Wonderfully Demented

Rating: 9/10 (27 July 2011)

A nugget of precise mayhem that never seems to get old. Tim Burton and Danny Elfman's partnership is at or near its peak at this point in their careers, delivering a perfect blend of wildly original visuals and unusually appropriate musical cues, and they get plenty of extra help from the cast. Mixing and matching bit players from dozens of sources, it's a true ensemble piece without a true focal point. Even Michael Keaton's unrestrained performance as the film's namesake can't claim center stage for long due to constant pressure from Catherine O'Hara, Jeffrey Jones, Geena Davis, Winona Ryder and a borderline-unrecognizable Alec Baldwin. A genuinely hilarious script dances in awkward beauty from comedy to horror and back again, leaving plenty of room for scalding improvisation and keeping even the most tenured viewer guessing about what's around the next corner. I loved it growing up, when I didn't quite get every joke, and I adore it even more today.