Tim Burton

By Martina López

Timothy William Burton is one of the most imaginative of all film directors, and he always stands out on account of his amazing worlds, in which one can lose oneself for two hours. His characters tend to be misfits and strange people but by the end of the film audiences love them (especially if they are played by Johnny Depp).

He tends to use the same actors in many of his films: for example, Helena Bonham Carter, his partner; Johnny Depp; or even Christopher Lee.

I am not very interested in Burton’s life before his film career, so I shall start my story when he was 13 years old, because this is when he started to make some short films with his friends. Then, when he went to university he made a series called Stalk of the Celery Monster, which won him a contract to work with Disney. The company found Burton's style and designs impossible to understand, so he started making his first major short films, such as Vincent and Frankieweenie on his own initiative.

His first feature film was Pee Wee's Big Adventure, which was followed by works such as Beetlejuice with Wynona Rider and Michael Keaton (who would later play the title role in Batman, Burton's third feature). His version of Batman had some problems with the producers but Burton tried to reach all audiences, including those who do not normally like superhero movies. The result was the biggest box-office success in cinema up to that point.

Burton then made one of his most important films, Edward Scissorhands, with Johnny Depp as Edward. Of course, he also made other films, such as the second part of Batman and Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood (about the worst film director ever) and Mars Attacks!.

In my opinion, his best films are Beetlejuice and Ed Wood, and his worst is Planet of the Apes.

He is still working, obviously in his strange and funny way, with his dark atmospheres and gloomy scripts full of misfits. His latest work is Alice in Wonderland and anybody who thinks that is too childish for them should think again, because I have seen it and I can tell you that Burton's version is really interesting and very different from the original story.