...these are the first words that my Brother-in-Law spoke as we got out of the theatre last Saturday night (date night for the pairs of us who have young kids--this usually means cocktails, a movie that makes you almost pass out and drunken sweaty married sex where you pass out afterwards and are awoken to the rays of Sunday sunshine).

But Tony wrote a review of the film that got me thinking about the movie all over again. In some circles, edifying something Tony Pierce blogs about is like carrying a cup of water from the drinking fountain to the swimming pool and saying, "Look everybody, WATER!," but I thought it was worth revisiting the movie since my blog moves in some of the other sectors of the blogosphere that might not have been introduced to his writing yet.

At any length, Tony proved to me with this post that he is indeed a serious writer and well worth listening to culturally (sorry Tone, I'm a hard headed muthafugga--if this week has proved nothing else, it's that).

I totally agree with Tony about the movie not being quite right. I have a feeling that the studio really needed a kid's movie to market this summer and thought, why let's take Burton's movie and slice it up, tone it down and make it more family-oriented.

Big mistake.

You can tell the movie wanted to go darker, to hit that same place where the first one did when Gene Wilder, after giving the kids their everlasting gobstopper and seeing them fighting over it, exclaimed, "Everyone has had one and one is enough for everyone." This one statement is a clarion call for individual freedom and to seize the day of living a life of integrity because that's ultimately all that matters. Fantastic Bastard and I still exchange this statement like some in Church quote the Golden Rule.

So, before I get to rambly here--let me just say that I don't think the movie was a total waste of time and money like I initially did but I would have rather had seen Wedding Crashers. And I don't think Tim Burton's an asshole but I do think it's pathetic that once again an artist has been made to toe a corporate line that sucks the spirit out of their creation.

I plan on putting an end to that one day soon...