Big Eyes – Not what you’re used to from a Tim Burton movie

Interesting:

At first, it was Kate Hudson and Thomas Haden Church who were supposed to play Margaret and Walter Keane. They got replaced by Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Reynolds, but the both dropped out of the project.

Should I see it?

If there’s another movie on your list, watch the other one and keep Big Eyes for when you don’t know what to watch!

Metascore: 62/100
RottenTomatoes: 69%

Directed by Tim Burton
Released on December 25, 2014
Running Time: 106 minutes
Starring: Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz, Krysten Ritter, Danny Huston

Review – 6.7/10

The life of Margaret Keane, a painter who got her credit stolen by her husband in the 1960s.

Margaret Ulbrich moves to a new town with her daughter to make a new start. While she is not working into a furniture factory, she’s painting. But her paintings always have the same characteristics, they’re of children with huge, big eyes. One day, she gets approach by Walter Keane, a painter and real instate agent. Not before long they are married and Walter spends a good time of his nights trying to sell their paintings and since they are married, Margaret’s painting are only signed with her husband last name, Keane. When people gets interested to buy, they want the ones Margaret did, and so, Keane makes them believe he is the painter. The story goes on about the life Margaret must live in, a live full of lies, ever to her own daughter, so that no one would know who really painted every single one of the paintings.

The part I found the most fascinating was watching to what point Walter could keep up into his web of lies, and how he manipulated Margaret into thinking that saying he was the painter was not a big deal at all. Walter is the type of guy that knows exactly what to say to sell and to be like, and so, Margaret ends up thinking that maybe it really is for the best that no one knows who the real painter in the family is. The emotion side of the story is really well developed, it’s one of the most crucial point of the movie, the downfall of Margaret state of mind as she keeps all these bad feelings inside her and how she has trouble keeping up with all the new lies her husband constantly tell.

The disappointed part? When I watch a Tim Burton movie, I know it by his style, by the way he takes the story to a whole new level that not many directors would dare to. But with Big Eyes, I asked myself “Where’s Tim Burton’s touch”, and that’s not a good thing to think! You see a little bit of his style at the beginning with the angle of the cameras he chooses, and much later when Margaret is in the supermarket hallucinating everybody with big eyes, but that’s it. The story is not a masterpiece either, it makes sense, and give us a maybe too small glimpse into Margaret Keane’s life. However, it’s easy to follow and to imagine what Margaret went through. Still I would have like to know a little more about the bad part of the marriage between Margaret and Walter, instead of just focusing on the fraud Walter did. Also, after ready a text written by Walter Keane’s daughter from a previous marriage, Susan, you realize how far from the truth this movie is.

The acting saved of lot of the movie! Christoph Waltz plays Keane with a good intensity and constancy, but not as great as his role in Inglourious Basterds. Still he was a nominee at the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical. Amy Adams won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical for her role, a trophy she deserves but there’s something I don’t understand… where’s the comedy in this movie! Everybody list it as a Biography/Drama, but they are both nominated in the comedy category. If they wanted people to perceive it as a comedy, that’s a big fail from the director. But there’s the possibility that the fault comes from the Golden Globe by not putting a nominee in the right category. For my part, I didn’t watch a comedy, I saw drama movie, and knowing the story beforehand, I was expecting a drama. Yes there were some small parts that I laugh, but not to the point to say “That’s a comedy!”

Big Eyes is not a movie that will make people run to the theaters, it can be worth a watch, depending what type of movie you want to see that night.

Personal Commentary

I was expecting a lot more for a Tim Burton movie, but I’m still happy I watched it for the performence of the actors. It’s not a movie that will make history, but if you’re curious to know how Margaret Keane got herself into this mess, it’s interesting to see.