A spectacular movie, a must-watch!

Rating: 10/10 (12 October 2016)

Yesterday evening, while my parents were at bowling, I decided that I wanted to watch a movie instead of a TV episode. I had recently finished Sleepy Hollow (1999), a movie that I don't care for. The first two acts are good, but the third one is justeh. Either way, I decided to watch The Corpse Bride, which was listed as a 'similar movie'. I'd heard a lot about it, and I knew that it was one of Tim Burton's famous movies, but I don't know if I'd ever seen the whole thing before. Bits and pieces? Sure. And what did I have to lose for watching it? I never thought I'd have so much to gain.
I absolutely adore The Corpse Bride. It is a wonderful movie visually and story-wise, and it also has so much to provide under the surface. One of the things I found very interesting was that Victor (the main character) lived in a greyscale world—the world of the living. Everything was bleak, dull, materialistic. But the world of the dead, well, that was full of color, festivities and, ironically, life. There was also the small subplot revolving around how Victor's parents (who were poor) wanted him to marry rich, and they ended up choosing a rich family that had just gone bankrupt, but no one knew yet. And then the antagonist tries to marry the girl for the money as well, just as he had done to Emily/The Corpse Bride before. But in the world of the dead, there is no money. They only have each other, and it seemed to make such a huge difference. There was little to no sign of materialism in that world, and certainly no money.
Another part that I loved about the movie was just how hopeful it was. I really love Tim Burton's way of taking the dark and macabre and turning it into something whimsical and beautiful—something not as scary as one would normally believe. Just the visual style is good enough, but then you have how happy and kind the deceased are. When the dead come back to the world of the living to observe the ceremony between Emily and Victor, they confront the villagers, led by a tall and scary-looking skeleton. A little boy stares up at the skeleton. Everyone is waiting for the skeleton to attack. And then, with a little, hopeful smile on his face, the boy says: "Grandpa?" And the scary skeleton picks up the kid and hugs him, and all the other deceased start looking for their loved ones, who are all happy to see those they thought they had lost.
This movie made me want to start living again. It made me want to stop living in a dull, bleak world and starting enjoying it. I'm not particularly religious, so I'm not sure what will happen after we die, but we have to live this life to the fullest, right? And The Corpse Bride just hammered that into me. I hope it can do the same for others!