Corpse Bride

This is not my favourite Tim Burton movie by a long shot, but I did find myself enjoying it. The animation is absolutely amazing with the dark bold colours and inspired visual ideas. The music is good too, it adds very well to the atmosphere. The four songs are pretty decent, if nothing special. Remains of the Day was the one I liked best. The script is witty and deliciously dark in places, while the story is clever and fairly original, even if it drags slightly occasionally. The characters are wonderfully quirky and the voice work from the likes of Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter is top notch. All in all, a beautifully crafted film, if not quite Burton's finest hour. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Burton takes another playful swipe at his stop-motion heroes with this nicely-done treat.

Victor Van Dort (Johnny Depp) is a milquetoast. A bumbling, unlucky dreamer. To make things worse, his parents (multi-talented Paul Whitehouse and Tracey Ullman) are forcing him into the classic "arranged marriage", which is more like a contract with the cash-strapped but aristocratic Everglots (Albert Finney & Joanna Lumley). Things turn around, however, when he meets his intended, Victoria Everglot (Emily Watson) who is actually very attractive, inside and out.

The ceremony is as arranged as the marriage, unfortunately, and the frustrated minister (Christopher Lee) demands that Victor take time out to PRACTICE HIS VOWS. This too, is awkward, as in the midst of his rehearsal, Victor places a ring upon a corpse's poking finger (just the place to rehearse a wedding, a cemetery) thus rousing the title character (Helena Bonham Carter), who leads Victor on a voyage through life and death and an unwitting quest to figure out what he really wants.

Exquisite, yes, and enjoyable, but not without a few flaws. Most of the songs, while well written, feel out of place, and potentially powerful villain, Barkis Bittern (post-Doctor Who Richard E. Grant) doesn't seem to be allowed to do enough. But the good far outweighs the bad--moviegoers who get past the title will find a light-hearted romp that is rife with parody and spoof, from the Harryhausen brand piano to the diminutive character Bonesapart (played by the diminutive Deep Roy). A cameo by Jack Skellington would have been cool (O.K., Disney) but Danny Elfman's Bonejangles does pull off an eye-popping number. Even the unsettling, Peter-Lorre-channeling maggot residing in the Bride's skull threatens to steal the show. Good cast (with many Burton stalwarts, incidentally), with the philosophy that less is more make for a good time.

Like it or not, it is well-worth noting that this film delivers many firsts to film-making, including new-style digital camera-work on refined stop-motion. To animators and film students, this offering comes highly recommended.

After enchanting audiences with "The Nightmare Before Christmas," Tim Burton brings another stop-motion animated spectacle, "Corpse Bride." In this story, Victor Van Dort, an inept young groom-to-be, can't make his way through his wedding rehearsal. Going outside to get his lines right, he accidentally winds up marrying the corpse of a murdered bride-to-be. The animation is spectacular, proving stop-motion can be good enough to compete with computer animation. Johnny Depp provides the voice of Victor, showing mild-mannered and nervous grace. Helena Bonham Carter is the voice of Emily, the Corpse Bride, giving the dead character lively emotion. One striking element of the movie is the color scheme. In the living world, there is no bright color, making a near-black and white appearance. The story is well-written, and the music is good. Overall, "Corpse Bride" must definitely be seen!

Tim Burton is a director who almost always makes enjoyable movies - you can watch them, enjoy them, laugh a bit here and a bit there - but eventually you will forget them. Tim Burton creates beautiful and magical worlds, and the problem is that he often just focus too much on the visuals.

In that sense, Corpse Bride is a typical Burton movie. The plot is a simple fairytale which works great for the moment, but it's not something that will stay in your head. Instead you'll want to watch it for the typical Gothic style of his movies, which works great. It's beautiful animated and Danny Elfman's music adds even more to the atmosphere. What's interesting here is that the movie show us two worlds - the world of the living and the land of the dead - and it's the world of the living that is the dark place, with a color scale of black, gray and white and inhabitants that are sad, evil and greedy. In the land of the dead corpses and skeletons sing together, it's colorful and mysteriously beautiful and almost everyone there seems to be having a good time, even though they're dead.

The voice actors are great; as many times before, Burton features Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in his movies. They're both great. Other notable voice actors are Christopher Lee and Emily Watson.

In the end, it's a pretty funny movie during the time you watch it, but there's no depth in the story whatsoever. It's no movie that stays in your head. That's the reason that I can't rate it any higher, but if you get the chance to see it it's good entertainment for an hour and a half.

i just saw this movie at the Toronto film festival. Tim Burton, as with most of his movies, makes the setting and visuals the most important part. And what a beautiful movie it was, the animation was astounding. You could tell that each frame was tirelessly worked on in order to make each little piece have its own distinct look. The plot is unimportant, and cliché, but that doesn't matter. This movie shouldn't be watched for the storyline. The voice acting was very convincing, especially the lead, Johnny Depp, who does a great job as the shy, clumsy Victor. The only character i really didn't think was needed was the worm, who was just included just for some childish comedic relief, which took away from the dark mood of the picture. Though not as enjoyable as "Nightmare Before Christmas" it still was a very good animated movie. 8.5/10