In the late eighties, Johnny Depp was a reluctant teen idol yearning to break free of the Tiger Beat magazine cover boy label that Hollywood tried to put on him. He also wanted to get away from doing the TV show 21 Jump Street and be a bonafide movie star. Tim Burton was a young director who, thanks to his work on Pee Wee’s Big Adventure and Beetlejuice was able to bring Batman to prominence was able to basically do whatever he wanted.
A partnership and friendship between the two was struck up when Edward Scissorhands was made in 1990, and after it was released, received a bounty of adoration. Since then, the macabre duo have crafted a total of eight films together, all uniquely weird and wonderful. Here is every Johnny Depp and Tim Burton movie, ranked according to IMDB.
Dark Shadows (2012) - 6.2
The duo’s last collaboration together came in 2012 when they brought the big screen adaptation of the daytime gothic soap, Dark Shadows. Depp of course played the lead, playing one of dreams as vampire Barnabas Collins. The movie was released a week after the first Avengers movie, which might have attributed the film’s poor box office performance. But as always Depp shows off his quirky side enough to keep fans engaged. It does also contain the 200th film appearance of the incomparable Christopher Lee, which is always a welcome presence.
Alice In Wonderland (2010) - 6.4
Disney has been running amok in the new millennium, creating live action versions of their classic animated features. The Mouse House entrusted Tim Burton and Johnny Depp to run amok as well for their version of Alice In Wonderland.
Depp played the deliriously Mad Hatter who helps Alice Kingsleigh in her journey to slay the Jabberwock and to topple the Red Queen and restore The White Queen to her throne.
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (2005) - 6.6
Depp was at his (pardon the pun) wonkiest, playing the amazing chocolatier Willy Wonka in Burton’s “reimagining” of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. He made the smart decision to not channel Gene Wilder, but whatever inspiration he used didn’t and couldn’t live up to the standard set by the original film. See it once and judge for yourself, but you might have already made up your mind by the time you’ve read this entry. At least Danny Elfman gets to relive his Oingo Boingo days covering Roald Dahl’s Oompa Loopma songs.
Sleepy Hollow (1999) - 7.3
The maestros of the macabre and fanciful focus their attentions on a small town in the Hudson Islands - Sleepy Hollow. Depp plays Constable Ichabod Crane, sent to upstate New York to help investigate a series of murders involving decapitations and stumbles upon a familial conspiracy.
Crane does his best to use science to find the murderer, but also comes face to “face,” with the Headless Horsemen. Depp’s Crane was as unconventional an action hero as you might find, only topped by his own Captain Jack Sparrow a few years later. Christopher Walken is downright terrifying as the Horsemen as well.
Corpse Bride (2005) - 7.3
Depp lends his voice to Burton’s third stop motion fare, Corpse Bride, playing Victor against Helena Bonham Carter’s titular character, the corpse bride Emily. He runs from his own wedding to rehearse his vows and upon placing his ring on a tree inadvertently wakes up a long dead Emily claiming to now be Victor’s wife. To try and reunite with his real fiancé, he has to try and trick Emily to return to the land of the living.
Sweeney Todd (2007) - 7.3
Stephen Sondheim’s landmark broadway play, Sweeney Todd seems like it was tailor made for Tim Burton and Johnny Depp to tackle and make it their own. Depp used his musical talents to sing as the demon barber of Fleet Street. After murdering his victims, Mrs. Lovett bakes them into wonderful meat pies. The movie has all of the makings of a great Burton movie - murder, mayhem, meatpies, and darkness against the contrast of bright vibrant colors and buckets of blood.
Ed Wood (1994) - 7.8
Ed Wood is known for making schlock, most the notable Plan 9 From Outer Space, arguably the worst film ever made.
But he did it with such wild gusto that is was hard not to like him. Played by Johnny Depp, Ed Wood’s wild eyed ambitions trying to buck the Hollywood system and achieve his dreams, and wear some angora sweaters.
Edward Scissorhands (1990) - 7.9
