CAPSULE: This is another joyously morbid fairy tale from Tim Burton. A nebbish makes a fatal mistake and accidentally weds a zombie. These mixed marriages--one living and one dead--never really last. But while this one does our hapless hero gets to meet the underworld society of the dead. The mock morbidity is a lot of fun, and it all comes to a heartwarming ending. The animation is not cutting edge, but it is very good. There are a host of familiar voices as a great cast of actors speaks the roles. The film is enchantingly unwholesome. Rating: +2 (-4 to +4) or 7/10
TIM BURTON'S CORPSE BRIDE is a new Tim Burton animated film in the mold of FRANKENWEENIE and THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. Once again some of the most lovable people are the ones that traditionally give us nightmares. Like Charles Addams and Edward Gorey before him, Burton knows how to poke a loving jab at things we are supposed to find horrifying. In actual fact, they probably have not been horrifying since Victorian times.
Victor Van Dort (voiced by Johnny Depp, perhaps named Victor for Victor Frankenstein) is in love with patrician Victoria Everglot (Emily Watson). Both sets of parents are very anxious to see the marriage take place. The Van Dorts want to climb the social ladder. Normally people like the Everglots would not want to be seen hobnobbing with people like the Van Dorts. But the Van Dorts have money and the snobbish Finnis Everglot (Albert Finney) wants to tap their resources and is even willing to marry his daughter off to them. Willing, that is, if only Victor can get his marriage vows correct. The stern Pastor Galswells (Christopher Lee) is losing all patience with Victor and his bad memory. He sends Victor away to practice what he is to say during the marriage ceremony. Victor now can get the words right, but now he is saying them in the wrong place. He is saying them just over the place where a poor and maltreated young woman had died and was buried. Before Victor realizes what he has done he has said his marriage vows to a corpse (Helena Bonham Carter). And this is all she needs to return to life, or at least walking death. The dead woman is delighted to find someone would marry her, considering her delicate condition of being dead. Victor is now married and it is time to meet the non- surviving members of his wife's family and others from the land of the dead. And of course there is a loveable dog only slightly less loveable for being only a dog skeleton.
Tim Burton likes to deal with the same people from one film to the next so the actors doing the voices are people like Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter who are veterans of previous Burton films. Danny Elfman (who else) nicely provides the music. The songs are pleasant, but it is too early to tell if the music will be as memorable as that of THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. In at least one way this film does not live up to that predecessor. In that film it seemed that there was often interesting creative action in every part of the screen. There were throwaway gags and gimmicks happening all over the background. This film perhaps does not have all the creativity that that film had. There is less going on in each frame. Possibly it is less distracting to have less peripheral action, but it is also a little disappointing. Many of the gags seem less original and more retreads from cartoons from the 1930s and 1940s. But the story has its heart in the right place.
This is a tale of love and death, though ultimately much more about love. Parents may want to avoid bringing children much less than eight or ten, but anybody else should have a great time. The biggest fault is that the pleasure lasts only 78 minutes. I would rate TIM BURTON'S CORPSE BRIDE a +2 on the -4 to +4 scale or 7/10.
Mark R. Leeper
Source: rec.art.movies.reviews newsgroup
Rating: 5
QUOTE: "[Tim] Burton and co-director Mike Johnson have crafted one of the most visually unique films ever made."
With an imagination large enough for a dozen grade schoolers hopped up on Ho-Ho's and Mountain Dew, Tim Burton is the go-to guy if you're in the mood for bizarre stories. Whether they are his own stories (Edward Scissorhands) or his take on other work (Charlie And The Chocolate Factory), Burton consistently delivers eye candy with originality.
Corpse Bride, his first animated film since writing and producing 1993's The Nightmare Before Christmas, continues Burton's adventures into the strange and morbid. Using stop-motion animation techniques with Canon SLR cameras and edited with robust Final Cut Pro, Burton and co-director Mike Johnson have crafted one of the most visually unique films ever made. The dark blues, the blacks, the contrast, the misshapen characters; this is all vintage Burton and this is his most ambitious project in years.
Victor Van Dort (voiced by Johnny Depp) is a typical young man nervous about marriage. He has good reason, as he is part of an arranged marriage between the Van Dort and Everglot families. Victoria Everglot (voiced by Emily Watson) is also nervous about the proposition, but it is Victor who keeps fumbling his vows during the rehearsal. After being told that the wedding cannot take place without him mastering the lines, Victor heads out to the nearby forest/cemetery to practice. By happenstance, Victor places the ring on a deceased boney finger, only to have the Corpse Bride (voiced by Helena Bonham Carter) come alive! The Corpse Bride believes that Victor's actions were intentional, and Victor soon finds himself "down" where the dead live. The dead mostly drink, sing, and stab each other with swords (they don't have skin, afterall, and they can't feel a thing). Torn between his Corpse Bride and Victoria, Victor must make trips to and from the living and the dead in order to solve his predicament.
Burton and his cohorts seamlessly mesh musical and narrative elements to create fabulous environments. The music is scored by Burton regular Danny Elfman and his music is among the most recognizable in Hollywood. The tone is set from the get-go, and in the very brief 78 minute runtime there is nary a dull moment.
There will inevitably be "style over substance" debates and that is not uncalled for. This is not one of the more compelling Burton films from a story standpoint, but the fact remains that this is still a perfect, brooding vehicle for his talents. Plus, the film is geared more towards kids, and for parents this could be an extra treat since there is a lot of imagination on display here. While maintaining a PG rating, there are plenty of visuals that may disturb young children.
Longtime readers may know that I frequently have issues with animated films that tout a laundry list of A-list stars who are contributing their voices. More often than not, moviegoers spend the whole time trying to place voices and it really serves as more of a distraction than anything. Not so here, as Johnny Depp is easily the biggest name on display. He contributes a weary, nervous voice for Victor that would probably be unrecognizable of we didn't know it was Depp. That's not to take anything away from Emily Watson, Helena Bonham Carter, Tracy Ullman, and the other talented individuals involved with the production. No one "steals the show," per se, but the voice talent is of very high quality.
Corpse Bride is Burton's second film of this year alone, and it wouldn't surprise me if it earned an Oscar nod in the Animation category. Projects this anomalous deserve such recognition and I think that young and old alike will have their imaginations exercised.
By : Bill Clark (http://www.fromthebalcony.com/reviews/2005/05_corpsebride.htm)
