Beautiful Albeit Simple Gothic Tale

Rating: 6/10 (6 June 2018)

Despite Tim Burton being mistaken for making The Nightmare Before Christmas, it was actually his friend Henry Selick who directed the whole movie during its entire production. In reality, Burton has only directed two stop-motion animated films as of late, and one of which is Corpse Bride, based on a 19th century Russian folklore. Given it's critical praise and decent box office revenue, I think Burton managed to pull together a quite unique and gothic movie that holds up for the most part.
For starters, the actual story is pretty simple and even kind of predictable, as it centers around the nervous Victor Van Dort who is soon to be married to Victoria Everglot through an arranged family marriage. While practicing his lines for the wedding, he accidentally puts the ring on a branch that drags him to the land of the dead. The branch is really the hand of a corpse named Emily, who was murdered after eloping with her love. Now Victor must set things right before Victoria marries the villainous Barkis Bittern (Richard E. Grant). While the story line is pretty routine and easy to follow, the heart of the movie is what makes it shine, as the emotions drive the movie by showing and even answering what it means to marry the dead. There are even some neat concepts about entering the land of the living that showcase the film's occasional creativity. While not high in substance, the story's dark atmosphere and harmonious tone make it a breath of fresh air for anyone into mysterious romance.
Character-wise, most of them are rather one-dimensional but by no means horrible. Although Victor doesn't have much personality outside of his gawkiness, the things he goes through by ending up with a risen corpse of a bride does make him somewhat endearing and it makes one feel sorry for him as he just wants to make things right with his fake and real fiance. As for Emily, she has a rather tragic yet beautiful story-arc that anyone can find touching and heart-breaking, and whenever she sings about her remorseful state, she really gives the movie some much needed heart. Even Victor's fiance, Victoria, is worth giving some sympathy for considering the financial crisis her family is in. The rest of the cast range from bland like Victor's family, to weak and petty like the antagonistic Barkis Bittern, to even rather annoying like the comical reliefs.
Next, the animation is just beautiful, as it goes for a very gothic and Burtonesque visual style that perfectly emulates the macabre setting of 19th century Victorian London. Although not quite as expressive as the characters in Nightmare, or even the Aardman and Laika films, the characters stay true to their simple albeit exaggerated graphic designs and faces. One notable highlight of visual splendor has to be the Land of the Living, as it features the most imaginative looking creatures and most amount of sickly colors to bring the world to life, complete with numerous somber and enticing effects.
As for the songs, Remains of the Day is quite entertaining and upbeat while serving as a backstory to how Emily became the way she is. Otherwise, despite serving the story, none of the songs really stand out to much. They are well thought out and perfectly timed, but they don't have that certain pizazz that makes them memorable enough like Nightmare. Although Danny Elfman's music score is appropriately haunting and poetic, fully embracing the bleak and lovely setting of the film.
Overall, despite being rather straight forward in its story and not being perfect in terms of character or even songs, Corpse Bride works well enough as an touching and haunting macabre tale that will make any fan of gothic stories, Tim Burton, or even animation go nuts over. I recommend this movie enough to say that it's worth a watch, even if it's not quite up there with other stop-motion films in terms of story or character, but at least the visuals are gorgeous. Not sure if Tim Burton is still planning on making more stop-motion animated films, but here's to a bright future if he's still interested in doing so.