Where there's an light that burns brighter...

Rating: 7/10 (8 June 2006)

Life is dull and oppressive, cast in washed out grays and blues by Tim Burton in THE CORPSE BRIDE. Reminiscent of Burton's BEETLEJUICE, the life of the living pales (literally and figuratively) in comparison to the land of the dead.
Victor (Depp) is thrust into the latter by serendipitous calamity, where bebop skeletons jive among eclectic backgrounds painted in vibrant colors. It is these lush visuals that carry the weight of the film, filling the screen from corner to corner. Also outstanding is the voice acting. Albert Finney's gruff voice is wonderfully befitting of the stout, scowling character it is attached to, and Emily Watson is a good choice to convey wholesome daintiness (notice that her cheeks are the only thing in the living world with color, a cheesy but cute allusion to the 'thing that makes life worth living'). I wonder if Richard E. Grant was cast because of the script's homage to HOW TO GET A HEAD IN ADVERTISING (1986). There are certainly similarities between the Peter Lorre worm rambling in the eponymous character's skull and the talking boil that drives Mr. Grant mad in How To Get A Head.
The basic plot is clever and endearing, and the characters are all solid, if somewhat limited at times. The primary fault I found with this film is that it doesn't approach the glory of THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISMAS, a true classic. The bebop skeleton number is great, but on the whole the songs aren't as good as in The Nightmare. Neither are the characters, the story, the pace or the animation for that matter, perhaps only the voice acting here surpasses its predecessor. That doesn't make this a substandard film though, THE CORPSE BRIDE is very entertaining, and a must see for fans of NIGHTMARE, BEETLEJUICE and Burton in general, but do not expect it to eclipse those prior works.
7/10* RECOMMENDED...Very entertaining, missing something though