Empire's Tim Burton's Corpse Bride Movie Review

Tim Burton's Corpse Bride
Tim Burton's latest is an alluring, sweet/sad Gothic fairy-tale.

Plot
Victor Van Dort (Depp), while memorising wedding vows in the woods, accidentally finds himself married to Emily (Bonham Carter), who dwells in the land of the dead. Emily is delighted with her new husband, but Victor still wants to marry his original fiancée, Victoria (Watson).

Review

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The reason Tim Burton is an always-in-work A-list director, while the comparably talented Terry Gilliam struggles to get compromised films made, is that he has an uncanny knack of adapting famous material by other people — whether the Batman comics, a Roald Dahl children’s book or ‘The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow’ — into films that are at once value-for-money crowd-pleasers balancing charm and chills and oddly personal little exercises in his own obsessions. Very occasionally, he takes a chance and tries something which feels completely his own.

If Charlie And The Chocolate Factory was Burton’s big picture for 2005, this is his miniature. With its brief running time, tight little story and sweet/sad Gothic fairy-tale feel, it’s more like the live-action Edward Scissorhands than Burton’s previous animated venture, The Nightmare Before Christmas. Design elements are held over from Nightmare, which was directed by Henry Selick, and Danny Elfman returns with more songs (livelier than they are memorable), but Corpse Bride, which Burton co-directed with animator Mike Johnson, is a different prospect, maybe a trickier sell to a holiday audience even at Hallowe’en, although finally as affecting.

The Johnny Depp-voiced, long-legged, shock-haired Victor is yet another of Burton’s film alter egos, demonstrating his inner sensitivity with piano duets, but this is the first Burton film since Batman Returns to give much space to female yearnings.

Victor might seem like a hesitant, Scissorhanded misfit in the drab world of the living, but the title character is the blue-skinned, fish-lipped, mostly-rotted Emily. Despite the fact that one eyeball is frequently popped by a chatty maggot, Emily is an alluring creation — cute and repulsive at the same time, and invested with a lot of heart. And the Corpse Bride’s rival, Victoria, who could easily get squeezed out of our affections, is as lovingly characterised.

The central irony is that the living world is cold, bitter, restrictive and self-interested, while the underworld is warm, colourful, frivolous and generous. This means that the story is controlled until Victor is dragged under the graveyard, when it makes way for gruesome gags about detached body parts. Thankfully, it does get back to a properly Victorian finish at the altar, with melodramatic villainy, sacrifice and a happy resolution.

Verdict

Reviewed by Kim Newman

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Your Reviews

Average user rating for Tim Burton's Corpse Bride

Tim Burton's Corpse Bride Review
As can be expected from a Tim Burton movie, Corpse Bride is whimsically macabre, visually imaginative, and emotionally bittersweet. ... More


Posted by the film man at 12:58, 11 May 2012 \| Report This Post



Tim Burton's Corpse Bride Review
As can be expected from a Tim Burton movie, Corpse Bride is whimsically macabre, visually imaginative, and emotionally bittersweet. ... More


Posted by the film man at 12:58, 11 May 2012 \| Report This Post



Another Tim Burton Gem
Proud owner of the DVD ... More


Posted by monkeyhumour at 10:27, 12 July 2010 \| Report This Post



corpse bride
Tim Burton has done it again in this amazing animation- "Corpse Bride" Full of romance, eeire atmosphere, brilliant line up and not forgetting treachery. Victor helps Emily uncover the truth about what happened to her so he can get back to his true flame victoria. If you loved Nightmare Before Christmas then you will surley love this. ... More


Posted by deppfanatic at 16:07, 27 September 2009 \| Report This Post



Are the above reviews serious!?
I felt compelled to add my opinion of this film to the above fairly positive collection. I thought this film was utterly terrible. Not just Burton's worst but one of the worst films I've seen in a long time. The musical numbers were unmemorable and had non of the grandiose fantasticality of 'Nightmare Before Christmas's. The characters had no depth and did not derive any sympathy from me. It was unclear which bride was meant to draw our support. The villains were not threatening and no sense of ... More


Posted by Feanor at 22:53, 30 June 2009 \| Report This Post



RE: Corpse Bride
Better than 'Nightmare'. In fact, better than most animation. I shall pass divine judgement once Coraline has been viewed. ... More

Posted by Charlie Dont Surf at 23:14, 19 May 2009 \| Report This Post



Corpse Bride
Wonderful Gothic animation but unworthy of the four stars it's been awarded. It's not one of Burton's best pieces of work, and certainly not as strong as Henry Selick's Coraline or The Nightmare Before Christmas. ... More


Posted by mafyou at 22:59, 17 May 2009 \| Report This Post



its good but not better than a nightmare before christmas
i dont understand how empire can rate this a better film than the classic a nightmare before christmas because while its perfectly fine and as just as good songs (thanks to the amazing danny elfman one of hollywoods best composers) and just as gothic imagination from tim burton it doesnt have the timeless classic factor that nightmare before christmas does but still a film to check out ... More


Posted by THE DALTONATOR at 11:31, 25 January 2009 \| Report This Post




Tim Burton did it again with this pretty victorian piece. As a seven year old nothing was better than being shown nightmare before christmas on halloween and christmas. I never believed anything could top it and right into my teenage years when i back catalogued Burton and watched things such as Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice, still nothing in my mind compared to nightmare before christmas. Until this little beauty came out, I went and saw it not expecting much, my dad had mentioned it did... More


Posted by missearl at 20:58, 09 October 2008 \| Report This Post



Good - But Nothing Like The Burton Classic
I am myself an avid Burton fan, and was practically chewing the skin off of my fingers while in anticipation for the arival of Corpse Bride, only to be vaguely dissapointed. Although an orginal strory with delightful animation, Depp's obvious talent is simply not enough to make it a favourite. I was utterly insulted, to be frank, that Empire only gave The Nightmare Before Christmas 3 lousy stars and then bestowed a further 4 stars on its copy-cat relative. I am sorry, but I cannot help ranting o... More


Posted by bethie777 at 18:09, 19 November 2007 \| Report This Post




... More


Posted by Macsen at 13:33, 10 August 2006 \| Report This Post



The Corpse Bride
This film is very strange (typical Burton), but it is entertaining. Burton decided to stick with the animation method he used for "The nightmare before christmas," be warned though, I wouldn't buy it because once you've watched it, you probably won't want to watch it again. ... More


Posted by JACK M14 at 18:49, 25 July 2006 \| Report This Post




Excellent animation, probably the best stop motion I have ever seen. ... More


Posted by Schlamper at 12:02, 12 July 2006 \| Report This Post




Excellent animation, probably the best stop motion I have ever seen. ... More


Posted by Schlamper at 12:02, 12 July 2006 \| Report This Post



Corpse Bride
There is simply so much detail and talent crammed into this little gem its difficult to give it any othe rating. When Burton has enough time, as he does here, he never puts a foot wrong. Beautiful, heart warming and gratifying. ... More


Posted by qualidad at 10:09, 07 June 2006 \| Report This Post



Short and sweet
More of a short film than the usual Burton spectacle, but wonderfully voiced and animated. ... More


Posted by Caster at 17:02, 31 May 2006 \| Report This Post



Romance
I liked the colours of the Animation. When it was a happy moment they made the Animation more colourful and when it was a sad moment the colours went dark. Yd ou should watch it ... More


Posted by drwho at 13:35, 19 April 2006 \| Report This Post



Corpse Bride
We who loved 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' have eagerly awaited Tim Burton's return to stop-motion animation, with the (for me at least) dissapointing style displayed in 'Planet of the Apes', 'Big Fish' and 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' I was hoping for this film to remind us of the Gothic genius that is Tim Burton. It tells the tale of Victor VanDort (Johnny Depp) who is to be married to Victoria (Emily Watson), a girl he's never met. His parents are pleased their son is going to be h... More


Posted by kingoftheducks at 02:40, 19 April 2006 \| Report This Post




A great vocal cast, and a good story ... More


Posted by Naweed_1 at 12:27, 12 March 2006 \| Report This Post



Stop-animation refuses to die (which is good)
Not as good as Wallace and Gromit, but this has got some top-notch jokes, fantastic animation and great voice-acting. I preferred this to Nightmare Before Christmas because there were less of the songs which I'm not that keen on anyway. This is one of those films you just don't want to end, though. ... More


Posted by cluesy at 17:18, 14 February 2006 \| Report This Post



Stunnig
The Corpse Bride is obviously going to draw comparirsons with The Nightmare Before Christmas (directored by the fantastic Henry Selick who doesn't get enough credit for the film) and I believe that The Corpse Bride, although the musical numbers may be less memorable comes of the victor. The Nightmare before christmas was the frist feature-length stop motion animation an in the decade or so stop motion animation has been the subject of hugh investment, both finacial and technical, so there is no... More


Posted by Gaz at 13:58, 10 February 2006 \| Report This Post



Brilliant
The best animation feature of the year... Isn't it? ... More


Posted by Didymus at 20:47, 07 February 2006 \| Report This Post



Enchanting
There simply arent enough films like this... well timed, oddly pitched, constantly funny and at the same time with a real sense of heart and comic irony. Smacking the far too sweet Charlie and the Chocolate factory into second place in the visuals department - where cutting and pasting orange men on bordering on the illegally fake looking cgi backgrounds just doesnt cut up to subtly blended cgi and animation. The central message may be a cliche, but at least it is a well done cliche... not... More


Posted by jamesARC at 19:25, 28 January 2006 \| Report This Post

Tim Burton's Corpse BrideTim Burton's latest is an alluring, sweet/sad Gothic fairy-tale.

Tim Burton's Corpse Bride
Tim Burton's latest is an alluring, sweet/sad Gothic fairy-tale.