An interesting and relevant, if not perplexing, morality tale

Rating: 6/10 (24 September 2005)

Tim Burton's Corpse Bride is by no means a bad movie- indeed, it is much better than most schlock these days- but it is part of a growing category of films with a very specific problem. It does not seem to have a specific audience in mind, or if it does, it is not approaching that audience in the proper way.
Most people will see this film because it is to all appearances the follow-up to The Nightmare Before Christmas. Visually, this is true- Corpse Bride looks and feels very similar to the older film, although computer animation makes this one look even better.
However, whereas The Nightmare Before Christmas maintained a jovial, family friendly theme and plot (complete with misunderstood heroes and dastardly villains), Corpse Bride gives us a quiet little story about three young adults who find themselves in an impossible moral situation. Promises are made which must be kept, and out of three people, one must inevitably end up heartbroken. The three central characters are all exceedingly likable- although one may believe Emily is to be the villain of the piece, she consistently demonstrates as much humanity as anyone.
Ultimately, the film is about one very difficult moral choice that has to be made by one of the characters. The choice is made and the movie ends, but unless you're paying really close attention, it's difficult to understand why the characters act as they do, and why the film has the ending that it does. While not giving anything away, I'll say that in this sense, the third act of the film presents a very mature dilemma that children (and many adults) are not going to appreciate.
Of course, the frustrating thing about this movie is that so much time is spent on song and dance numbers that the moral and romantic elements never really get fleshed out. As such the film (like Victor) is stuck between two worlds, and never really makes up its mind where it wants to be. On this point, then, it fails.
It's probably still worth watching, although Tim Burton has done much better in the past.