So because they both use a childrens choir, ES using a male one and BR using a female one, they all sound the same?
I don't remember the tribal percussion of POTA showing up in any other Burton score, nor do I remember the theremin lead marches of Mars Attacks!. Come to think of it, the southern textures of Big Fish don't show up in any other Burton film, and the electronic/Rota inspired Pee Wee is pretty exclusive to that film too, as is the piano driven Corpse Bride, the Hermann-like Batman, the meowing/hymn-like Batman Returns...
And, as someone who owns pretty much every album Elfman has ever released, the synths and electronics in the DS samples are unlike anything he's ever done before.
Sorry for the semi-rant, but it infuriates me to no end that Elfman gets so much stick when there's only a handful of composers nowadays who really push themselves to try new things like Elfman does. Yet some people can't get past a simple choir.
It must be infuriating to hear Zimmer's consistent use of string ostinati and one, or if we're lucky, two note brass, or Giacchino's endless piano solos, or James Newton Howard's string elegys...