While Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride" is not quite "The Nightmare Before Christmas," its strong character development and enticing plot line make it a movie that won't disappoint audiences.
"Corpse Bride" tells the story of Victor Van Dort (voiced by Johnny Depp), a young man whose parents arrange for him to marry the beautiful Victoria Everglot (Emily Watson). Apprehensive about marriage, Victor encounters problems during the wedding rehearsal with his future in-laws and can't seem to remember his wedding vows.
At the end of rehearsal day, he runs to the nearby forest to clear his head and to practice his vows. In a gust of confidence, he correctly recites his vows and then begins to treat the objects of the forest like members of the wedding party. Before he realizes it, he has proposed to a tree branch — wedding ring and all. However, the branch brings "life" to the Corpse Bride (Helena Bonham Carter); they are married and she takes Victor to the Underworld.
The storyline focuses around Victor trying to find a way out of his "till death do we part" vows and back to Victoria, whom he has suddenly begun to feel lovingly towards.
Although the claymation film is ideal for a younger audience, its moments of childishness are few and the storyline has enough logic to keep an older audience interested.
Throughout the movie one wonders if Victor will abandon his future with Victoria for the Corpse Bride, or if he will find a way to escape the Underworld. Possible endings to the story creep into the audience's mind, but fortunately Burton does not use the most obvious options.
The lack of color in the movie can be distracting at times (it is primarily in black and white), but it serves a purpose and Burton uses his grayscales well. Not only does the darkness of the movie reflect the Underworld setting, it is consistent with a "corpse/dead" theme and adds to the movie's solidarity. Burton does use color sparingly, such as pinks in Victoria's cheeks, blues in the Corpse Bride's complexion and a burst of color when Victor enters the party-like Underworld.
The downsides of the movie manifest themselves when it becomes clear Burton took some characters and moments too far. Victoria's parents are overtly hideous — especially her mother, who has an unusually ginormous face. Even though Victoria's parents look ugly to reflect their shallowness as parents and their bad personalities, Burton could have gotten the point across with less exaggeration.
Another character who is absolutely overdone is the maggot who lives in the Corpse Bride's eye. Burton tries to pose him as the Corpse Bride's conscience, but instead it comes off as out of place and unnecessary.
Aside from over-character development, the cast of the movie is solid. It's obvious Burton has his favorites, as Depp and Carter were both in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" this summer. The Corpse Bride herself has the right amount of free-spiritedness and logic to create a solid, believable character and the ending is not as predictable as one would have ventured to guess. There are even moments of sheer wisdom and logic in the movie, which embellish the strength of the storyline and retain the older audience.
"Corpse Bride" is a tale sure to leave the audience with a warm fuzzy feeling and a few "awws" by its end.
Grade: AB
This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on September 22, 2005.