Comes Alive When It's Dead

Rating: 8/10 (20 January 2007)

This stick-figure animated film offers good visuals, inventive-looking characters (that being perhaps the most fun of the film), and a decent story that finished with a very nice ending. There are songs in here but they are only so-so, and certainly not the attraction to the film.
The story starts off slowly, but once the characters went down under into the land of the dead, not only did we finally start seeing some colors other than blue, but the whole film came alive and pretty much stayed that way until the end.
As with good animated movies, there is so much you can see that you can't take it all in. It's a feast for the eyes with all the wild-looking characters and nice drawings. Getting good visuals from director Tim Burton is no surprise; he always comes through in that department. Unfortunately, he also usually delivers an anti-religious cheap shot or two.. Here, the minister is pictured as a sour old guy. Burton also pictures clerics in a negative way, and the occult in a positive way. However, he certainly makes interesting films, no matter what the subject matter, and there usually isn't a lot of profanity in his films. There is none here whatsoever.
Overall, an inventive film and fun to watch once you get past the slow first part.