Corpse Bride

If you don’t like musicals, Tim Burton movies, or films that feature undead brides marrying introverted men, then do not see Corpse Bride. Personally, however, I like Burton’s style, and I even enjoyed the several brief musical scenes despite my general dislike of musicals. Odd though the movie might have been, I recommend it as some of Burton’s better work.

The movie begins in typical Tim Burton style—drab, grayish colored settings and faintly creepy music, with oddly shaped characters whose features are exacerbated to an extraordinary degree. The opening sequence is a relatively short musical setup for the underlying plot—Victor Van Dort’s (Johnny Depp) parents, who have made a small fortune in the fish market business, have arranged a marriage for their son to Victoria Everglot (Emily Watson), the daughter of the high-society, “old money” Everglots. Victor is shy and clumsy, and although he and Victoria immediately like each other upon meeting at the wedding rehearsal, Victor is unable to relax and properly recite his vows. He wanders into the dark creepy forest later that night to practice, as it is arguably a pleasant and calming enough setting in which to learn one’s wedding vows—in the land of Tim Burton anyway. Which is a place I never wish to visit. Needless to say, as he says the final line and places the ring upon what he assumes is a twig in the ground, a skeletal bride pops out of the ground and attempts to kiss him. Feeling that he prefers Victoria to a partially decomposed corpse, Victor flees the woods with the corpse bride dreamily chasing after him. Once she catches up and plants a nasty wet one on him, however, he finds himself transported to the world of the dead at a local pub where, unfortunately, everybody knows his name. Horrified upon learning that he is on the set of Cheers, he tries to find a way back to the living world in time to marry his intended bride, Victoria. While Victor is inauspiciously trapped in the land of...whatever it is...a snooty newcomer, Lord Barkis Bittern (Richard Grant), introduces himself to Victoria’s parents and offers to marry her in Victor’s stead should they prove unable to locate him in time for the wedding. And there you have it.

I really liked the scenes that took place in the underworld, which was bright and cheery as opposed to the bland and depressing world above. The skeleton characters were really quite jovial, and they celebrated Victor’s arrival and marriage to Emily (the Corpse Bride), in style. There were a few musical acts which were again rather short but very well-choreographed, and through them Burton manages to get the audience to sympathize with Emily for her rather unfortunate demise. The entire place is very visually appealing, and the characters were actually pretty amusing and unexpectedly funny. I was surprised and impressed at how smooth the animation was, and everything seemed to have a very polished look about it as opposed the jerkier style of Burton’s other animated film, The Nightmare Before Christmas.

The simple and creative tale that Burton tells in The Corpse Bride was really very entertaining, and he did a fantastic job with all aspects of the movie. The film itself is predictably strange in the manner that we’ve come to expect from Burton, but he prevented the audience from feeling alienated by developing the characters into people with whom the viewer could sympathize. Anyone who appreciates Tim Burton will obviously love this movie, but underneath the unique veneer of the film is a story that almost anyone would enjoy.