Far More Dead than Alive

Rating: 5/10 (20 September 2016)

Coming in at a mere 77 minutes, Corpse Bride is a short-little-fun adventure, even though there could have clearly been some more room for character development.
One of the things I love most about Tim Burton's films is the promise of an epic adventure. Corpse Bride is a far more contained story than his previous effort, Big Fish, but it does have some adventurous moments. In fact, it's kind of like a cross between Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice. But to me, there was just something missing.
The voice talent is strong here with frequent Burton collaborators Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter tackling the groom and the "corpse bride" respectively. But I didn't find either character to be all that compelling. Victor Van Dort (Depp) is a shy groom with a lack of confidence, and he doesn't have the charisma to get me to root hard for him. On the other-hand, the corpse bride has an intriguingly tragic backstory, but also falls victim to bland dialogue. To me, the most interesting characters are the ones in the background who come and go with eccentric scenery.
A film is only as good as its leads, and although it's impressively animated by Laika, the characters end up taking second fiddle to a Gothic underbelly of strange characters feasting on the inexperience of the bride and the groom. I like the attempt of Burton and crew, and there certainly is some joy to be had here, but the execution just isn't there. Style over substance. To put it bluntly, the film itself is more dead than it is alive.
+Eccentric side characters
-Imaginative but lacks thought out characters
-Incomplete execution
5.3/10