Few directors are as closely related to a specific genre as Tim Burton is to fantasy. In his forty-year career, Burton has made some of modern cinema's most recognizable and acclaimed fantasy movies, characterized by a distinctive visual style and language, recurring use of actors, and constant themes and ideas.
Burton's most celebrated fantasy movies come from different inspirations, using diverse settings and colorful and wacky characters in keeping with the director's trademark sensibilities. And while some of his fantasy efforts are somewhat disappointing, many others are timeless classics and impressive feats of wild and sprawling creativity.
9 'Alice In Wonderland' (2010)
The Disney live-action-mania began in 2010 because of the massive success of Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Mia Wasikowska stars as Alice, an English girl who travels down the rabbit hole to Wonderland, a place she had seemingly visited before but has no memory of. Reuniting with wacky but familiar characters, she discovers a power struggle between the tyrannical Red Queen and her younger and kinder sister, the White Queen.
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Mixing elements from Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, Burton's Alice in Wonderland is uninspired and ugly to look at. The film abandons the source material's uniqueness in favor of a standard blockbuster approach to a story that has always been about championing chaos. Featuring one of Johnny Depp's most buffoonish performances, Burton achieves the impossible: he makes Wonderland boring.
8 'Dark Shadows' (2012)
Burton's 2012 adaptation of the iconic 60s soap opera, Dark Shadows, is a rare entry in his filmography. Depp stars as Barnabas Collins, a 200-year-old vampire who emerges in 1970s Maine to bring order to his once-powerful family while avoiding the advances of the witch who cursed him.
Delightfully over-the-top, Dark Shadows is uneven and aimless; what little of it works is entirely because Burton doesn't take himself too seriously. The director embraces the material's camp sensibilities, even if he never succeeds in blending them with his trademark gothic approach. The cast further elevates the material, especially Michelle Pfeiffer and a scenery-chewing Eva Green.
7 'Dumbo' (2019)
Reuniting with Disney for another live-action, Burton lent his eye for eye-popping fantasy visuals for the 2019 adaptation of Dumbo. The film tells the classic tale of Dumbo, a young circus elephant who can fly with his abnormally large ears.
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Considering Dumboworks because of its shameless sentimentality, perhaps Burton wasn't the right choice to direct. The filmmaker nails the fantasy element with stunning visuals that perfectly complement the circus narrative and a game cast that sells the movie's well-known narrative. However, the result is still somewhat hollow, especially because the CGI elephant can't capture the tenderness that made the cartoon a beloved part of pop culture.
6 Charlie And The Chocolate Factory' (2005)
Burton's reimagining of the beloved Roald Dahl classic was everything but charming. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory follows Charlie Bucket, a poor boy who wins a golden ticket to visit Willy Wonka's famous chocolate factory with four other children. However, things aren't what they seem with the eccentric candy maker.
Colorful but thematically dark, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory hits the sweet spot between Burton's macabre sensibilities and Dahl's equally morbid source material. With surprisingly catchy tunes and exquisite production values that make the titular factory look like a true wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a more loyal take on Dahl's timeless classic.
5 'Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children' (2016)
Eva Green reunited with Burton for 2016's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Based on the eponymous 2011 novel, the film revolves around Jacob, a teenager who arrives at Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and becomes their unsuspecting protector.
Amiable and charming, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is a visual treat and a showcase for Burton's striking fantasy imagery. The story is considerably less compelling than in the book, despite Green and Asa Butterfield's best efforts, but the film remains a sweet and suitably entertaining adventure that might not rank as Burton's best, but it's a pleasant return to form.
4 'Beetlejuice' (1988)
Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder star in Burton's dark fantasy Beetlejuice. The plot revolves around a recently-deceased couple who contact Beetlejuice, a supernatural "exorcist," to drive their house's new tenants away. Ryder plays the tenants' "strange and unusual" daughter, Lydia, one of Burton's best female characters.
Employing macabre humor in service of a classic supernatural fantasy plot, Beetlejuice is a subversive and darkly funny horror comedy right up Burton's alley. The filmmaker has fun with the material delivering a genuinely original and sprawling fantasy tale with too many ideas to result in anything short of chaos. Still, Beetlejuice is admirable for its sheer scope, crafting a deliciously wicked story with shameless and morbid gusto.
3 'Big Fish' (2003)
Ewan McGregor stars in Burton's 2003 fantasy Big Fish. The plot centers on a man visiting his ailing father and investigating more about his fantastical stories, which he always believed were exaggerated lies. However, there might be some truth to them.
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Big Fish is pure and unabashed fantasy. Powered by McGregor's delightful performance, the film is a river overflowing from Burton's imagination. Bright and extraordinary, Big Fish finds Burton at his most sentimental, delivering a charming familial story filled with his trademark penchant for striking visuals and flare. Like many of his films, Big Fish tries to do too much; however, the excess fits the narrative, with Burton's muchness enriching and already plentiful story.
2 'Sleepy Hollow' (1999)
Burton reunites with Depp and brings Christina Ricci for the ride in 1999's horror fantasy Sleepy Hollow. A gothic adaptation of Washington Irving's well-known short story, the film follows constable Ichabod Crane as he arrives in the village of Sleepy Hollow, supposedly haunted by the vengeful spirit of a headless Hessian collecting peoples' heads.
Terrifying, atmospheric, and featuring Emmanuel Lubezki's gorgeous cinematography, Sleepy Hollowis a peak in Burton's filmography. Balancing style and substance, the film finds Burton fascinated by the source material and imbuing it with his trademark style. The result is a match made in heaven, with Burton crafting a detailed and horrifically enchanting world that proves just how great of a visual storyteller he is when he gets his hands on the right project.
1 'Edward Scissorhands' (1990)
No film is more closely related to Tim Burton than his 1990 fantasy romance Edward Scissorhands. Depp stars as the title character, an artificial humanoid with scissors for hands who falls for the teenage daughter of the suburban couple who takes him in.
Arguably Burton's richest film thematically, Edward Scissorhands is a brilliant display of unrestrained imagination from the director and screenwriter Catherine Thompson. Featuring Depp's best performance and with a charming Winona Ryder as a co-lead, Edward Scissorhands is a fascinating and enchanting fable about prejudice and identity perfectly guided by Burton's confident hand. Blending gothic sensibilities with 1960s Americana, Burton creates a creature as unique as Edward himself, a film that continues to enthrall thirty-three years after its release.
