Not what It was Sought Out to Be...

Rating: 5/10 (25 September 2005)

Whenever you thought of Corpse Bride, you thought of Tim Burton. Whenever you thought of Tim Burton, you thought of The Nightmare Before Christmas. When you think of Corpse Bride, you shouldn't think of The Nightmare Before Christmas, but for some reason everyone does.
I can understand how people think these two movies are alike, because they're basically the only animated films by Tim Burton, besides James and the Giant Peach. However, Corpse Bride is the first to be Directed by Tim Burton. Nonetheless, these movies can't be considered "as good" as each other. Nightmare Before Christmas is a film that you will remember and watch for the rest of your life. Corpse Bride is a movie that you see because it looks like The Nightmare Before Christmas. Corpse Bride is a bad movie being compared to Nightmare Before Christmas so often.
The story is a little more complex than a normal children's (Disney) movie would be, however it has a simple outlook. A man is being wed beyond his will to a bride who, likewise, is against her will. Victor (voiced by Johnny Depp) reveals his nervousness during the rehearsal, and later travels through the woods practicing his vows. At a particular moment, he suddenly gets his vows perfect, and recites them aloud. When he announces that he will "give her this ring", he places it on what he believes is a small tree branch resembling her ring finger, in which turns out to be a dead woman's ring finger who is buried. She comes alive and cries out "I do" to Victor, and now he is wed to a deceased woman, hence, Corpse Bride.
Victor is now contemplating what he must do to fix this mis-marriage, and find his wanted bride, Victoria (voiced by Emily Watson). Seeing as this is a children's movie, or just a movie nonetheless, it won't be as easy as thought. Seems like a typical quest for the plot of a movie.
Corpse Bride was short, only 76 minutes. This prevents the movie from having less twists in plot and gets to the finale quicker. Having a short movie may keep the children interested through a longer majority of the movie, this is a positive outcome. To me, it made it less interesting. 5/10.