A Nutshell Review: Tim Burton's Corpse Bride

Rating: 9/10 (30 September 2005)

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp? Sign me up for it, anytime! I've pretty much enjoyed their collaborations, from Edward Scissorhands to Sleepy Hollow. Hot off the heals from their box-office success Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, their latest collaboration sees Depp lending his voice to Burton's macabre vision in a stop motion animated movie, along the veins of Nightmare Before Christmas (NBC).
The story's a little bizarre, a little morbid, but hey, it's Burton on familiar grounds. The Von Dorts and the Everglots have agreed to an arrange marriage between their children Victor (Depp) and Victoria (Emily Watson), but Victor, fumbling the marriage rehearsals, runs away to seek solace, and accidentally unleashes the Corpse Bride Emily (Helena Bonham Carter, giving the character an impeccable Brit accent). So begins a crazy love triangle of sorts, involving characters from both the realm of the living and the dead.
Surprisingly, Burton managed to squeeze a couple of subplots into this relatively short film, and touched on themes like arranged marriages, what's in it for both families (The Von Dorts are the newly rich, wanting to add prestige to their family name, while the Everglots are bona-fide aristocrats who've gone bust, and need the dough to continue their lifestyle and save face). Different facades of love are exhibited between Victoria-Victor-Emily, one which is the more conventional (and maybe improbable?) "love-at-first-sight", while the other, growing to love a person (though it happened within 24hrs, so what?) You might be able to guess the ending and the relations between some of the characters mid-way through the movie, though some might prefer an alternative ending. If you're acquainted with Burton's works, it's typical of him and his style, so you'll see it coming the way it was, as per his dark visions.
The art and characters are very NBC-like too, with their small heads and extremely long limbs. Stop-motion is difficult to do, and watching it in a digital format brings out the crispness of the figurines. Burton loads the film with many supporting characters, each with its own zany behaviour, and some even spoofing characters from movie classics. Somehow Christopher Lee's Pastor Galswells suffered from LOTR's shadow and always reminded me of Saruman, though I think the reference was unintentional.
And what's an animated flick without humour? Corpse Bride has tons of references, and both physical and dry humour to satisfy both camps. The music's also top-notch, but what can you less expect from another long time Burton partner Danny Elfman? Though you can hear shades of Batman in the instrumentals, the songs and lyrics are really a class of their own, bringing this musical to life, just like what Elfman managed to do for NBC.
Highly recommended, even if it means forking out S$9.50 on a weekend for a less than 80 minutes show. I can't wait for another dark stop-motion animated movie from Burton. Bring it on I'd say!