Corpse Bride

Cast: Johnny Depp, Helena Boham Carter, Emily Watson, Tracey Ullman, Albert Finney, Richard E. Grant and Christopher Lee.

Director: Tim Burton

Release Date: 2005

Running Time: 1hr 17 minutes

Genre: Animation/Family

Rating: PG

Format: DVD

Synopsis:

Victor Van Dort is practising his wedding vows in the presence of a deceased young woman when she rises up from the grave assuming he has married her. 

Victor Van Dort and Victoria Everglot are set to get married. However during a rehearsal, Victor finds himself unable to remember his vows. Worried he will shame his family and his soon to be wife, he wonders off into the forest to be alone, practicing his vows, he soon finds himself in the underworld, married to someone else! Tim Burton has an exceptionally unique approach to directing, more so when it comes to creating animations. His creative style is certainly unforgettable. Burton's style however is not everyone's favourite. I am a huge fan personally! Burton's unique approach to animation involves puppets and thousands of individual animated frames. The combination of the two is incredible, making his animations very different from everyone else.

Johnny Depp stars as Victor Van Dort, an incredible actor often associated with Tim Burton in "Alice in Wonderland" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", Depp is fantastic. Victor desperatly wants his soon to be wife's parents to accept him into the family and accept him as Victoria's husband. Shy and nervous, nothing seems to go right for him. Helen Boham Carter stars as Corpse Bride, an actress also often associated with Tim Burton. Corpse Bride finds herself in the arms of Victor, hearing his vows, she believes they were for her, believing them to be married. Fans of Burton's "Nightmare Before Christmas" will find themselves enjoying this.

I really love the dark approach that Tim Burton brings to all of his films and animations. Gothic with a hint of steampunk. Stop motion animation sadly is a bit of a dying art. However when done right it looks absolutely stunning! To some degree I love that Burton continues to use it, allowing himself to have a Director's trademark. You certainly won't find an animation quite like it. I love the symbolism behind the storyline. I won't spoil that for now though. Although Burton doesn't use musical elements in all of his films, it does work rather well, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and this could quite easily be in the same Universe. It's a dark story, the songs aren't necessarily songs you are going to find yourself singing over and over, they do however work alongside the storyline very well. Explaining elements of the story and the characters.

The animation is gorgeous, I love the difference between the underworld and the real world. In the real world, the animation is very dark, browns, greys and creams. Is this to indicate how claustrophobic Victoria feels in being forced into marriage. She has no freedom? Corpse Bride reminds me of Sally in "The Nightmare Before Christmas" to look at. Burton has chosen to use the same gorgeous sea blue colour for her animation. The underworld is full of extravagant colours. Green, blue and cream backdrops for each scene. The characters of the underworld are also a beautiful blue colour. Are the bright colours in the underworld to signify the freedom that Corpse Bride has? Freedom to do whatever she wants? Danny Elfman wants again delivers a stunning score to a Tim Burton film. The score speaks for itself and could easily tell the story on it's own. The movie isn't all sad it has happy and fun moments too. The songs are great.

If I am honest, this movie isn't going to be for everyone. Tim Burton doesn't appeal to everyone. I tend to find people either love it or hate it, really. Those who loved "The Nightmare Before Christmas" will most likely enjoy it! Suitable for children of all ages, but possibly a bit scary for very young viewers who don't understand the animation. Otherwise a great family film for Halloween! Short, but sweet! Johnny Depp and Helen Boham Carter in all their glory!

4/5 stars