Tim Burton is a contradiction - a film-maker who has a unique style and yet remains grounded in the Hollywood studio system. How can someone who has such a distinctive personal vision survive in an aggressive and increasingly bland marketplace? How can he command such large budgets to realise his ideas? The answer is simple - Tim Burton may well be a cinematic artist but his films are also financially successful.

Burton's world is one of outsiders on the periphery of society. His heroes are psychologically scarred, perpetually naive and childlike, misunderstood or unintentionally disruptive. They are all figures who upset conventional society and morality. Even his villains are rarely without merit; circumstance and society blur the divide between moral fortitude and personal action. But most of all his films have an overriding aura of the fairy tale, the fantastic and the magical.

The Pocket Essential Tim Burton looks at the man and his films, from his early shorts right through to his latest blockbusters. It covers the films, their making and their merit. This is the essential companion to Hollywood's premiere magician.