Corpse Bride

For today, I'm gonna do a Tim Burton double review with his stop motion films Corpse Bride & Frankenweenie! I already reviewed The Nightmare Before Christmas during my first animation advent calendar, so I thought it'd be fair that I review his other Halloween-esque movies! This one was released in 2005 & stars the quintessential actors he'd cast in his movies like Johnny Depp, Burton's wife Helena Bonham Carter, Christopher Lee, Michael Gough & Albert Finney along with British actors like Emily Watson, Joanna Lumley, Richard E Grant & Jane Horrocks. The film ended up being nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature, but lost of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit (wasn't really much competition though since I don't know anyone who doesn't like Wallace & Gromit), which coincidentally also starred Helena Bonham Carter! So can Tim Burton impress me again, or is his quirky gothic schtick getting too repetetive nowadays? Let's find out!

Story: The best way to describe this film in a nutshell is a tragic gothic love story. It is pretty clear what Tim wanted to focus on in this & it is done pretty well most of the time. Not only is the premise original & creative, but it also surprisingly manages to show a lot of emotional depth because of the character Emily & the tragedy behind her death & the consequences of it. I even enjoyed the relationship between Victor & Emily as it turns out they're more similar than expected (OK, it's a bit weird since it's technically necrophilia) & most of the time, it's pretty heartwarming. Another part I liked was the contrast between the land of the living & land of the dead, with the latter ironically looking more alive with more quirky side characters compared to the frigid Victorian style society of the living as the main characters try to get higher in the ranks of society thanks to the arranged marriage used as a framing device for the film. As for the humour, it can vary from being funny with the creative dead characters & the visual gags, some which make my eyes roll like a lot of puns & those which felt unecessary like the arbirtrary adult humour. However, like I said, it's done well for the most part. The main issue I have is the subplot with Lord Barkis trying to kill Victoria & being revealed to be Emily's killer (big shock). Not only is it predictable that he's the one that killed Emily, but there is also no explanation as to why he's evil, how he knew about Victor & Victoria's engagement & his subplot is entirely pointless. Seriously, you could easily take it out of the movie & it wouldn't be that much different! And the fact some characters & subplots like Victor's parents searching for him going absolutely nowhere doesn't help much either. And I know people have complained about the ending &, yeah, it does feel a bit unfinished, but I rather liked the ambiguity of it & it is nice to see Emily find inner peace after all the hell she's been through. But other than that, it's clear Tim put thought & effort into the film & as a little love story, it's pretty good!

 

Animation: Yeah, there's no denying that the animation in this is gorgeous! Not only does the classic Tim Burton Gothic style fit perfectly in a stop motion environment like in The Nightmare Before Christmas, but the attention to detail has greatly improved from the former. I don't think there'd be any other character design that would fit each character in this, with a more caricatured look to them & being similar to their respective voice actors (ESPECIALLY Victor & Emily), even if Lord Barkis kinda bugs me with his design making it blatantly obvious that he'd be the villain. Anyway, another massive upgrade would be from the character animation & it's pretty clear they had fun with it thanks to the wide variety of characters like the almost frigid movements of the upper class in the land of the living & the looser movements of the dead ones, with lots of creativity like on the spiders, that maggot, the skeletons or just animating a decapitated head moving! But possibly the best part in the animation is the backgrounds! Not only is it a great contrast with the lands of the dead & living thanks to the more angular Victorian style buildings & grey colour scheme of the living & the much more colourful & quirky land of the dead, but it also gives the film a much bigger scale & the architecture is just beautiful to look at! But when these two blend together, the contrast is much more exciting to see since it's bigger than you think! Honestly, I can't think of anything bad to say about the animation! This is an example of why stop motion should be more appreciated & I am glad Tim took full advantage of it like The Nightmare Before Christmas.

 

 

Characters: There isn't really much to say about the characters in this since they're probably the part you'd least remember (at least the main ones). Victor Van Dort, of course voiced by Johnny Depp, is a meek young man who. Honestly, he can come across as unlikeable towards Emily until he suddenly takes a liking to her after he finds out about his love Victoria. Well, Johnny does do a pretty good job. The other main character is Emily AKA the Corpse Bride, voiced by obviously Helena Bonham Carter, is probably the most interesting character in the film due to her rather tragic backstory of being murdered by her love after planning to elope with him, yet is still sweet & optimistic, if not naive with her marriage to Victor technically not being legal. I liked her & Helena's performance is amazing capturing a sweet & quirky yet tragic side & making her easily relateable. Victor's other love interest, Victoria, voiced by Emily Watson, is probably the most forgettable character as she's pretty much a copy of Victor. Well, at least she tries to help Victor when she discovers he's married to a corpse! Lord Barkis, voiced by Richard E. Grant, is probably the most cliched & blatantly obvious villain ever! He has no development whatsoever, there's no explanation as to why he wants to kill Victoria other than just for money (a cliche which I despise in villains) & is just there for the movie to have an antagonist. As for Victor's & Victoria's parents, they are pretty quirky & funny thanks to Albert Finney, Joanna Lumely, Tracey Ullman &, but my biggest gripe is that we never see them again after the final act! Seriously, the last time we see Victor's parents is when they look for him & Mayhew dies & they're never mentioned again & Victoria's parents aren't seen after they run away from the corpse of his great grandfather Everglot! The only exception in this case is Pastor Gallswells thanks to Christopher Lee's performance & it does not disappoint being the strict & cynical pastor with hilarious reaction shots & his booming voice makes him intimidating every time he's onscreen. As for the side characters (or the dead ones downstairs), they're easily the best part with fun personalities, quirky traits that only Tim could think of like Bonejangles (voiced by Danny Elfman), the Maggot, Paul the Head Waiter, Elder Gutnect, that Jane Horrocks widow spider & Mrs Plum! They're all highly memorable & funny whether it's their designs, the voice acting & the personalities. While the main characters aren't as memorable, thankfully the side characters & a well written Emily manage to even it out along with really good voice acting from everyone!

 

Songs: Yeah, this is also a musical & honestly, they feel unecessary! While they all have the same whimsical charm Danny Elfman is known for in his songs & score, they really don't have any relevance to the plot & are nowhere near as memorable as the music he did for the Nightmare Before Christmas! According to Plan doesn't do much to explain the characters or progress the plot, but is rather just there for exposition about the arranged marriage & the contrasting feelings between the bride & groom's parents. Remains of the Day is pretty catchy & is probably the best song in the film thanks to the jazz feeling & Danny Elfman's singing as Bonejangles & I do like the way it explains Emily's backstory. Tears To Shed isn't really as good since it's pretty much just there for the spider & maggot to make Emily feel better about herself. It doesn't really help Helena's singing voice isn't as strong (OK, she was pretty good in Sweeney Todd & Les Miserables) as the others. As for the Wedding Song, it was entirely pointless & unecessary & did nothing to progress the plot at all other than a quick montage of everyone preparing Victor & Emily's wedding! Although the score & songs themselves are whimsically good, they're sadly not as memorable as his other work & they mostly feel useless.

 

Corpse Bride may not be as strong as The Nightmare Before Christmas, but it's still a pretty good & solid attempt from Tim! The animation is gorgeous, some characters are quirky & likeable & the love story is original & emotionally bittersweet, but the addition of Lord Barkis as a villain, some of the main characters & the unecessary unfortunately bring it down. I would definitely recommend this for stop motion fans along with Tim Burton fans because it's definitely worth watching despite the flaws for this Halloween. I love to watch it every Halloween & it is nice to see stop motion be taken to it's full advantage cos I find it sad that it's not as appreciated as hand drawn animation or CGI nowadays!

Story: 8/10

Animation: 10/10

Characters: 7/10

Songs: 5/10

Overall: 8/10