Tim Burton at ACMI
When I was young (I’m talking single digits here) there were a couple of movies that I liked to keep on high rotation. I was one of those kids that preferred to stick to what she knew. No branching out.
When it was video store time (video: I was born in the ’80s) I usually went straight for either Grease, My Girl (the first one, with Jamie Lee Curtis and Dan Aykroyd), something in the Carebears range, Milo and Otis, something with Benji in it, or Beetlejuice.
I appreciate that the latter is a bit of an odd choice for a pre-teen. The others tend to reflect my early (and largely continued) appreciation for men in leather, soul music, the death of Macaulay Culkin via bees, bears that shoot hearts out of their chests, or little dogs with human personalities. Beetlejuice doesn’t seem to fit into any of these categories, and my parents found my love of this movie very amusing, to say the least. I think they probably had reasonable grounds for concern, but their pleasure in my good taste seemed to override this.
It was from a young age, then, that I developed a love of Tim Burton’s filmic and animated creations. So, when I was in Melbourne over the weekend, a visit to the Tim Burton Exhibition at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image was on the top of my things to do list.
Film still from Beetlejuice | 1988
I loved this exhibition.
It was magical.
As you descend into the exhibition space, the black and red stairspace advises that you take a moment for your eyes to adjust to the lower lighting. You hear Edward Scissorhands’ IceDance drifting up toward you (listen). When you get to the bottom of the stairs, you’re overwhelmed by giant purple walls, black and white Alice in Wonderland morphed squares, and a very magical looking topiary deer.
Suddenly, you’re not in Melbourne anymore; you’ve stepped straight into the inner workings of Burton’s mind.
Just to refresh your memory here is a list of some of the more well-known projects Burton has been responsible for: Edward Scissorhands,Batman (Returns and Forever), The Nightmare Before Christmas, Mars Attacks, James and the Giant Peach, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the remake), Big Fish, Sleepy Hollow and Planet of the Apes. The exhibition brought all of these to life, along with some of his lesser known animations, such as my favourite, Vincent. This one was initially meant to screen prior to the 1982 re-release of Disney’s Pinocchio, but Disney decided that its PG rating made it inappropriate for Pinocchio’s audience. The exhibition’s main thrust is an exploration of Burton’s private workings and concept drawings, ranging in time from his high school years, through to his time at CalArts (California Institute of the Arts), working at Disney, right up to the present. Here are a few of my favourites from the exhibition: Concept drawing for Edward Scissorhands From the Romeo and Juliet series Tim Burton | Never Shoot a Constipated Poodle I know not all of you will be able to make it to ACMI before the exhibition closes on 10 October, but for those of you who can’t, and wish you could, ACMI has ever-so-kindly set you up with a whole range of alternatives, including a visual tour of the exhibition that you can click through and an audio tour that you can download and listen to. Meanwhile, Tim Burton’s official website is rather cool, and the music that goes with it really get you in the mindset. You also get to see a whole range of Burton’s work that I haven’t included here. If you’re thirsty for more, check out MoMA’s interactive website from the exhibition earlier in the year. It features an interesting interview with Burton himself. If you are in Melbourne, or anywhere near by, or you just feel like a weekend away to a beautiful city (like me!), you really mustn’t miss this exhibition. 
