Corpse Bride (2005) Reviews

• The Corpse Bride Is To Die For

  naturenut2005-10-01

  I think that The Corpse Bride is a beautiful story. It's about true love and kindness. Johnny Depp is a perfect Victor Van Dort and all the characters are played wonderfully. The animation is superb from facial expressions to a reflection in a tear drop. The ending is one worth waiting for. It's an excellent film that all families should see. I'd suggest not taking children younger than 8 or 9. They might not understand the story line that young, but they'll love the dancing skeletons and the fun songs! That was a surprise: all the songs they sang. If there's one song you must hear it has to be the skeleton one, but also the piano sequence is beautiful as well. Hope you enjoy the film as much as I did!

• Entertaining movie, won't disappoint those that want to see it

  LivinForMovies2005-08-02

  I got to go to an advance screening of 'Corpse Bride'. The anticipation for the movie was high as the theater audience was clapping and yelling. I had been afraid this was going to be too reminiscent of 'Nightmare Before Christmas', but it was delightfully original. That is potentially what I enjoyed most about the movie. It's quite an original story. I commend Burton and all those who worked on this movie. I really enjoy watching the animation, and the characters are all very well developed. It's so good in fact, that I can't imagine this movie being done with real actors. The songs in this movie are good and enjoyable. I don't enjoy them as much as I did 'Nightmare's', but they do justice. The voice work in this movie is great. Depp(whose praise I'm not sure will ever stop) did excellent work. I don't think I would've known it was him, that is if I hadn't already. Albert Finney is great, and it's so nice to hear Michael Gough. My only criticism of this movie is they don't always take enough time. It starts off wonderfully with the wedding rehearsal, introducing us to the characters and the situation. Then Victor takes ends up "running into" the corpse bride, goes to the "underworld", and the whole thing is explained with a song. I was left wanting more when it came to the corpse bride and the underworld. Then the movie continues at a nice level, just that one part left me wanting more. It's a good movie. If you want to see it you shan't be disappointed. If you don't want to see it, it might be a pleasant surprise.

• A Work of Dark Art

  EmperorNortonII2005-10-05

  After enchanting audiences with "The Nightmare Before Christmas," Tim Burton brings another stop-motion animated spectacle, "Corpse Bride." In this story, Victor Van Dort, an inept young groom-to-be, can't make his way through his wedding rehearsal. Going outside to get his lines right, he accidentally winds up marrying the corpse of a murdered bride-to-be. The animation is spectacular, proving stop-motion can be good enough to compete with computer animation. Johnny Depp provides the voice of Victor, showing mild-mannered and nervous grace. Helena Bonham Carter is the voice of Emily, the Corpse Bride, giving the dead character lively emotion. One striking element of the movie is the color scheme. In the living world, there is no bright color, making a near-black and white appearance. The story is well-written, and the music is good. Overall, "Corpse Bride" must definitely be seen!

• Tim Burton Does It Again!

  shawn27242005-09-24

  In Tim Burton's dazzling Corpse Bride, both Tim Burton fan freaks (I was raised on Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice) and new inductees alike will find something to like here. The exceptional stop-motion animation (which has seen an upgrade since 1993's classic Nightmare Before Christmas) joins with top-notch voice talent (Depp and Helena Bonham Carter stand out here) and typically good score/musical work from genius Danny Elfman to create a wonderful movie-going experience. Yes, this is a movie for anyone - in fact, I think teens and young adults will enjoy it more than younger kids with its dark at times bold humor and fast-paced banter (particulary in the clever songs). NO, it is not as good as Nightmare Before Xmas, but it may be that it would be hard for any film to match that picture. As usual, Tim Burton is always at the top of his game when he sticks to his favorite formula - exploring the darkness of the human soul with off-beat humor. Well-paced and a terrific ending wrap up this well-crafted package! 9/10 stars - it's awesome.

• Real Emotions Breathe Life in THE CORPSE BRIDE

  seaview12005-09-26

  Don't let the creepy title of this animated, musical tale throw you off. In the tradition of other excellent, animated features of recent years, The Corpse Bride will surely rank as one of the best. Granted, this kind of film may not be for all tastes, but if you can get past the title and are game for a wondrous, haunting world of fantasy and love, then this is your meal ticket. Victor and his parents meet Victoria and her family to attend a wedding rehearsal. Unbeknownst to Victor's family, it seems Victoria's parents are broke and desperately need the marriage to secure their future. Yet, marriage is new to the nervous Victor, and when he gets jittery at the church, he runs off and into the woods to collect his thoughts. There, he jokingly recites his wedding vows and slips his wedding band on a finger shaped piece of what appears to be wood. The next thing he knows, the wooden finger is a real finger belonging to a former bride, and she has sprung 'alive' to his offer of marriage. As Victor reels in horror and confusion at his 'corpse bride', he is whisked away to another world of people who have died. While the corpse bride is partly decomposed, she retains much of her former beauty. Yet others in this strange land are mere skeletons and rotted flesh. It turns out that the corpse bride was to be married, but her groom had evil plans for her. She has been waiting for her true love ever since her demise. Meanwhile, Victoria's parents are approached by a mysterious, handsome suitor who wants to marry Victoria. Victor must make a fateful decision and choose between the two brides even as the dead descend on the land of the living for a wedding ceremony like none other. One groom and two brides-what to do? This is Tim Burton's latest foray into stop motion animation, and he and Mike Johnson direct with economy from a relatively simple screenplay by John August, Pamela Pettler, and Caroline Thompson. The characters, especially Victor and the corpse bride, are well etched and create an emotional bond with the audience. Although we want Victor to marry his love Victoria, we grow to feel sympathy and attachment to the corpse bride as well. As for the images of the dead, Burton and company do a delightful job of making what, on the outset, could be grotesque and turning them into energized, playful souls. There is a terrific Peter Lorre homage with a worm who keeps popping in and out of the bride's eye socket. After a short time, the skeletal limbs and discolored dead no longer seem frightening or gross. Ironically the most colorful sequences involve the world of the dead while the living are painted in austere, lifeless mutes of gray. Much of the production team are veterans of other Burton films. Longtime collaborator Danny Elfman again provides an atmospheric score and a handful of nifty, little songs to move things along. Even the voices of the principals are Burton alumni, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter (Burton's significant other). Give Depp credit for voicing a British sounding character convincingly while others like Emily Watson, Albert Finney, Christopher Lee and Tracey Ullman, to name a few, are quite effective at bringing their figures to life. It's a testament to Burton's imaginative appeal that twice the usual number of major acting talents contributed to this work. For all those who loved Burton's earlier produced efforts, The Nightmare Before Christmas (whose ghoulish nature is quite similar) and James and the Giant Peach, this is a worthy followup. The animation itself is virtually seamless, and the characters and figures move as in real life. It is a far cry from the Rankin-Bass Christmas specials of the 1960's. The set designs and costumes are very much Gothic in style. It seems that Burton is drawing from his own films or is perpetuating his influences as evidenced in his previous films like Beetlejuice, Batman, and Edward Scissorhands particularly in his obsession with the good and evil in man. It also delves into the perception of life versus death. Who is really alive and who acts like the nonliving? It is evident that the true antecedent of The Corpse Bride is Burton's own version of Washington Irving's Sleepy Hollow with a nod toward Dickens (with its contrast in class distinction and its unsavory characters), especially the Miss Havisham character in Great Expectations. The Corpse Bride marks a continuing peak in the current revival of animated feature films which was signaled by Toy Story a decade earlier and has been raised to new heights with such recent triumphs as Shrek and Finding Nemo. The final shot is a wondrous, memorable end that recalls the transformation scene in Disney's classic, Beauty and the Beast. In fact, so good is its animation and technique that it is easy to forgive any shortcomings in what is basically a one act, one note story albeit told with sincerity. With just a bit more pathos and storyline, Burton's team would have had an instant classic. It's a near miss, but its status as the best animated film of the year is secure.