Tim Burton and Danny Elfman do it again with a macabre romance only they could successfully make!

Rating: 9/10 (5 January 2006)

I recently did something that I haven't done for over 20 years: I bought a movie soundtrack. That was because I was so enchanted by Danny Elfman's score in "The Corpse Bride" that I HAD to hear it again ... and again. What with the haunting main melody heard throughout the movie contrasted with the catchy jazz tunes of the underworld (the name of the lounge was the "Ball and Socket") plus songs like "The Remains of the Day", "Tears to Shed", "The Wedding Song" and a brief piano solo (and a piano duo), I really felt, as some IMDb reviewers have alluded to, that I was watching a Broadway production. It was also interesting to note that Danny Elfman was the voice of the underworld band leader (Bonejangles).
*** MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW *** *** YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!! ***
Now that you know that I loved the music, I will say that I really liked the movie. I found the plot a bit weak but still quite enjoyable. While we, as the audience, are supposed to empathize with Victor's dilemma at having to choose between Victoria and the Corpse Bride, to me it lessens Victors character because it shows him as being wishy-washy and even a bit of a jerk. I just wished he were given a little more backbone. At the end of the movie, when the Corpse Bride makes her metamorphosis (quite beautifully I might add), the trouble is that there is no apparent vehicle for this change. While it doesn't ruin the movie, it kind of leaves me hanging wondering "What just happened?" For example, I would think that the maggot, who is resident in the Corpse Bride's eye, could have been revealed to really be a caterpillar and from there you have the vehicle for the change. I really liked the pre-wedding celebration in the underworld. This joyous part of the movie was probably the most difficult to compose and shoot what with all the motion. The music at some points in the celebration reminded me of Walt Disney's "Cinderella" when the mice were making Cinderella's dress. It is only one of two places (that I remember) where Danny Elfman's score shifts to major key, instead of the traditional minor key in Burton/Elfman collaborations.
*** END OF SPOILERS ***
The stop-motion animation is exquisite. For example, the movement of cloth (including veils) was amazing. In the attention-to-detail arena, there is a skeleton dog in the underworld whose movements were so good I thought I was looking at a real one. It still amazes me how you can make a stop-motion production that includes the numerous combinations of pans and zooms that this movie had. I can only imagine the agony there must have been trying to shoot it, not to mention re-shoots. If you read the TRIVIA section, you will notice that "...it took the animators 28 separate shots to make the bride blink." Many other, less patient or less funded, animators would have settled for 8 separate shots.
Now, as for rating the movie, it was more difficult for me than I expected it would be. In the end I give the movie 9 stars. But I will say that without Danny Elfman's score, I would have rated "The Corpse Bride" at 8 stars. To those in IMDb-land who have made comparisons between Elfman and Richard Rogers, I am beginning to believe you're absolutely right.