Tim Burton hits out at worried parents

Rex Features

Tim Burton has admitted that he is frustrated by "politically correct" parents who do not want their children to be scared.

The award-winning director insisted that youngsters enjoy being frightened by movies but are currently being restricted by the adults in their lives.

Speaking to WENN, Burton commented: "I don't know why adults keep fighting that. They keep fighting the fairytales that have been told since the beginning of mankind. They're fighting Pinocchio. They forget what it's like to be kids. Kids like to be scared.

"Most great children's literature is politically incorrect, so I don't know why they can't get used to it by now."

Burton added that movie chiefs often oppose directors who have "dark" ideas because they are worried about upsetting parents.

He explained: "When I was first doing stuff like Beetlejuice or Batman I used to get a lot of s**t for things being dark. When I was working on Nightmare Before Christmas I had endless arguments with the studio heads who said: 'You can't have a main character that's got no eyeballs. How is someone gonna feel about somebody with just eye sockets?'

"It's those kinds of things that really kind of wear you down."

Burton's newest film project, Alice In Wonderland, will be released in March 2010.