A very well done work by the master himself.

Rating: 10/10 (2 November 2013)

Yesterday at school, I watched Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride" for the third time I think. Lately, I've had Burton's work on my mind lately. I've been thinking about a lot of his movies, like his dark "Batman" films, the enchanted Christmas classic, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (which recently celebrated it's 20th anniversary) ,and "Edward Scissorhands", one of my all-time favorite movies. So watching his work again makes me realize what an interesting and talented director he is, even if he might be stating to decline slightly. And watching this movies again really captures the beauty and elegance of his works like none of his other films. The premise of the film centers on a shy, nervous man played by (who else?) Johnny Depp. He is engaged to be married to a lovely women named Victoria, played by Emily Watson. However, after getting cold feet during the rehearsal, he accidentally marries a dead women instead, played by (again, who else?) Helena Bonham Carter, who takes him to the land of the dead, to marry her. There are so many things to admire in this film. I guess the best place to start is the animation. It is simply beautiful. The character's eyes are made bigger, in order to make make them more expressive. And Burton makes the smart decision to make the living world black and white, and once we get to the world of the dead, it becomes very colorful. Not only that, but he chooses to keep the living people black and white when they are in the world of the dead. And it's clever little quirks like that make the film a great Tim Burton film. Burton uses clever uses of cinematography, tilted shots and things like that. His sense of art direction is very good as well, with nice designs done for the buildings and characters. And speaking of the characters, they are interesting, and their actors do fine. You admire how smart, sophisticated, funny, or just kind they can be, which make them all very memorable. The music is also really beautiful. Danny Elfman returns to score the movie, and creates some nice songs for the characters to sing, as well as some quiet piano music to accompany other parts. "Corpse Bride" is one of Tim Burton finest films. It is beautiful, funny, inspirational, and has great attention to detail. Check it out if you haven't already.