Clever enough, but...

Rating: 7/10 (2 December 2005)

...nowhere near as clever as "Nightmare Before Christmas," though I'm not sure I can put my finger on why. Still, I'm not surprised that it polls well here on the IMDb, and especially with the female contingent; the "good" girl got her simple but goodhearted man, while the "bad" girl gave up what she wasn't intended to have, yet still got revenge on the party who betrayed her. Hard to argue with "all's well that ends well." I'm also not surprised to see that the 45+ cohort gave it the lowest marks, much lower than they gave "Nightmare Before Christmas"---this one just isn't as clever by half (although it has its moments), which I will ascribe to Burton meddling with the directing of it, along with Elfman's average (for him) score and songs. Despite the improved stop-motion animation, which I loved, the imagery and story left a strong feeling of retreading of older material. In fact, the story itself reminded me of some old European folktale, whatever it may have been.
Still, "Corpse Bride" has a lot going for it. The animation is exquisite and expressive, a joy to behold. The voice work is spot on, from the upper tier names like Depp and Watson right straight through to Enn Reitel's Maggot/Town Crier. Children under 12 might be a bit lost, but anyone with a love of animation will be pleased. The only reason I gave it a 7 instead of an 8 is its apparent lack of repeat viewability; that may change in the future when I catch it again on DVD.