A dead art no longer

Rating: Null/10 (31 May 2010)

Tim Burton is a director who manages to bring across something much darker in a cheerful fancifully way. This film is no exception.
The plot is an adaptation of an old Jewish story when a dead bride come to claim her still alive accidental spouse. Of course its plays out much more like a horror accept when they come to terms with it.
In the classic Tim Burton fashion however the scenes which should be icky and grotesque end up on the fun side. Indeed the dead are shown partying well in the afterlife. New arrivals for the most part receive a musical number with the ghosts and ghouls literally playing each other. Whilst the land above is filled with character who are really about living their own lives. The land above is always shown in the eternal night under constant moonlinght.
In fact the over top is where everything certainly feels creepy and for good reason. The villains in this movie are never the supposedly evil dead. Although they acre treated with full fear once they surface.
The characters include two young soon to be betrothed victor and victoire. They are often subject to the demands of all the peripheral characters and it seem they are never in their element or at least in a comfortable position. Victoire's parents are played up to the arrogant stereotypes whereas Victor's are much more humble. The cast of dead fellows includes many but the most prominent is an elder who is nothing but bones. Of course the corpse bride is the title character who manages to prove very endearing.
Make no mistake this movie is played out in full pantomime fashion. Expect music numbers of the dark and dastardly kind you'd expect from a Disney movie. Those jazzy tunes and brass beats are all for interpretation i guess, but go the way to explaining the characters.
The relationship between Victor his betrothed and his was to be betrothed is the main draw. Victor is meant to be with Victoire and yet the corpse bride Emily has certainly more draws except for the rotting and decaying part.
In classic Burton style the forbidden romance is played out but its also more about the characters coming to understand one another. Victor might well be trying to marry Emily out of pity, or maybe she makes him feel more at ease.
The problems this film faces are I guess similarities between the nightmare before Christmas. The setting of the film to feel quite remote and confining but I guess that gives the movie are short story feel. However Tim Burton should have tried for a much more artistic extravagance that we know he is capable of rather than playing it so timidly. The film feels much shorter than it is and the musicals do feel like they steal the spotlight from when characters really do progress when they are more intimate.
So this film is much like a short story. It can fill the short slot of an evening and you may get a short chuckle. But it feels as if it doesn't realise its a movie. The art style is still different from most but it still isn't evolved from the original. This is more I dare say straight to DVD but in a good way, at the very least a rental.