“CORPSE BRIDE” (2005)

Starring the voices of Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter & Emily Watson
Written by John August, Pamela Pettler & Caroline Thompson
Directed by Tim Burton & Mike Johnson

Polly Staffle Rating: ****

Not only is “Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride” magical, it’s far superior to “Nightmare Before Christmas” and possibly the best animated film I’ve ever seen. Granted, I don’t see that many animated movies. The last good one I think I saw was “Chicken Run.” Regardless, most animated movies don’t grab my attention enough to even make me want to see them, much less enjoy actually watching them.

“Corpse Bride” is different. It’s the best Burton film in a very long time. While Burton helped produce and write “Nightmare,” this time he gets behind the camera and co-directs with animator Mike Johnson. Together they create a wonderful world with interesting characters that seem more alive than most in mainstream non-animated films. The whole thing is also just so amazingly beautiful to look at. As usual Danny Elfman, provides a fitting soundtrack. We are also treated to songs on par with “Nightmare.” The experience was as much fun as a theme park ride at Disneyland. So much so that I found myself wondering why Burton and Johnny Depp hadn’t been the ones that teamed up to bring us “The Haunted Mansion.” But then I remembered how badly they butchered “Sleepy Hollow” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and that was the end of that thinking. I’ve been rooting for there to be “Living Dead Doll - The Movie” based on the satanic little ones by Mezco. I am strangely fascinated with these $30 toys sold at stores like Hot Topic and Spencer’s. I know Burton and company could be the only ones to pull off a film based on the dolls because that’s basically what this movie is.

I love how the characters in “Corpse Bride” seem so real, but at the same time seem so doll like. The stiffness is on purpose. The film was done with stop motion animation, so we don’t get the entirely computerized world we usually get these days. “Corpse Bride” would probably be too scary for the kiddies if the characters were smoother and more realistic. I mean there are things that might be pretty gross for the little ones like eyeballs popping out, a talking maggot that lives in the Bride’s head and an overall spooky universe. Someone at work mentioned how well the voices match to the faces of the characters. I didn’t even think about it as I was watching because they are matched extremely well. Never once did I think, “Oh, there’s Johnny Depp’s or Helen Bonham Carter’s voice coming from a cartoon.” Instead I lost myself in the characters. It was like watching “King of the Hill.” I don’t see it as watching animation. I see it as those are real people in an alternate animated universe acting in a sitcom or in this case a love story.

“Corpse Bride” is the story of a prearranged marriage between Victor (Depp) and Victoria (Emily Watson). These two don’t know each other, but are to wed since both sets of parents feel they will be gaining something out of it. Little do any of them know, nobody stands to gain a thing out of the marriage, except the engaged couple. Victor has trouble with the vows during the dress rehearsal and is ordered to practice. So he does. He heads out to the woods and inadvertently marries the Corpse Bride (Carter) when he says the vows out loud. Victor find himself pulled down into the world of the dead. Some how Victor has to undue his marriage to a dead woman and make it in time to Victoria’s wedding before her parents have her married to whoever the hell will take her. A creepy guy named Barkis that’s part Jay Leno, part John Litgow and part Thomas Jefferson is to be the new lucky man. We know right off the bat this guy is up to no good, but we do not know the extent of it.

If I was Victor, I would have stayed underground. The Corpse Bride, who died the day of her wedding and was to suffer as a lonely dead maid until Victor came along, is way hotter than Victoria. Sure half of her skin is rotted, her arms fall off and you would have to deal with that pesky maggot, but what a lovely blue complexion she has with gorgeous eyes that light up her face. In fact I think she might be the “All Time Sexiest Blood-Splattered Bride” in history. Tiffany of “Bride of Chucky” and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley in “Bride of Frankenstein” would follow closely behind, with the brides in “Kill Bill” and the Greg Kihn Band’s 1983 music video “Jeopardy” rounding out the list. It’s a shame “Team America: World Police” didn’t have anyone this foxy in the puppet sex scene.

But it’s not just the dead bride beating the living bride in the looks category. In fact, everything is better looking underground. The afterlife has never looked so fun or beautiful. The land of the living is creepy, dark and filled with characters that all have ulterior motives, much like in real life. The houses all look haunted, the town is just plain spooky, everyone one is practically black and white and nobody seems to ever have a fun time. The land of the dead on the other hand is a joyous place to be with dancing skeletons and more shades of colors than the wardrobe of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”

Victor is also reunited with his dead dog and hits it off with the Corpse Bride arguably better than he does with Victoria. A was especially fond of the piano scene which has them dueling it out on the keys like the banjo scene in “Deliverance.” I actually felt this scene was cut too short, but we aren’t supposed to be pulling for the Corpse Bride and Victor to become romantically involved. One groom and two brides doesn’t work well when you are making family entertainment, so we are just supposed to feel the Corpse Bride’s pain and root for the V’s to hook up. What is this, “Elimidate?”

The way you fix this is simple. Get rid of two brides. Sorry Victoria, but I am eliminating you. In the updated script have Victor and the Corpse Bride set to marry. In this version she will be called Victory. Here is what happens; Victory is murdered by a jealous suitor during the actual wedding ceremony, so instead of a day of happiness there is a funeral. The death was thought to be an accident. I don’t know, maybe it was an outdoor wedding and an extremely large piano fell on her somehow. Depressed, Victor lives his life reenacting that fateful day, saving Victory and becoming her husband. He is compulsive about it. One day he is in the woods standing by her grave doing the routine and ends up married to Victory’s corpse. He gets pulled underground, Victory tells him about who murdered her, and he goes back up to kill the guilty and at the end heads back to live among the dead. One small screenplay change like that and you have yourself a stronger movie. Maybe my version is a bit harsh for a PG-rating, but I feel like Burton doesn’t cut loose enough anyway. Sometimes for a movie to be more alive, it has to be ugly, brutal and non flinching like real life.

Don’t get me wrong, this film has soul as it is and is a lot of fun. Had it been a better love story, it would have been stronger overall. I’d say this would be nominated for best picture and possibly be on its way to winning if that would have been the case. As it is, it still should win an Oscar, but for best animated film. I’ve always felt Burton’s films looked fantastic, but were weak in the substance category. A film like this isn’t easy to pull off. When you are creating such a fantastic world to get lost in, sometimes the whole movie gets lost. That’s what I felt happened to “Sin City.” On the other hand, it has to look good and be pleasing to the eye. I recently tried to watch an off-the-wall John Roeker animated film “Live Freaky, Die Freaky” and couldn’t finish it. The film has an all-star punk rock cast and tells the “Helter Skelter” story of Charlie Hanson, his family and the Sharon Hate murders. The animation is poor, so that’s one strike against it. It’s offensive and vulgar so that’s a positive canceling out the first negative. But there just isn’t enough of story or characterization for me to care. Seeing pornographic images of a animated Charles Manson, voiced by Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, having sex with Sexy Sadie just isn’t enough. “Corpse Bride” on the other hand works almost to a level of perfection. Maybe “Living Dead Doll - The Movie” will do the trick.

Something I started wondering while watching this film is why aren’t there more stop-motion films made anymore? I know they have to be a pain in the ass, but they are a lot cheaper than all digital ones. According to USA Today, “A stop-motion film typically costs $30 million to $50 million, while a big-studio CGI movie costs closer to $80 million. Bride cost about $40 million.” I am still fond of the old Ray Harryhausen films like “Clash of the Titans,” “Jason and the Argonauts” as well as the Sinbad films. Burton and Johnson are obvious fans as well. A piano early on in “Corpse Bride” has the brand name Harryhausen. With today’s technology of the stop-motion combined with digital effects looking so amazing, I wonder what Harryhausen could be capable of. Maybe he too could help bring the Living Dead Dolls to life.

They’ve got to get Michael Jackson and Marilyn Manson involved as well. I was disappointed neither was offered the part of Willy Wonka in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” At least Johnny Depp did do his best Jackson impression in the role. He was good and too should be apart of the project, but the three of them together would be awesome. Until then, mark “Corpse Bride” down as a perfect annual family watch during the month of October to be placed beside “Halloween is Grinch Night,” “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” and the Tim Burton classic “Frankenweenie.”

- CCF, February 2006