The film that wants to be lighter than air instead crashes to earth with the swiftness of a concrete parachute. Director Tim Burton, whose early career displayed a dazzling gift for the surreal, is in a slump. Yet whatever one thought of his two most recent pictures, "Planet of the Apes" or "Sleepy Hollow," nothing will prepare his admirers for this belabored oddity that is one long-winded tall tale illustrated with hammy, artificial sets and gee-whiz acting.

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