Eh.

Rating: 6/10 (12 February 2006)

I just watched the Corpse Bride for the second time recently and my opinion has changed much since I first saw it. This film seems like a 30 minute short artificially stretched to feature length. This would have worked beautifully as a short film.
The plot moves along fairly predictable turns. I never was once surprised or intrigued with what was happening in the story. It's pretty standard fair. The songs by the usually flawless Danny Elfman are unmemorable and somewhat annoying. They seem shoehorned into the movie as filler to stretch the length. This really did not need to be a musical. I didn't like the villain much either, and not in the way you're supposed to dislike a villain either, I just thought he was tedious and once again, annoying. Most of the jokes were juvenille and just plain not funny.
There is some wonderful animation in this film though. The underworld is wonderfully colorful and vivid while the real world is grey and Gothic. The voice actors do their best with what they can.
Overall this film had loads of potential but it feels rushed and unfinished. This would have benefited greatly with a few rewrites.