Don't Expect Another "Nightmare"

Rating: 6/10 (23 September 2005)

1993's "The Nightmare Before Christmas" was a milestone in cinematic history: the first full-length claymation film. And oh, what a glorious film it was! Bursting at the seems with twisted, beautiful, and vividly imaginative imagery thanks to creator Tim Burton and wonderfully catchy and quirky musical numbers thanks to composer Danny Elfman.
Needless to say, Tim Burton's return to claymation was long awaited for me and many others. In 2005, it finally happened with "Corpse Bride". Everything I had seen in the previews looked absolutely fantastic, and I had some very high hopes for the film.
The plot is as follows: Victor (Depp) is a very shy but very spirited young man living in a dreary city populated by stuck-up rich snobs who care about nothing other than money, rules, and manners. He is set up by his parents to marry a young girl named Victoria (Watson), who is, of course, the one other free spirit in the city. Due to an unfortunate series of events, Victor accidentally marries a dead bride (Bonham Carter) and is consequently sucked into the land of the dead. He then attempts to sort out this misunderstanding and get back to the world of the living.
The potential is vast, but the film does little to utilize it. On top of the storyline being crazily predictable, the characters, as you can probably already tell, are paper thin and horribly clichéd. The story has some great opportunities for hilarious macabre gags, which the film obviously tries to harness, but unfortunately, they all end up being painfully corny. Also, the musical numbers, unlike in "Nightmare", feel forced and unnecessary, as if Burton threw them in just because he felt he had to. There is just no energy or passion in them. But the biggest problem with the film is that it should clearly be a heavily aesthetic experience, and the visuals are, quite frankly, underwhelming, unlike most of Burton's previous films, which contain more than their fair share of bravura images.
Also, the film seemed very short and ended very abruptly, even though it seemed to drag for the majority of the running time.
The major redeeming feature of the film, however, is Burton's very interesting contrast between the land of the dead and the world of the living. The dead inhabit a fun, friendly, colorful place where song and dance are encouraged, as apposed to the living, whose world is cold, dreary, desolate, dull, and, ironically, dead. Who are the ones that are truly alive in this situation? 6/10