Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein could mark the start of his Tim Burton era

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Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein could mark the start of his Tim Burton era

Guillermo del Toro Frankenstein It feels like the epitome of the filmmaker’s visual aesthetic and narrative impulses, but I hope he doesn’t follow in Tim Burton’s footsteps after experiencing something similar with one of his biggest Oscar contenders. As a filmmaker, del Toro generally uses a thematic core and characteristic atmosphere for his stories.

This consistent visual aesthetic and narrative focus have helped make him one of the most prominent authors of this generation. Frankenstein is no different, a beautifully produced and emotionally rich version of the classic story. The embodiment of his particular style, Frankenstein is great, but now he needs to avoid following the path Burton took after doing something similar with Sweeney Todd.

Frankenstein is the most Guillermo Del Toro film of all time

One of the things that Frankenstein interesting is how it embodies the quintessence of Guillermo del Toro’s style, similar to how the Oscar-nominated film Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber it felt like the ultimate showcase of Tim Burton as a filmmaker. Frankenstein plays with many stories and visual elements that have defined much of Del Toro’s careerr.

The film sees a romance blossom between a woman and a “monster”. an archetype that won del Toro the Oscar for best film with The shape of water. The fusion of period melodrama and gothic horror forms the thematic foundation of Crimson Woodpecker. Introspection on humanity’s capacity for cruelty and resilience gives Frankenstein thematic links with Pan’s Labyrinth.

Movies like hell boy And Hellboy II: The Golden Army explored societal prejudice against a noble “other”, similarly to Frankenstein gives the creature a surprising depth. Even his modernization of a classic tale has precedent, given his Academy Award-winning film. Pinocchio used a familiar story to explore del Toro’s ideals about war, peace, love, life and death.

Frankenstein has a fascination with the humanity of monsters, a consistent Del Toro theme dating back to earlier films like Chronos And Blade 2. Even his most singular titles like Pacific Rim Or Nightmare Alley share creative DNA with Frankensteinwith a keen interest in the human body and the corrupting effect of humanity’s most destructive traits above.

Frankenstein it feels like all of Del Toro’s films are collected together, his passions compressed into one film. For fans of his works, it’s a fantastic showcase of what has endeared him to moviegoers for decades. This is strong evidence for his detractors of how his visual pastiche can adapt and shape a founding classic to his own perspective and cinematic style.

It’s very reminiscent of the time when Tim Burton seemed to compress all of his standard talents and signifiers as a filmmaker into the adaptation of Sweeney Todd for the big screen. Both films benefited the sheer commitment to the filmmaker’s unique tonal and visual directiontransforming a classic story into a very modern film that could succeed with critics.

What Guillermo Del Toro needs to learn from Tim Burton’s down period

The worrying prospect, however, is that Burton Sweeney Todd arrived just before a creative low point for the filmmaker. Following Sweeney ToddBurton moved on to overall weaker films like Alice in Wonderland who transformed his aesthetic into a gadget. Although the latter grossed a huge amount at the box office for the filmmaker, it was also derided.

This was followed by hiccups like Dark shadows And Big eyeswhich felt like superficial riffs on what had already worked for the director instead of exciting additions to his filmography. Although Burton has had some success over the years with films like Frankenweenie and shows how Wednesday, he never quite reached the heights of his earlier works.

I have a lot of confidence in del Toro as a filmmakernotably because his previous cinematic diversions from his standard approach (like Nightmare Alley And Pacific Rim) are still overall solid films. I really like Sweeney Toddbut this was followed by diminishing returns. I hope Del Toro avoids going through a similar change in his films after Frankenstein.

Guillermo del Toro’s signature style now has the same kind of cultural ubiquity as Burton’s, which makes it very easy for his future films to rely on its signifiers without expanding on them in interesting ways. One of the harshest criticisms leveled at Frankenstein this is how he builds on what has gone before instead of feeling completely unique in its canon.

It would be easy for Del Toro to fall back on superficial approaches to his formula, turning his archetypes into tropes. That’s why I’m so excited about Del Toro’s upcoming collaboration with Oscar Isaac, Fury. This seems more consistent with Nightmare Alley than anything else he’s done, which suggests del Toro will continue to push himself in different directions.

Guillermo del Toro has one of the most eclectic mainstream voices in Hollywood, and Frankenstein feels like the ultimate showcase of his talents and cohesive aesthetic. Let us hope, however, that Frankenstein will not be like Sweeney Todd and marks the beginning of the filmmaker’s Tim Burton era.