Movie Review #66: Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (2005)

Now that I am finally done reviewing each season of The Walking Dead, I decided to review some of my favorite "horror movie." When I say "horror movies," I mean movies that have gothic, creepy elements but they really aren't scary at all. I'll review a few of these until the end of the month.

In Corpse Bride, Johnny Depp plays Victor. He is destined to be married to Victoria, played by Emily Watson. But when practicing his wedding vows in the forrest, he accidentally gets hitched to a corpse named Emily, played by Helena Bonham Carter.

As I said in my review of Sleepy Hollow, I love Tim Burton. He is one of my favorite directors. But even the greats have had their weaker films and some of the more recent Burton flicks like Alice in Wonderland haven't been quite up to par with some of his others. But for me, he has always hit it out the park with animation. Nightmare Before Christmas is phenomenal and last years' Frankenweenie was also great. So he hasn't missed with animation yet and Corpse Bride is no exception.

Corpse Bride is Tim Burton at his best. Not only is the story quirky and funny from the start but the comedy works. I probably found the humor to be even funnier because many of the jokes are puns and I am a sucker for puns. Yes, puns are the lowest form of comedy next to Happy Madison films but I love them nonetheless.

The animation is simply magical. I personally admire claymation more than any other type of animation. I appreciate every aspect of a claymation movie more because the hard work and attention to detail is far more evident. And the particularly impressive scenes are even more astonishing. For example, my favorite scene in the film is when a jazz band of skeletons perform a musical number for Victor. The music in that scene is simply infectious and the animation is stellar. That scene for me could have been a three minute long animated short film and I would have loved it.I also liked how in the world of the dead is significantly more colorful than the world of the living. I'm not sure if that is Tim Burton trying to subtly make a statement with that but the colors really stood out.

My only real complaint is that the film has a run time of only 77 minutes. I wouldn't have minded if it was at least 90 minutes long.

Final Report: Tim Burton's Corpse Bride is a lighthearted, funny romance with exquisite stop-motion animation, great music and enough classic irresistible Tim Burton charm.