The Nightmare After the Nightmare Before Christmas

Rating: 5/10 (22 October 2005)

Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride" is a Gothic tale of a sensitive young man who chafes at the distinctions between living and dead. Considering that pretty accurately describes Burton's previous "The Nightmare Before Christmas," and that "Corpse Bride" is animated in the same stop-motion style, the gloomy director seems to be creating a sub-sub genre all his own. It's too bad he didn't take the time to flesh out (no pun intended. Seriously) "Corpse Bride" a bit.
There's a lot of visual invention in this film  not surprising in a Burton effort  but Tim and team seem to have spent all their energy on the visuals of "Corpse Bride," not noticing that their story is patchy and scatter shot. Young Victor and Victoria are introduced by their domineering parents just one day before their arranged marriage. Surprisingly enough, they quite like each other, making it all the more tragic when Victor takes a walk in the Dark Scary Woods to practice the vows he keeps flubbing in rehearsal. The film then settles into a standard "Boy Practices Vows, Boy Unwittingly Marries Rotting Girl Cadaver, Boy Tries to Escape from Land of Dead and Anthropomorphic-Maggot-Infested Girl" story. It's here the film gets all muddled. It takes a while to establish that Victor is trapped in what we're belatedly told is the land of the dead. Except he and his late honey can cast a spell that allows them to go back to the land of the living. And the entire population of the underworld later decides to pop upstairs because, um, they feel like it. We find out that poor bride to be Emily was killed  somehow, for some reason  while waiting for her intended in the very wooded spot where Victor makes his ill-conceived marital declaration. Although fated to lie in wait for her betrothed to declare his love, she also apparently lives in the bustling world below, which appears to be a pretty hip place to spend eternity, with its be-bopping jazz cat skeletons and party-on atmosphere. Meanwhile, on the surface, poor Victoria is about to be forced into marrying wealthy, and likely homicidal, Lord Barkis.
This stuff seems not very well thought out. "Corpse Bride" has flashes of inspiration, and some moments of sharp wit. Victoria's mother, breathlessly told by her daughter that Victor and a dead girl climbed through her window, scolds "he was in your ROOM?!" And Victor's own harried mother can't imagine "what corpse would want to marry our Victor." Yet for the most part, "Corpse Bride" seems to be making things up as it goes along. Being animated, it feels obligated to sprinkle in a few entirely forgettable songs, as well, interrupting what little narrative flow it establishes.
A lot of work and care goes into a film like this. Unfortunately, the only thing of which "Corpse Bride" seems sure is how it wants to look. It's easy to admire the craftsmanship behind the film, but no amount of technical expertise can make up for a movie that's just largely so unclear and uninteresting.