Corpse Bride (2005)
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Corpse Bride Movie Review
Corpse Bride is a 2005 stop-motion animated musical fantasy film directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. It’s certainly one of his best films.
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“I was a bride. My dreams were taken from me.
But now… now I’ve stolen them from someone else.
I love you, Victor, but you are not mine“
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The movie is set in a Victorian era village. Victor does not want to marry and is forced by his parents, he runs away from his wedding rehearsals and accidentally proposes to a female corpse and then has to go to the Land of the Dead to marry her. Needless to say, this premise is absolutely fabulous and also quite bonkers in the best Burton style. It’s a very authentic story that is executed mostly superbly leading to a very engaging, charming flick.
The first act is an excellent beginning to the story, very intriguing and well paced. And although the second act has its prolonged or rushed sequences, it’s mostly terrific and very developed in characters and featuring highly memorable sequences in the Land of the Dead and Victoria’s locked-up scenario. But the last act is fantastic. It’s incredibly sweet, melancholic and even tragic when you think about it. This film surely has a very poignant, sad tone to it which I really appreciated.
Victor Van Dort is a pretty good main character well voiced by Johnny Depp in his first animated role. Emily is phenomenal and her story is just so tragic. Victoria is also very likable. The parents are all very well portrayed as these grotesque creatures and Barkis is a pretty effective villain for sure. The film doesn’t have the best character development, but they’re solid enough and highly likable that I ended up really liking them regardless.
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Corpse Bride is an ingenious fantasy film when it comes to its premise and visual palette. It’s a very enchanting, magical movie with a perfectly achieved fairy tale feel to it. But it’s also a terrific romance story with strong inherent emotion and many tender moments spread throughout its runtime.
However, it works far less as a musical if I am to be honest. The musical numbers are solid, but they’re easily the worst aspect of this film as they’re quite forgettable and certainly not great. According to Plan is quite forgettable and Remains of the Day, although definitely fun and memorable visually, is your typical cartoon sequence in an imaginary land which acts as a detour with the number itself being quite weak. The Wedding Song is the best of the bunch as it’s smartly changed for its setting in tone and style plus it’s a lot of fun. Again, these songs aren’t bad, but they are just far from memorable.
Corpse Bride is a work of art if you ask me. This is what stop-motion animation is all about. The characters look great, the costumes are simply splendid and the time period and setting are both beautifully brought to life thanks to evident care and attention to detail from the filmmakers. What I appreciated the most is its almost black-and-white color palette with a lot of blue, black and white which made for a very interesting, Gothic and melancholic experience.
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Yes, the film is highly atmospheric and that’s the best thing about it. The dialogue is also pretty good and the score is mostly excellent. The pacing is overall fine, but the runtime should have been longer in my opinion. But still, this is most definitely Tim Burton’s fourth best film after ‘Ed Wood’, ‘Edward Scissorhands’ and ‘Big Fish’. It’s also pretty underrated in my book.
Corpse Bride needed more memorable musical numbers, but other than that, this is a superb, very charming and pretty melancholic fantasy romance with a well utilized killer premise and a highly memorable titular character. Above all else, its atmosphere is fabulous, the time period and setting are brought to life beautifully thanks to a great attention to detail and its gorgeous animation features a very interesting bluish color palette. It’s a beautiful fairy tale that ranks among Tim Burton’s finest works.
