Short and sweet

Rating: 10/10 (23 January 2006)

This is an amazing movie. I had previously watched Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas and expected a similar experience: Nightmare was amazing to look at and a marvel to listen to, but in between all the singing, I found it a bit dull. This movie though, never encountered that issue.
Viktor Van Dort, son of a wealthy fishmonger family, is set to marry Victoria Everglot, daughter of a poor yet high-class family. The Van Dorts hope to earn high-class, and the Everglots hope to earn money. Victor and Victoria aren't keen on the idea, but once they meet in person, it's love at first site. The shy Victor, however, completely fails at the wedding rehearsal and flees to the woods. He practices his vows there on different branches, finally putting the ring on a very hand-like one. And in fact, it is a hand! The hand of Emily, the Corpse Bride, who was killed by her new husband and swore to await her true love. Victor now finds himself married to a corpse, when he wants to get back to Victoria. Although during the movie, he begins to show more care and love for his new bride. But I won't spoil the ending.
This movie has less music and more plot than Nightmare, and therefore isn't as dull as I found Nightmare to be. It goes at a perfect pace, mixing excellent music with even better voice-acting, of particular note Johnny Depp as Victor and Christoper Lee as the priest, Pastor Galswells. Even more so I must mention the quirky and witty humor in this movie, with many puns and cute jokes, and of course the amazing visuals - stop-motion animation at its best. This movie should be seen only to admire the animation.
It is a bit on the short side, standing at only an hour and 15 minutes, but it doesn't hurt the film. Rather, you can enjoy this fun and light-hearted movie to its full extent before it has a chance to drag into dullness. Many a movie have been ruined by being too long.
This movie is a must-see, if only to appreciate the animation. But anyone who wants some good, clean entertainment should give Tim Burton's Corpse Bride a try.