Fans of Tim Burton ’s former films have been holding out Leslie Townes Hope that his new movie Big Eyes will signal a takings to form for the superior of quirky tyke movies . And it does … up to a sealed point .
On theme , the through line of Tim Burton ’s filmography is his unending desire to champion the oddball outsider , an pilot that no doubt appeals to an creative person whose work was deemed too jumpy for Disney early in his vocation .
His unveiling feature of speech , 1985 ’s Pee - wee ’s Big Adventure , offers the ultimate deterrent example ( “ I ’m a loner , Dottie .. a freedom fighter ” ) . His 2nd , Beetlejuice , cemented the whimsically tyke aesthesia that he ’d wield in many motion-picture show to total , including most of his oeuvre with Johnny Depp : Edward Scissorhands , Ed Wood , Sleepy Hollow , Sweeney Todd , Dark Shadows , and the animated Corpse Bride and Frankenweenie , plus the Harry Selick - directed Burton yield The Nightmare Before Christmas . ( There ’s also Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice and Wonderland , both anchored by Depp performances that wobble between ego - indulgent and colorfully morbid . )
Even Burton ’s Batman pic portray a unfrequented figure suffuse with quirks . ( Could Michael Keaton have brought so much pathos to his aging - superhero eccentric in Birdman if he ’d starred in , say , the garish Joel Schumacher Batman films ? )
Thematic similarities away ( Burton ’s resume also includes forced - capriciousness practice Big Fish ; scifi throwback Mars Attacks ! ; and Planet of the Apes ) , the films wreak very differently on the screen . Burton ’s decisive acclaim start to waver after Sleepy Hollow and melt aground with Apes , a fiscal achiever that notwithstanding failed to resonate with his fan base — and has aged poorly in comparison to the late Apes reboots . Though he continued to find box - office succeeder and his celluloid garnered awards for their scenic achievements , by the clip Chocolate Factory rolled around in 2005 , audiences hungry for innovative , live - action doses of fanciful - meets - macabre had turned to the likes of Guillermo del Toro instead .
So it came to legislate that Burton ’s outsider character — particularly when portray by a gaudily - attired Depp , whose overall cool quotient sunk further with each film he made wearing a buccaneer wig for Burton ’s old nemesis , Disney — were no longer interesting to actual outsiders . How many fans of the Dark Shadows TV serial publication lined up to watch Burton ’s smirking take on the goop opera house , his most recent alive activity film until this workweek ’s gravid Eyes ?
Ah , heavy Eyes . Into a life history that ’s been teetering between all - out commercialism and what ’s clearly a still - beating , in darkness creative nitty-gritty come a film that eventually offers OG lover hope that the Burton who ’d made Ed Wood 20 year ago ( arguably his best film ) would finally be turn back to constitute . Drawn from the intriguing truthful taradiddle of creative person - con artists - kitsch purveyor Margaret and Walter Keane , it did n’t redo another property , and its cast ( Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz ) did not include Depp .
That said , the oddly slight Big Eyes feels more like the startle of a new frame than a home - run derby . It begins with housewife Margaret ( Adams ) leave her never - see first husband , immature daughter in towage , and commute a suburban region try in Edward Scissorhands pastels for San Francisco ’s North Beach , circa the beatnik epoch . It ’s not long before she match Walter Keane ( Waltz ) at an heart-to-heart - air art fair , where he ’s doing a brisk commercial enterprise selling Parisian street scene ( and charming every woman who pass by ) , and she ’s doing just all right outline portraits and peddling painting of wide - eyed waif .
She ’s unfrequented , he ’s an opportunist , and they set off , entering into a whirlwind romanticism that ’s bolstered by what come out to be an absolute belief in her endowment , or at least the marketability thence . Once he latches on , Walter ’s stellar gross sales skills ( perfect via a career in material the three estates ) make Margaret ’s house painting the hot property in the art public . This , despite an inexpert , eerie quality that drive back art - world snoot , let in a too - hip gallery possessor and a highbrow art critic ( Jason Schwartzman and Terence Stamp , both deploy as comical relief , on occasion with unhinge results ) .
great Eyes ’ central conflict , of course , is that Walter almost straightaway starts call for credit for Margaret ’s art , first blaming sexism in the art world ( because who would be foolish enough to buy lady art ? ) , then convincing her that the money ’s too good to give up the parody once his ruse select off . Her horror at the street corner she ’s paint herself into ( to borrow a joke from the pic ) escalates throughout the film , as this callous man she ’s matrimonial practices originative identity thieving with zeal , insisting even Margaret ’s ever - suspicious young daughter be kept in the dark .
Waltz is in effect as a charming snake , while Adams brings her trademark I - seem - fragile - but - I’m - made - of - steel resolve to Margaret , who finally manage to recover that strength that enable her to chuck her first hubby and leave Walter and his lies behind . The script suffers from certain biopic tics , compress issue and lineament . Krysten Ritter , portraying Margaret ’s old friend , bolt down by periodically to be like , “ Girlll , why you place up with this ? ” on behalf of the audience .
Visually , the photographic film is amazingly conventional . apart from a few aspect in which Margaret ’s “ enceinte eyes ” come to animation and stare her down , scrutinizing and judging her , Burton ’s trademark optic flourishes are mostly absent . The period - appropriate dress salad dressing are on period , but there are few “ this is a Tim Burton joint ” moments , so much so that it had to have been a deliberate to tone everything down .
At its heart , Big Eyes — which finally finds its way into a courtroom scene so gonzo it had to have been lift from real living — is less a photographic film about creative battle than it is about being married to an egomaniac . But it does dunk its tastily urbane toe into the Big Question of bad artistry , with a line Burton himself must have pondered while making his own life history decisions : “ What ’s wrong with the lowest common denominator ? ”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOavDSErmak
Amy AdamsChristoph WaltzMoviesTim Burton
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