The Corpse Bride

Filed Under: Film, Reviews | Article Tags : DVD review

By: The Dweeb

January 2006

DVD Features

Video: 1.85:1 Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1

Inside the Two Worlds
Danny Elfman Interprets The Two Worlds
The Animators: The Breath Of Life
Tim Burton: Dark vs. Light
Voices from the Underworld
Making Puppets Tick
The Voices Behind The Voice
The Corpse Bride Preproduction Galleries
Theatrical Trailer
Music Only Track

Theatrical release: 09/16/2005
DVD released on 1/31/2006 by Warner Bros.
Running time of 77 minutes

Starring: Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Depp, Albert Finney, Christopher Lee, Tracey Ullman

Director: Tim Burton, Mike Johnson

Plot: Set in a 19th century European village, this stop-motion, animated feature follows the story of Victor, a young man who is whisked away to the underworld and wed to a mysterious Corpse Bride, while his real bride, Victoria, waits bereft in the land of the living. Though life in the Land of the Dead proves to be a lot more colorful than his strict Victorian upbringing, Victor learns that there is nothing in this world, or the next, that can keep him away from his one true love.

Right on the heels of Tim Burtons other project last year, the remake of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, he teams up again with his favorite players and makes a short companion piece to his other stop motion film The Nightmare Before Christmas. Films like these don’t come around very often, as the process is lengthy and painstaking, but the results are astonishing. Stop motion is probably the hardest type of animation, and it used to be relegated as only small special effects pieces in live action films. Burton has the creative means and the team to pull it off, and the result is a wonderful little film.
The Corpse Bride is your standard Tim Burton affair. Like many of his films, this picture is filled with dark imagery, macabre humor with a sprinkle of whimsy. If it weren’t for its charming humor it would have to be labeled as a horror film or possibly placed in the bizarre section. Who would come up with the idea that a young man would accidentally marry a rotting corpse for a bride? Not the usual Hollywood fodder in here. Yes it is a musical, like Nightmare before it, but at least the songs aren’t the usual Disneyfied claptrap we are all familiar with. Burton knew to use these sequences sparingly and his usual teaming up with Danny Elfman is always a surefire win. There are some great numbers in here.
Speaking of Danny Elfman, just coming off of watching Chocolate Factory I feel like I’m in a repeat of some sort. Johnny Depp once again is the star of the film, playing the hapless Victor our young hero of the movie. So the music is familiar, the voice is familiar, I can hear some Deep Roy in there somewhere. How about using some different people for a change Tim? I did enjoy all the various characters, especially the living. Always good to see a good ribbing at the expense of the stuffy upper crust Victorian society. The best ones are Victoria Everglots (Emily Watson) parents, played by Joanna Lumley and Albert Finney.
Corpse Bride is clearly a film split in half with two distinct differences. The side where the living reside is bleak and dull, and naturally in Tim Burton fashion the land of the dead is lively and colorful. Its a party as the spirits have been lifted from the shackles of life in the Victorian age. No one else would be able to take the ultimate subject, death, and turn it into a party.
As with any new release these days, the DVD package isn’t too shabby on the technical side. The picture is clear, and the animation is so good you forget its stop motion. There are plenty of extras included with this DVD, mostly the promotional material so they tend to be very short. I wish they went into more depth about the animation, but hey, what are you gonna do. There didn’t seem to be enough of the cast interviews either, we barely see them.
Overall, this is a decent movie, certainly one of Tim Burtons better achievements as of late. It manages to retain that small movie feel even though it is coming from a big budget director. I enjoyed it, and its a film the whole family could enjoy together.