Tim Burton: A role model for directors

Poster from the film "Alice in Wonderland"

Although I have enjoyed many adaptations from books, one of the most entertaining and original was Alice in Wonderland´s film by Tim Burton. It was released in 2010, and it had mixed critics. However, I found it very intriguing and captivating.

Tim Burton picked a well-known novel and decided to give it a new perspective. He took the important aspects and he put them in his production so he would be faithful to the world that Carroll, the writer of Alice´s adventures in Wonderland, had created. But at the same time, he added some changes that made the story unusual. This way, not only he made an interesting film, he made a movie with his personal style.

This isn´t the first time that someone had adapted this book. Disney made an animated film in 1951 that had a great success, and a videogame was made by Spicy horse called Alice: madness returns, which had a darker perspective. However, Tim Burton managed to create something new and breath-taking. In his film, the story felt real and unpredictable, and had more characters than other adaptations.Sadly, he          wasn't the director in the sequel of his film, Alice through the looking glass.

Cover of the book from
Lewis Carroll

Videogame called
"Alice: madness returns"

Poster of "Miss Peregrine's Home for peculiar
Children" in french

However, Alice in Wonderland isn't his only successful movie which was based on a book. In 2016, He made another film called Miss Peregrine's home for peculiar children. The characters were a group of kids with special habilities, who were being hunted and killed by misterious creatures that only Jacob Portman, the main character, wass able to see. These movie had many critics as well, not only because of the changes that Burton made from the novel writen by Ramson Riggs, but because there was only one actor who wasn't white.

In conclusion, I would say that Tim Burton does a great job with adaptations. While he tells the essencial aspects, he changes the details in his own way to make the film feel new. His movies have always been full of controversy, but they are unique and uncommon, which is the goal of every director who wants to adapt a book.

Thanks, Disney

Up, Andersen´s original ending.
Down, Disney´s own version of the tale.

When I was younger, I loved watching Disney´s animated films. They would make me laught, cry and smile, and when I grew up, I still watched them just for the memories, even though I knew every single line.  Movies like Snow white, Beauty and the beast or The hunchback of Notredame changed my percepcion of the world, which is the main reason why I like movies so much.

But little did I know that many of these movies were based on classic fairy tales. Before Disney released their versions, these stories were very different and darker. As soon as I discovered this, I started looking for the original books, and they gave me a new perspective of the stories I had grown up with. Suddenly The little mermaid became a tragedy, Cinderella was a violent story, and Peter Pan had a very deep meaning.

In the end, I guess Disney had a great influence on me. It made me want to read more, so I could increase my knowledge on a lot of films. It also showed me that books and films can have nothing in common, but both can still be incredible in its on way.