ial. I could just not draw cute foxes for the life of me. I couldn't do it. I tried, I tried, I tried," (Breskin 40). Drawing was his most important form of expression, and he was not able to conform to the Disney spirit. His first animated short film was Vincent (1982). He made another animated feature while being employed by Disney called Frankenweenie (1984). None of his work was ever planned to be released by Disney. However, Paul Reubens saw his work and decided that Burton was his director for Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, released in 1985. Then came Beetlejuice in 1988. The amazing success of those two films, and his unique art direction were the determining factors that led to him directing Batman, a big and expensive production that Warner Bros. were sitting on, slowly calculating their prepackaged box office hit. Released in the summer of 1989, Batman set the opening weekend box office record of $50 million, and went on to make well over $400 million worldwide, and more than a billion dollars in Batman paraphernalia. This gave Burton immense freedom and power in Hollywood. He went on to make Edward Scissorhands (1990), Batman Returns (1992), Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Ed Wood (1994), and Mars Attacks! (1996). His next movie is tentatively titled Superman Lives and is planned to be released on July 4th weekend of 1999.
             There are certain elements present in each of Tim Burton's movies. His films can be analogized to cartoons. Just as an animated feature contains only the colors, characters, and architectural style that the director wants, Burton achieves this with live action. This creates a complete world (or two) for the characters to exist. It even seems that he has passed the boundary of realism, and crossed over into surrealism. The Gothic style is most prevalent in his films. Used in the 1950's horror films and 1930's German expressionist period that Burton watched over and over again as a child, the...