Movie Review: Corpse Bride
By Loren Larsen
Corpse Bride
Rated: PG
Voices by: Johnny Depp (Victor), Helena Bonham Carter (Corpse Bride), Emily Watson (Victoria), Tracey Ullman, Paul Whitehouse, Joanna Lumley, Albert Finney, Richard E. Grant, Danny Elfman
Directed by: Tim Burton and Mike Johnson
I remember seeing the preview for the Corpse Bride in the theater and finding myself surprised at wanting to see it, not being a big Tim Burton fan (sorry my favorite colors aren't black and gray). I then completely forgot about it, and it came and went while pulling in a decent $50M+ at the box office. I chipped in my own $3.99 for pay-per-view this weekend and was very pleased.
The story is taken from a 16th century Jewish fairy tale where a young groom enroute to his wedding sees a stick coming out of the ground that looks like fingers and jokingly puts the ring on the finger and says his wedding vows only to find himself...
In this ver
sion Victor (Johnny Depp) is the shy son of a nouveau riche fish merchant who has been promised to Victoria (Emily Watson), the beautiful daughter of an aristocratic, but dead broke, family. Neither have met, until the day before the wedding at the rehearsal. They fall in love, but Victor just can't get his part of the ceremony right in the rehearsal and the priest threatens to call it off. Victor walks out of town into the woods to practice, and like the fairy tale, finds himself married to a corpse. Emily (Helena Bonham Carter) is a very lovely looking corpse with a maggot living behind her right eye. She is thrilled to be married after all this time (after being killed by her own fiancé just before marriage) and they find themselves in the land of the dead. The Land of the Dead is colorful, bright, and vibrant compared to the dark and cold world above. It's one happy place with musical numbers and a big wedding party. Naturally Victor tries to call this off and escape back to the land of the living. No one down below sees any reason why he can't be married to a corpse even if he is still a bit squishy.
Now I won't tell the whole story, but I will say that it's an enjoyable ride. The music is downright catchy and the story moves right along. The movie is a technical masterpiece of stop-motion animation. Much more rewarding visually and in every other way than the hyper-realistic animals in the recent "The Wild" for instance. The characters have real depth and I found myself genuinely engaged in their story. There are many memorable bits of dialog and imagery, like when Emily gives him a wedding present, that is the bones of his dead dog, that suddenly comes to "life".
Recommended for Adults: Sure, I think you'll like it.
Recommended for Kids: Sure, there are a few scary moments, but nothing too serious, my 2-year old daughter enjoyed it.
Overall: Very nice movie.
Rated: PG
Voices by: Johnny Depp (Victor), Helena Bonham Carter (Corpse Bride), Emily Watson (Victoria), Tracey Ullman, Paul Whitehouse, Joanna Lumley, Albert Finney, Richard E. Grant, Danny Elfman
Directed by: Tim Burton and Mike Johnson
I remember seeing the preview for the Corpse Bride in the theater and finding myself surprised at wanting to see it, not being a big Tim Burton fan (sorry my favorite colors aren't black and gray). I then completely forgot about it, and it came and went while pulling in a decent $50M+ at the box office. I chipped in my own $3.99 for pay-per-view this weekend and was very pleased.
The story is taken from a 16th century Jewish fairy tale where a young groom enroute to his wedding sees a stick coming out of the ground that looks like fingers and jokingly puts the ring on the finger and says his wedding vows only to find himself...
In this ver
sion Victor (Johnny Depp) is the shy son of a nouveau riche fish merchant who has been promised to Victoria (Emily Watson), the beautiful daughter of an aristocratic, but dead broke, family. Neither have met, until the day before the wedding at the rehearsal. They fall in love, but Victor just can't get his part of the ceremony right in the rehearsal and the priest threatens to call it off. Victor walks out of town into the woods to practice, and like the fairy tale, finds himself married to a corpse. Emily (Helena Bonham Carter) is a very lovely looking corpse with a maggot living behind her right eye. She is thrilled to be married after all this time (after being killed by her own fiancé just before marriage) and they find themselves in the land of the dead. The Land of the Dead is colorful, bright, and vibrant compared to the dark and cold world above. It's one happy place with musical numbers and a big wedding party. Naturally Victor tries to call this off and escape back to the land of the living. No one down below sees any reason why he can't be married to a corpse even if he is still a bit squishy.
Now I won't tell the whole story, but I will say that it's an enjoyable ride. The music is downright catchy and the story moves right along. The movie is a technical masterpiece of stop-motion animation. Much more rewarding visually and in every other way than the hyper-realistic animals in the recent "The Wild" for instance. The characters have real depth and I found myself genuinely engaged in their story. There are many memorable bits of dialog and imagery, like when Emily gives him a wedding present, that is the bones of his dead dog, that suddenly comes to "life".Recommended for Adults: Sure, I think you'll like it.
Recommended for Kids: Sure, there are a few scary moments, but nothing too serious, my 2-year old daughter enjoyed it.
Overall: Very nice movie.
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1 Comments:
I'm very fond of the Corpse Bride for the fantastic character design, and the technical marvel of it being stop-motion.
First off, the characters are super expressive, especially when compared with The Nightmare Before Chrismas, regarded by many as the finest stop-motion film ever made. Instead of having mere mouth/face replacements for each expression, the models have elaborate gearing mechanisms that allow the faces to really act.
Also, this is by far, the smoothest stop-motion movie I've ever seen. I thought that Nightmare was amazing; Corpse Bride is smoother and far more perfect.
Anyway, thanks for a great review, and I'm glad that you liked it too!
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