Another Fantastic Movie by Tim Burton

Rating: Null/10 (13 October 2005)

In 1993, writer/director Tim Burton brought to the big screen the world's first full-length stop motion animated film, the Nightmare Before Christmas. Both critics and audiences around the world loved the movie. It is apparent that, in modern film-making, computer animation has become the popular animation style among filmmakers, and with it comes horrible movies like Robots and Shark Tale. It seemed as if the great method of shooting miniature models frame by frame, moving them just a little in between each shot, to give the impression of movement had been eliminated from the big screen. Luckily, Tim Burton is still around and still making films. Tim Burton's Corpse Bride is the most visually astounding and emotionally touching movie of the year. Featuring the voice talents of Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Emily Watson, Albert Finney, and Christopher Lee, with music written and composed by Danny Elfman. The Oscar for best-animated film of 2005 belongs in only one place, in Tim Burton's hands.
Set in 19th century England, the film begins with Victor Van Dort (Johnny Depp) and his parents (Paul Whitehouse, Tracy Ulman) on a way to a wedding rehearsal for him and Victoria Everglot (Emily Watson), his planned to be future wife, the daughter of a loveless rich couple (Joanna Lumley, Albert Finney) who is quickly losing their riches. Victor completely botches the rehearsal and is instructed by Pastor Galswells (Christopher Lee) to learn his vows. He wanders off into the forest and begins practicing. After failing repeatedly, he manages to recite his lines perfectly, using the surrounding environment as props. For the final line, he drops down onto his knees, places his ring on the roots of the nearby oak tree sticking out of the ground, and says, "I ask you to be mine." As the crows caw above, and the wind begins to pick up, Victor's arm is pulled into the ground, and he learns the terrifying truth. He had not put his ring onto the roots of a tree, but onto the bones of a dead woman's arm. He watches the Corpse Bride (Helena Bonham Carter) emerge from the ground, accepting Victor's marriage proposal. She brings Victor back to the land of the dead, where the dead are more alive than the living. As Victor tries to explain to the Corpse Bride that their marriage was nothing but a "grave misunderstanding", Victoria attempts to find a way to help him back in the land of the living.
What truly makes the movie great is not the brief comedic moments, or intense action scenes (which it had none of). What makes this movie great is the characters. The conflicts presented between them, their emotions, their struggles, its all presented almost perfectly in this movie. The way Victor is caught between a living woman that he feels he must be with at all times, and a dead woman that he cannot bare to see unhappy and alone. Its just so believable and will actually make many viewers feel sad and depressed, especially at the very end. This sad and depressed feeling is aided by an amazing score by Danny Elfman. The score throughout the movie really captures the mood and setting. Right from the beginning, with a song that expresses the joy of the Van Dort family, and the anger, sadness, and frustration of the Everglots, all the way to the depressing score at the very end that expresses Emily's feelings. The characters and Danny Elfman's score is what truly makes this movie great. It actually had me feeling bad at several moments, which usually never happens.
If there is anything about the movie that brings it down, it is the fact that it is way too short. Because its stop motion animation and it takes about a whole week to shoot only one minute of film, the movie only comes to a total of 76 minutes in length. There is one major casualty because of this, and its not Victor or Emily, its Victoria. So much of the story is based around Victor and his problem, that Victoria only gets a few entrances every once in a while, and this makes people dislike Victoria. We do not get to see what kind of personality she has, her talents, and any kind of similarity she shares with Victor. This makes a lot of people not care for her. If the movie could have gone about 20 minutes longer, they could have spent a little more time building the relationship of Victor and Victoria, but that would require a few more months of filming. Despite this little problem, the rest of the movie is beautiful. The visuals, the score, the acting, the directing, the story, all of them top notch.
As far as animated films go, the Corpse Bride is one of the best. Better than Tim's first stop motion film, Nightmare Before Christmas, better than Disney's Lion King, better than Brad Bird's The Incredibles, and better than Wallace and Gromit. As far as emotionally touching movies go, this one really gets the job done. The kids can enjoy the childish humor while the teens and adults can enjoy the adult humor, and situations. So sit down and enjoy one of the best movies of the year. The movie that deserves the best-animated film of 2005 award.
Overall = 10/10
Favorite Scene = (Spoiler) It is truthfully impossible for me to pick a favorite scene. The whole movie is good. The best parts though, are just about all the scenes with Victor and Emily together. Especially the scene when they go back into the land of the living where Emily begins gliding around the trees, around Victor, humming quietly at the same time, and the scene when Victor attempts to work things out with Emily after telling her that he would never marry her. While trying to explain things to her, he begins playing the piano with her in a nice duet.