CORPORATE LINE: Corpse Bride carries on in the dark, romantic tradition of Tim Burton’s classic films Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Set in a 19th century European village, this stop-motion, animated feature follows the story of Victor (Johnny Depp), a young man who is whisked away to the underworld and wed to a mysterious Corpse Bride (Helena Bonham-Carter), while his real bride, Victoria (Emily Watson), waits bereft in the land of the living. Though life in the Land of the Dead proves to be a lot more colorful than his strict Victorian upbringing, Victor learns that there is nothing in this world, or the next, that can keep him away from his one true love. It’s a tale of optimism, romance and a very lively afterlife, told in classic Tim Burton style.
THE MOVIE: Tim Burton’s A Nightmare Before Christmas was absolutely brilliant and Corpse Bride isn’t far off. Corpse Bride has all of the same heart and soul in its great characters. Without these whimsical characters the entire film would have fallen apart. The exaggerations of Victor’s stick thin body, eerily tall Bishop, and the corpse bride work because of their uniqueness.
The laughs are dark and perhaps a bit scary for young kids but brilliant for teens and adults. Most of the comedy revolves around Victor and his corpse bride and their bizarre situation. The music sequence, although not as tight as those in A Nightmare Before Christmas, are fun and really create great atmosphere.
HD-DVD VIDEO: Tim Burton shot Corpse Bride at a higher quality than High Definition. Corpse Bride has to be the best looking HD-DVD release to date—and that is mostly attributed to the fact that it was shot at a higher quality. The color pops on the screen and this is proof positive of the tremendous amount of work put into Corpse Bride. This should be the movie that is used to advertise the brilliance of High Definition.
THE EXTRAS:
“Inside the Two Worlds” – A four minute featurette where the Burton and others describe the world of living and dead.
“Danny Elfman Interprets the Two Worlds” – Elfman discusses the two worlds.
“The Animators: The Breath of Life” – A look into the stop-motion animation.
“Tim Burton: Dark vs. Light” – Barely a featurette considering it lasts about three minutes.
“Voices from the Underworld” – A look at the actors involved in the voices and how they work.
“Making Puppets Tick” and “The Voices Behind the Voice” are mostly retreads of previous releases. Finally there is the Corpse-Bride pre-production galleries, theatrical trailer, and music-only track.
Overall the extras are extremely short and uninspiring.
FRANKLY: Corpse Bride is an instant holiday classic. There is no doubt this movie will be played every year during Halloween alongside Charlie Brown and that eternally absent Great Pumpkin.
+ Charlie Craine
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.