Beautiful and Dreamy yet Simple at Heart

Rating: 10/10 (12 April 2006)

To put it simply, this movie is a jewel: After being in love with it for quite the time, I have decided to settle down and write a review for it, because no matter how much praise it gets, this short animation film deserves more.
This is the kind of movie which will not leave you unhappy; there's a little bit for everyone in this masterpiece. Are you one for emotional, expressive characters? Then you'll like it: not only are the characters, even those more minor, cutely designed and each with unique, sweet strands of quirky personality in themselves, but the clay models' expressivity is sometimes more than that of some bland actors and actresses. The voices are wonderfully implemented too, with Johnny Depp taking into the role of the main focus, dreamy Victor van Dort, and Emily Watson voicing Victoria, his sweet and naïve 'human' fiancée. But the true star is unequivocally Helena Bonham-Carter as the alluring Corpse Bride herself, the bubbly and sexy Emily, whose emotions switch swiftly from happy to sad to angry  and you really won't want to mess with this Bride! Of course, the rest of the cast is placed just as aces, with Tracey Ullman and Paul Whitehouse as the Van Dorts, Victor's status-hungry parents, Joanna Lumley and Albert Finney as the stuck-up and aristocratic Everglots (and, in the best possible way, these were *perfectly* voiced), and Richard E. Grant as the dark, refined and depraved Lord Barkis Bittern.
The score? Striking, simply, a perfect ten. You really couldn't get anybody better than Danny Elfman to do this job, and even with him, I don't doubt it must cost a painful amount of time and effort to compose such a perfectly fit soundtrack, but as it is? In my opinion, it couldn't be better. This man just seems to hit the spot every time, and although nobody would miss a few songs more (comparing this to Nightmare Before Christmas, the result is rather less quantitative), you can tell the songs are a definite improvement, from the repetitive tunes of NMBC to the full songs, complete with lyrics which tell portions of the story as opposed to simply describing situations.
Another of this movie's strong points is the humour. Whether you're one for sophisticated and adult wit, or darkly jokey slapstick and in-context plays with words, there's bound to be a little wink at the audience you'll at the very least smirk at. While the dry comedy is reserved for the grey Land of the Living, wildness is unleashed in the colourful and spazzy Land of the Dead.
So take your pick, but whether you're already a fan of Burton's or a newcomer to his wonderful and crazy world, this dreamy piece is something notable out of his filmography. Personally, I think just the effort and hours put behind the animation, especially with it being so detailed and dynamic in the final result, are worth respecting. Couple that with a wonderfully told, beautiful storyline which, although many found simple and linear, I thought it really couldn't give more out of itself, and you have Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, a movie with quite simple ambitions which easily becomes one of this director's liveliest  no pun intended.