5

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is as weird and darkly comic as all his other movies. The plot follows the young Alice (Wasikowska) after being proposed to in front of a huge party by a wealthy lord named Hamish. She is a young independent soul who doesn't like corsets or stockings and certainly doesn't want to wed someone just because he is rich and she is getting older. But that is the option she is presented with, and the hundreds of guests in attendance seem to be pushing her towards the safe choice. She asks for some time to think it over. And with that time, she manages to fall down a rabbit hole and into "Underland," which she mistakenly calls Wonderland.

The movie is blandly quirky and innocently morbid, but somehow also reassuring and uplifting by the end. There were some funny moments (almost entirely involving Helena Bonham Carter) and some boring moments (almost entirely involved Johnny Depp). The oddness of the story didn't work for me. I found it neither charming nor endearing; it was just a charade to distract the audience from the simpleness of the story. And the visuals, while Burton-esque to a T, were filmed and/or animated poorly. Quite frankly, nobody understands 3D as well as James Cameron does right now. (That scene where Alice is falling down the rabbit hole made me almost vomit from nausea.) At first I thought Tim Burton just made bizarre movies for the sake of being bizarre, but now I'm starting to think that he doesn't really know how to make a movie that isn't bizarre. That, or he doesn't see the point in it. Still, this is a pretty entertaining movie. Watch it if you're a Burton or Depp fanboy, but don't expect anything grand.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1014759/

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

4/5

Sweeney Todd is yet another uniquely comic tale of the macabre from Tim Burton. And this time it's a musical! The plot follows Sweeney Todd in Victorian England as he seeks revenge on Judge Turpin for viciously sentencing him to prison and stealing his wife and daughter. The first thirty minutes were inexorably boring backstory that revealed nothing that wasn't in the two minute trailer. So why make it thirty minutes in the movie? (And I was less than underwhelmed by the ugly, "bad CGI" intro credits.) But I can forgive all that because the ending was absolutely amazing. It spiraled out of control while simultaneously tightening both the characters and story. It was Dickensian in the most perfect way possible.

The songs were a mixed bag for me. I was in awe at the beauty of "Epiphany" and the orchestral pieces, I loved the hilarious "By the Sea" and "A Little Priest," but the rest merely disappointed me. I found most of the singing acceptable but not exceptional, save for the young Ed Sanders's remarkable voice. (His acting could use some work though.) What Gretel brought to my attention is the fact that the singing is really well integrated with the speaking. It's a truly seamless and fluid transition. The acting and character development of the leads (Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter) were terrific, but I found most of the secondary characters to be rather flat and uninspired. Thanks to superb make-up, costuming, and set design, the trademark Burton look is brilliant--especially in comparison to the Broadway musical. All in all, a thrilling and exciting movie that I wouldn't mind seeing again. Highly recommended for Burton fans.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0408236/

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

4/5

Edward Scissorhands is another one of those "weird" Tim Burton movies. But it is also incredible entertaining. Burton is able to create this world so vividly, from the first frame to the last, that you really feel like you are there. I love the pastel houses inhabited by pastel women. I love the shrub and ice sculptures. And who can forget the man with scissors as hands? Everything in this movie is so distinct that you cannot forget it. And it made me laugh the entire time. My favorite character was by far Alan Arkin's father. The way he thinks and talks is simply amazing. I don't even know how to describe it; just watch it. Winona Ryder's daughter was literally angelic; she looked beautiful in this movie, and I now understand Pooya's obsession for her. Danny Elfman's signature Burton-esque music is in full force here--definitely one of his best soundtracks.

I hated the stupid framework for the movie. Why do we need someone to be telling us a story? Tim Burton should be telling us the story with his visuals, not an 80-year-old Winona to her granddaughter in flashback mode because the dumb kid asked her where snow comes from. Grow some balls and tell the story yourself, Timmy. A lot of the special effects are cheesy, along with the characters' outfits and hairstyles. The movie feels quite a bit dated. I don't know if it was the TV screen distorting the anamorphic edges or what, but it seemed like the entire movie was shot with a fish-eye lens. It may not be the movie's fault, but it was extremely distracting. The rest of the movie was quite good, but let's face it: you go to a Tim Burton movie to check out the brand new world he has thought up, and this is one you will never forget.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0099487/

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

4/5

The Nightmare Before Christmas follows Jack Skellington, who gets bored of being the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town and, upon accidentally visiting Christmas Town, decides he wants to bring a special kind of Christmas to Christmas Town. It is a simple story told efficiently and skillfully. The animation is absolutely beautiful to behold. The music was energetic and exciting; it draws you in perhaps more than the story itself does. The environment of these worlds is expertly evoked and cleverly detailed. Most of the story was unpredictable and really engaged me because I had no idea what kind of world this was, what special rules they followed, and how all the events would play out. Also, I loved the climactic fight at the end.

I thought Jack's change of character at the end felt out of place; there wasn't any real explanation for it and it didn't follow any legitimate train of thought. I thought the love story was too simple to be believable. These elements felt like they were included because of some arbitrary requirement from a scriptwriting class, not because they fit the story. I loved the creepy atmosphere, but felt it didn't quite mix with the fun, musical style. It was sort of a kid's movie made for adults, too goofy for adults and too scary for kids. Highly recommended, but only for a specific target audience.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0107688/