Tim Burton

Some of Tim Burton’s characters really tug at the heart strings. They may be unique but they also have some characteristics of all of us. Seeing that vulnerable side of them though makes everyone take notice of these characters.

Many people found the character of Beetlejuice to be very entertaining in the 1988 production by the same name. The character was a slime ball in some ways, a con artist, but then also there in times of need so you had to really embrace him. He also had a very unique appearance that really worked well for the movie.

In 1989 Burton was able to bring the superhero Batman to the movies. Many weren’t impressed when Michael Keaton was cast in this lead role. There seemed to be a huge leap for playing Beetlejuice to Batman but it worked. The attraction for an older audience was the role of Joker being played by Jack Nicholson. It was a perfect match and the movie did phenomenally well at the box office.

Edward Scissorhands is one of the most likable characters that Burton has ever created. Played by Johnny Depp, he offers human elements but the line there is always present that he is very different from everyone else. It is a fun movie with a great love story as well.

Burton wrote The Nightmare before Christmas and he produced it. Yet he didn’t direct it due to the schedule for Batman Returns. This was an animated production and one that did extremely well. The role of Jack who is a skeleton how is tired of being part of Halloween has questions about who he is and his role in life. This type of production is referred to as stop motion animation. The popularity of this movie increased the demand for it.

In 1996 James became a well known character created by Burton in the film James and the Giant Peach. This was a great comedy and the character was one both the younger generations and older people could relate to. Burton has been getting criticism for too many of his characters being dark, so this was a way for him to appease on many levels.

Who can forget the very humanistic looking characters from Planet of the Apes that Burton offered in 2001? The movie was very intense but it had very humanistic characters for it. Many believed it was more realistic than the original that had been released in 1968.

Alice in Wonderland is believed to offer some of the best characters of all that Burton has created. Many people grew up with this story and it was very vivid for them in terms of how it came to life. The images of the Queen of Hearts, the Rabbit, and others was unbelievable. Many feel that Burton was able to reach right into their imagination and put those images on paper.