Yes art direction is his thing but that's limiting his contribution. I think social commentary and character depth is an aspect of his films people neglect. Perhaps Kaufman is too "real" for Burton though.
I feel torn between Burton and his artistic appeal in the same way Fincher's visual look over shadows other aspects of his talent.
“When we make some new announcement and if there is no positive initial reaction from the market, I try to think of it as a good sign because that can be interpreted as people reacting to something groundbreaking. ...if the employees were always minding themselves to do whatever the market is requiring at any moment, and if they were always focusing on something we can sell right now for the short term, it would be very limiting. We are trying to think outside the box.” - Satoru Iwata - This is why corporate multinationals will never truly understand, or risk doing, what Nintendo does.
