Big Eyes (2014) ***

I can see why Tim Burton would be attracted to this project, having started as an animator for Disney and being unfulfilled. The irony is that this film about art is terribly by-the-book. The double irony is that it completely and utterly lacks any kind of Burton stamp. This is like Burton's THE STRAIGHT STORY but without the gravitas. The writing duo of ED WOOD fail to capture the same magic here (and frankly some of the script is just flat-out bad) and Danny Elfman's score is vanilla and forgettable. Amy Adams gives an expressive performance (particularly with her eyes, because duh), but I found Christoph Waltz too OTT at times and Danny Huston is wasted here (much like he was in HITCHCOCK - give the man another role like the one in THE PROPOSITION!). All that said, it's an entertaining film, but one probably not worth revisiting.