Tim Burton’s career, which included quite a few remakes, has reached many wonderfully inventive high points and some low points. From ghosts and superheroes to talking animals and magical beings, Tim Burton has one of the most distinct styles in Hollywood. The fact that some stars are often described as “Tim Burton actors” due to the number of times they have worked with him is just one of many examples of how Burton became a genre of his own.
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However, for every great original film he has directed over the years, from beetle juice to Ed Wood and Edward ScissorhandsHe has also presided over a series of remakes that differ in quality. Taking on a film that already has an expectant fan base is never an easy task, but when done right, it can be a wonderful reimagining of a beloved existing intellectual property. Tim Burton’s filmography is made up of successes and mistakes, and it is no different when it comes to remakes.
However, Burton has never been afraid to tackle a beloved intellectual property. One of the first successes of his career was precisely Ordinance (1989), a film that changed the general public’s perception of the character and brought the darkness and complexity of the famous comic book superhero to the screen in a way that had never been done before. While Batman wasn’t a remake, it showed that Burton was more than capable of reimagining characters and stories that had been around for years.
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5 Planet of the Apes
Burton remakes a sci-fi classic
Tim Burton was a great choice to direct a remake of planet of the apes. His visual style and humor seemed to have been the perfect combination to bring Pierre Boulle’s novel to the screen, especially considering how Tim Burton specializes in bringing the weird and wonderful to life. The original film series had its distinctive charm that resulted in some of the most iconic images in late 1960s cinema.
A film starring talking chimpanzees who are ready to take over the world should have been the perfect canvas for Burton to unleash his creativity in an inventive way, but unfortunately, his version fell flat for several reasons. Unfortunately, it lacked depth and the socio-political parallels of the original film series were missing. Burton’s Planet of the Apes wasn’t terrible, but It didn’t feel like a Tim Burton film, which is the film’s most damning criticism, given the power of its usual visual storytelling.
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The first redeemable quality of Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes still impresses me 23 years later
Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes remake is a notorious entry in the franchise, but I still love this aspect of the film after two decades.
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Additionally, the film came before motion capture techniques and visual effects in general, at a point where an entire set of main characters could be created through CG unlike what happened in the 2011 film. . Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Burton’s reinvention, a phrase he helped coin thanks to the film, relied on excellent prosthetics and makeup to bring the apes to life. They look decent overall, but the less said about the awkward kiss scene, the better.
4 fool
Tim Burton remakes the Disney animated classic
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One of the best elements of the original. Dumbo The 1941 cartoon was that its limited narrative was well handled by the film’s equally conservative running time of one hour and four minutes. It had its wonderful charm and pathos in the story of an elephant who was ridiculed for the size of his ears and treated with great care. Unfortunately, Tim Burton’s announcement that he might have retired after his remake says it all.
Taking on any Disney property isn’t for the faint of heart, though, plus Burton had to somehow extend the narrative of a one-hour kids’ movie into a two-hour remake while still channeling what made him the first movie was so timeless. In doing so, the production lost sight of what it was trying to be and became a strange mix of Burton-style gothic adventure, with an overly complicated plot. Plus, star Michael Keaton admitted he “stinked” Dumbo.
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While Tim Burton Dumbo It’s not a terrible movie, it’s, unfortunately, a predictable disaster. There are moments where the film almost soars, but they are too few and far between to elevate it beyond being a disappointing remake. At least it made Burton realize he needed to revitalize himself, which meant audiences finally got the fun sequel. Beetle juice, Beetle juice.
3 dark shadows
Remaking the classic supernatural soap opera
dark shadows I saw Tim Burton cast an actor who had already been in some of his best films, including Edward Scissorhands, Ed Woodand sleepy hole; Johnny Deep. Burton admitted (via New York Times) that the 1960s dark shadows The television show was a big influence on him as a child, saying: “I probably should have been doing homework or playing sports after school instead of watching Dark Shadows.”
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It’s not difficult to understand why Burton would be drawn to the world of dark shadows when I was a child. It had a really creepy atmosphere and although the pacing was slow and some of the acting was questionable to say the least, it had a nostalgic charm of its own. Unfortunately for Burton, his adaptation may have a wonderful cast, including Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green, Burton’s own Catwoman, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Johnny Depp.
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The film’s saving grace is Eva Green’s antagonist Angelique, who dives into her role as the witch Depp’s Barnabas despised. He’s great, but his obsession with Barnabas doesn’t make sense. Depp’s performance, as it often is in Burton films, is suitably quirky, but his various tics and scenery-chewing don’t lend themselves well to a character that a domineering witch like Angelique would obsess over. The film, however, has an uncomfortable tone and, while entertaining, doesn’t feel like a Tim Burton film.
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2 Alice in Wonderland
Lewis Caroll’s fantasy classic gets a remake
Tim Burton’s best films are those where he has creative control over the project, especially when he is able to conjure strange images from his wonderful mind. This is why many of their remakes don’t measure up in terms of overall quality. He has the talent to turn any story into cinematic gold, but it’s best when he can focus his attention on original stories. His adaptation of Alice in Wonderland is a great example of this.
In theory, the combination of Lewis Carroll’s iconic children’s novel and Burton’s wildly vivid imagination should have been a perfect match. For the most part, the film works and Burton brings some superbly realized images to the screen. Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter is one of his best roles in Burton’s later production, Helena Bonham Carter’s Red Queen is very Burton-esque in design and the images pop beautifully on the screen.
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Alice in Wonderland It was a huge box office success, bringing in more than a billion dollars to the Disney studio, which got it right with the film’s marketing campaign. Despite having a low score of 6.4/10 on IMDb, the film is a lot of fun and impressed audiences. Unfortunately, however, Burton’s experience with Alice in Wonderlandand also later with DumboThat is why he considered leaving management behind. Fortunately, that didn’t last long.
1 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Willie Wonka gets a makeover from Tim Burton
Gene Wilder’s performance as the main character in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory from 1971 is so iconic, and one of his best roles, that anyone taking on the role in Tim Burton’s 2005 remake would have big shoes to fill. If a team, made up of a visionary director like Burton and a great actor like Johnny Depp, could achieve it, it was them. Their combination has given audiences some of the best films in Burton’s impressive catalogue, but although Charlie and the chocolate factory It’s very funny, Depp’s protagonist is its weakest element.
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One person who was not impressed with Burton’s remake was Gene Wilder, who said that Charlie and the chocolate factory It was “an insult.” Wilder felt that there was no need for Hollywood to go back and remake the film and that the reasons behind this were primarily financial. There’s no doubt there’s some truth to this, but when you have a talented creative team behind a project and a studio backing it with a splashy marketing campaign, there’s always hope that they can get it right.
In the end, Tim Burton and Disney got it largely right with their remake of Willy Wonka. Depp’s star was designed not to look like a pale imitation of Gene Wilder’s classic Wonka. However, it was such a cartoonish version of the character that it almost became a caricature. Burton and Depp brought the character of Willy Wonka to life in a vivid setting, but the personality of their main protagonist is too divided.
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One minute the audience is supposed to feel sorry for the injured boy, while at the same time he doesn’t seem to care if the kids he invites to the chocolate factory make it out alive. It’s a shame, as the rest of the film works brilliantly; the production design is exactly what you’d expect from Tim Burton, and the chocolate factory looks deliciously good to eat. Also, the squirrel scene is hilarious.
Sources: The New York Times