Currently when most people hear the name Tim Burton they will immediately think of Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and movies with a very dark tone and strange elements. He has succeeded in creating his own style and has gained a big group of fans. That he’s able to create movies with a whole other look is something he shows with Big Eyes, starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz.
When Margaret (Amy Adams) is unhappy in her marriage she decides to just leave her husband and takes her daughter with her. She drives to San Francisco where she tries to make a living as a single mother. That’s something that isn’t easy in fifties and sixties America. She managed to get a job, but her passion is in painting. Her paintings, in which she shows children with big eyes, don’t sell but when she meets a fellow artist Walter he sees potential. He has a plan for selling her work and even though that plan seems to work, the problems in their relationship start having impact on their successful business.
The movie is based on the true story of Margaret and Walter Keane and even though it closely follows that, it does so with a light tone. The writers of movies like Problem Child, Ed Wood and Man on the Moon, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, are responsible for this great script, which is nicely brought to life by Adams and Waltz. Adams plays Margaret as a woman who isn’t very outspoken, sometimes naive and allows herself to get into situations where others take advantage of her. Christoph Waltz doesn’t hold back at all and makes Walter someone who is “larger than life”. It makes him a character of whom you understand why he is successful, who manages to bring drama to things to sell his product and manages to convince others. Waltz regularly is a source of funny moments with the best part near the end of the movie where he almost seems to be acting in a play, which works.
The typical Burton style isn’t to be found and with this film he proves that he can make something like this look amazing. The sixties are brought to life convincingly and you’d wish that Burton would make movies like this more often. Big Eyes is an entertaining, light biopic which is worth seeing.
Definitely one of those cases where truth is stranger than fiction. It was nice to see Burton not doing Burton. My only negative with the script is Walter went off the rails a little too quickly.
I thought he was already weird at the start and didn’t feel he went off too quickly,
I threw this in my Netflix queue. I remember the reviews being really luke warm, so I didn’t rush out to see this in theaters. Still, it will be nice to see something different from Burton. Great review!
Yeah, it is nice to see him doing something different. Hope you’ll enjoy this one Brittani.
I have been procrastinating on this one, but it sounds like I need to bump it up the list of films to see. It is good to hear that Burton is attempting something different this time out.
I don’t know what that list looks like so it’s hard to say if you should bump it up 😉 I do think it is worth checking out though.