Any Tim Burton is always eagerly anticipated. He has certainly created a big fan-base all over the world. His strange gothic tone to most of his films, have pretty much created his own sub-genre. We know what to expect and who is usually involved.

Sadly in this one, there is not Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, or even Danny Elfman doing the score.
Instead we get, Asa Butterfield, Eva Green, Samuel L. Jackson, Terence Stamp, Chris O'Dowd, Judi Dench, Rupert Everett and Michael Higham and Matthew Margeson doing the score.

The trailers did suggest that Burton is back on familiar territory and we would be seeing an enjoyable feature.
It does have a lot of your usual Burton strengths. The production design is great, and the general imagery is haunting enough for kids and dips its toes into pure grossness that will challenge them.
But I think the execution of the story and general pacing has made this film not that memorable, despite having a lot of real potential.

Thankfully, the performances on a whole were not a problem. Eva Green played her role well and fitted the tone nicely. It was over-the-top and slightly eccentric. But there was enough to fit in with Burton's look and feel.
Pretty much all of the child actors lead by Ella Purnell, were great. It took me a while to warm to Asa Butterfield. He has his wooden moments, especially in the first act. But I think I was eventually fine with him. It was just a shame his character was not very proactive and was too busy asking questions instead of being the hero.
Samuel L. Jackson did as well as we know he can. He played the villain role well. It was pantomime. But not too much to be just silly. The only other minor role I wanted to mention was Terence Stamp, as he seemed to fit the tone well. It almost reminded me of his performance in The Haunted Mansion.

Despite Elfman not being present, the score managed to sound Elfman-esque which was nice to hear.

I'm afraid there are a fair few negatives to speak of. The pacing was a the films biggest one. It felt stretched, and I think if it was a little bit rompier, we could have had a really enjoyable romp. I think the main fault of that was in the editing department. It seemed to linger too much on every scene in general.
The final act does get a bit silly. While it is nice to see shots of Blackpool as I live in a neighboring town, the scenes were not that well executed and it made the final act a bit crazy and silly whilst still linking well with subtle hints that were shown in the first two acts.
There ended up being some plot holes towards the end that I still struggling to work out even now.

However, there are some nice surprises. I liked the ideas that they try and go for and I enjoyed admiring the character designs. But it is never fully realized.

In the end, it is fine for the most part, and ok for the rest. It's trying to be a really cool fantasy adventure. There is clear potential for this to be a success. But it ends up being just about passable. While it looks good and has its moments of high entertainment, especially in the second act. It ends up being a bit muddled and not that memorable. There were certainly no moments that I felt were terrible and it is definitely not Burton's worst.
But I would call this, a missed opportunity. I would still look out for Burton's next venture.

Rating: 7/10