Tim Burton's movies are distinctive - visually striking (often with a touch of the Gothic), frequently whimsical, sometimes comic and regularly concerned with outsiders and oddballs.
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Dendy Canberra is hosting a Burton retrospective, The Nightmare Before Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, from July 25 to September 4 as a precursor to the release of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice on September 5.
It's an opportunity to watch some of the director's work on the big screen once again including the original Beetlejuice. Some are more child-friendly than others so check the classifications. See: dendy.com.au
Which Burton films are your favourites and why? Let us know in the comments.
Mars Attacks! (M, 1996, 106 minutes, July 25, 28, 30)
![Some of the invaders in Mars Attacks! Some of the invaders in Mars Attacks!](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/MxhEgQKUJhZgHxwVaKiqcq/204a16b2-6766-4b09-8b5d-071123256788.png/r0_0_1920_1079_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
This alien invasion comedy - a parody of some of the science fiction movies of the 1950s, inspired by a series of trading cards - has a stellar cast including Jack Nicholson as the US president, having to deal with an unprecedented threat to the world as well as Glenn Close as the First Lady, and Martin Short, Pierce Brosnan, Rod Steiger and Annette Bening.
Beetlejuice (M, 1988, 92 minutes, July 27, 29, 31)
![Michael Keaton, centre, in Beetlejuice. Picture supplied Michael Keaton, centre, in Beetlejuice. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/MxhEgQKUJhZgHxwVaKiqcq/95c17e40-1d32-48e4-ac91-8a7175ed9cdc.jpg/r0_172_2274_1450_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
This was an early hit for Burton and his first collaboration with Michael Keaton, who plays the title role. The ghosts of Barbara and Adam Maitland (Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin), can't bear the Maitland family who bought the home they still inhabit. They hire freelance bio-exorcist Betelgeuse (pronounced, yes, "Beetlejuice") to drive the Maitlands out. But he's a wild and mischievous spirit and they might, um, live to regret their decision.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (PG, 2005, 115 minutes, August 1, 4, 6)
Johnny Depp, another frequent Burton star, plays the mysterious confectionery maker Willy Wonka in this adaptation of Roald Dahl's book. Five children, including underprivileged Charlie Bucket (Freddy Highmore), win Golden Tickets giving them a tour of Wonka's closed-off factory and a lifetime's supply of chocolate. But there's more to this prize than meets the eye. Australian actor Noah Taylor plays Charlie's father and yet another frequent Burton actor, Helena Bonham Carter, plays Charlie's mother.
Edward Scissorhands (PG, 1990, 105 minutes, August 3, 5, 7)
![Johnny Depp plays the title role in Edward Scissorhands. Picture supplied Johnny Depp plays the title role in Edward Scissorhands. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/MxhEgQKUJhZgHxwVaKiqcq/2c18c43b-7c16-4b36-9e98-dd3070c6a3be.png/r0_0_1920_1079_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Johnny Depp plays the title character, a lonely artificial humanoid whose creator (Vincent Price, in his final screen role) died before he could craft hands for the ageless young man. He's discovered by an Avon lady (Dianne Wiest), who takes him to her home. Most people are kind to him and he carves their hedges into topiary but when he falls in love with teenager Kim (Winona Ryder), her jealous boyfriend Jim (Anthony Michael Hall) wants revenge.
Sleepy Hollow (MA15+, 1999, 105 minutes, August 8, 11, 13)
Burton's take on a story by Washington Irving stars Depp as Ichabod Crane, a police constable sent to the title town in 1799 to investigate a series of brutal murders that some attribute to the undead apparition of a Headless Horseman. British Hammer horror veterans Michael Gough (who appeared in five Burton films) and Christopher Lee (who also appeared in five Burton films) are in the cast.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (G, 1993, 76 minutes, August 10, 12, 14)
![A scene from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Picture Disney A scene from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Picture Disney](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/MxhEgQKUJhZgHxwVaKiqcq/d3c416ec-ea26-47c5-b174-7888e8f1dba0.jpg/r0_0_1920_1079_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Although Henry Selick directed this stop-motion animated fantasy, Burton came up with the story (based on a poem he had written years earlier) and co-produced the film which resembles other work of his. It's the story of Jack Skellington (speaking voice by Chris Sarandon, singing by composer and frequent Burton collaborator Danny Elfman), the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, who is growing bored with the annual celebration and seeks something new. He discovers doors leading to other holiday works and is dazzled by Christmas Town and decides to bring Christmas to his world and "improve it".
Dark Shadows (M, 2012, 113 minutes, August 15, 18, 20)
The Gothic TV soap opera - notorious for the many mistakes that made it to air - that ran from 1966 to 1971 spawned movies, revivals and more. In Burton's film version, wealthy 18th-century gentleman Barnabas Collins (Depp) is cursed by a witch he spurned and turned into a vampire. He is buried alive (or undead) by the townsfolk. Centuries later, he is released and returns to the family estate and tries to adjust to the modern world. Four members of the original's cast appear including the soap's Barnabas, Jonathan Frid.
Corpse Bride (PG, 2005, 77 minutes, August 17, 19, 21)
Here's another stop-motion film, co-directed by Burton and Mike Johnson and based on an old folk tale. It tells of the complications faced by Victor Van Dort (Depp), who, while rehearsing his wedding vows, is kidnapped by the revenant Emily (Helena Bonham Carter) and spirited away to the Land of the Dead. How can he return to the living and to his fiancee Victoria (Emily Watson)?
Frankenweenie (PG, 2012, 87 minutes, August 22, 25 and 27)
![Sparky in Tim Burton's Frankenweenie. Picture supplied Sparky in Tim Burton's Frankenweenie. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/MxhEgQKUJhZgHxwVaKiqcq/5156c241-73a4-4a6d-957f-394676ae1441.jpg/r0_515_2413_3624_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Yet another stop-motion movie - this time with Burton credited as sole director - it's based on a 1984 short film of the same title which was inspired by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The film follows a boy named Victor Frankenstein (Charlie Tahan) who in 1957 uses the power of electricity to resurrect his dead bull terrier, Sparky. But as the original Frankenstein found, complications that arise when you're doing such things.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (MA15+, 2007, 116 minutes, August 26 and 28)
![Johnny Depp, left and Alan Rickman in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Picture Dreamworks & Warner Bros Johnny Depp, left and Alan Rickman in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Picture Dreamworks & Warner Bros](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/MxhEgQKUJhZgHxwVaKiqcq/346a1896-488e-4153-95f1-a87bb7acdca8.jpg/r0_184_3072_1911_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Depp plays the title character who's out for bloody revenge in Victorian London in this adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical. Benjamin Barker was transported to Australia for a crime he didn't commit by the corrupt Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), who fancied Barker's wife. He returns and, adopting the name Sweeney Todd, sets himself up as a barber in his old shop above the pie shop owned by Mrs Lovett (Bonham Carter), who fancies him. But he's embittered and a little unhinged - it won't just be hair that he'll be cutting. And the twosome have a novel way of disposing of the corpses.
Alice in Wonderland (PG, 2010, 108 minutes, August 29, September 1, 3)
Lewis Carroll's fantasy has been filmed many times and seemed to be a natural for Burton, who reimagines it as a sequel to the original story. Former Canberran Mia Wasikowska plays the title role, a girl who finds herself back in a strange but oddly familiar world populated by strange folk such as the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) and the Red Queen (Bonham Carter). It grossed more than $1 billion at the box office.
Ed Wood (M, 1994, 127 minutes, August 31, September 2, 4)
![Johnny Depp, left and Martin Landau in Ed Wood. Picture supplied Johnny Depp, left and Martin Landau in Ed Wood. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/MxhEgQKUJhZgHxwVaKiqcq/f7b40981-56a4-4a3f-a00e-e9738218501b.jpg/r0_0_1920_1079_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Edward D. Wood Jr (here played by Depp) wasn't very talented but deserves respect: he wanted to make movies and, despite obstacles and setbacks, he did. And people still watch them. Burton's biopic affectionately depicts Wood - who had a penchant for women's clothing - and his world, with a particular focus on the making of his best-known film, Plan 9 from Outer Space. Martin Landau won the best supporting actor Oscar playing the elderly Bela Lugosi. Wood befriended the horror star and gave him work.