Tim Burton’s new stop-motion masterpiece, Corpse Bride, stars the voice talents of two people Burton never leaves home without… Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. This film is spellbinding and beautiful, but falls only slightly short of perfection.
Two young people are arranged to be married by their hideously awful parents, only to discover upon meeting that they truly love each other at first sight. Unfortunately Victor (Depp) is hopelessly clumsy and cannot figure out how to say his vows correctly. He wanders off to practice and becomes accidentally wed to a Corpse Bride (Carter).
Suddenly Victor finds himself whisked away to the underworld where they sing delightfully ghoulish songs and loose their limbs or eyeballs frequently. Visually this movie is nothing short of stunning and the detail is fantastic. You could watch this movie in silence and be captivated by the talent that went into creating this spectacular world.
Danny Elfman, also a regular in the Burton world (and just flat out brilliant), created the score for this movie. While the songs are entertaining, they seem to lack something. With the exception of both a haunting solo piano piece from Victor, and then later an equally memorable duet piano piece between Victor and the Corpse Bride, the music definitely left something to be desired. But I hate to judge to quickly or harshly, so I will concede that perhaps I just wasn’t in the mood for a musical.
Speaking of piano music, the serious stop-motion fans out there will enjoy the fact that the piano Victor plays at the beginning is named Harryhausen, a man who practically
represents the special effects industry. Some other unique trivia information for all the future animators out there is that this is touted to be the first feature stop-motion animation to use commercial digital SLR cameras instead of film.
My only real complaint with this movie is that the story was a little bit slow and predictable. I loved the absolute originality of The Nightmare Before Christmas and expected the same from this film. While the concept of a “corpse bride” is unique, unfortunately the novelty of it dies off after the premise. That’s not at all to say this was not an extremely enjoyable movie, I was just comparing it to what I consider to be greatness.
So How Does It End?
This movie is truly bittersweet. The question is raised several times if a heart can be broken after it stops beating. Sadly Victor does love the woman he is arranged to marry, and the Corpse Bride is left alone. She accepts this willingly though, not wanting to steal the joy of another bride the way her joy was stolen on her wedding day. Fortunately the good guys (both dead and alive) set her free by punishing the enemy that ruined her special day.
This is a very unique movie for the whole family. It’s hard to be disappointed by something amazingly detailed and thoughtful. I give it 4 out of 5.
By Tina Alexander
