a beautiful haunting

Rating: 6/10 (27 September 2005)

THE CORPSE BRIDE Warner Bros 2005 color 83 minutes Musical/Fantasy featuring the voices of Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter Directed by Tim Burton Rated PG for adult themes Hot off the creative gem remake Charlie and the Chocalate Factory Burton returns to his artistically drab Nightmare before Christmas roots for a pleasant if over hyped excursion into the after life. Corpse Bride tells the tale of a nervous gentleman wonderfully modeled after Johnny Depp who gets cold feet on his wedding rehearsal and while practicing in the woods accidentally marries the corpse bride. a young woman whom met an early demise on her wedding day. There is obviously lots of singing and macabre gimmicks as he tries to escape her and return to his real fiancée. The movie is littered with creative ideas and imagination galore. But it ends up a little on the shallow side when it comes to feeling like a complete film. Although hauntingly beautiful and a glorious technical achievement topping nightmare before Christmas's wizardy the film relies too much on it's underdeveloped characters and storyline to pull it's weight through. In the end it remains nothing more than brilliantly artistic, souless but a hauntingly beautiful piece of artwork. But it's a nice one indeed. ***(out of five)