Review: The Corpse Bride (2005)

The TV commercials shown for Tim Burton's Corpse Bride prior to its release might well confuse the casual viewer: A brief look at the animation style combined with the Danny Elfman music playing underneath could easily give the impression that Corpse Bride is a sequel to The Nightmare Before Christmas.

But that impression would be wrong.

Corpse Bride may be done in the same style as its illustrious predecessor, with stop-motion/computer aided animation and features songs by Elfman, but it's no more a sequel than The Year Without a Santa Claus is a sequel to Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town.

Still, the recycling of the Elfman track from Nightmare Before Christmas for the Corpse Bride commercials invites--practically begs--comparisons between the two movies. And that isn't fair to Corpse Bride, especially considering the nearly beloved status the previous film has attained over the years since its release in 1993. Also? It's not as good.

For Corpse Bride, Burton co-directs (along with Mike Johnson) the story of Victor Van Dort (Johnny Depp), who is about to enter into a marriage to Victoria Everglot (Emily Watson) arranged by their mutually odious parents, the Van Dorts (Tracey Ullman and Paul Whitehouse) and the Everglots (Joanna Lumley and Albert Finney). Victor is extremely shy and nervous, badly fumbling the wedding rehersal before Pastor Galswells (Christopher Lee). He wanders out into the forest and practices his vows, eventually hitting them flawlessly and even slipping the wedding band on what looks like a gnarled branch.

But, of course, it's not really a branch at all, gnarled or otherwise: It's the ring finger of Emily, the Corpse Bride (Helena Bonham Carter), long ago murdered by her fiancee, and now claiming Victor for her own--well, he said the vows and slipped the ring on, didn't he? This leads to a tour of the Land of the Dead, which looks much more colorful, interesting and fun than the Land of the Living, which is all black-and-white and shades of gray and not very fun at all. Even so, Victor wants to get back to Victoria, whose parents are all-too-happy to cancel the engagement to Victor and marry off their little girl to the smooth, smarmy, mysterious Barkis Bittern (Richard E. Grant).

There's really not much more plot than that, other than Victor's efforts to return to life and the question of who killed Emily in the first place. But Corpse Bride isn't about plot--it's about visual style and tone. The animation is delightful, playing even more closely to the Rankin/Bass holiday specials from our childhoods than Nightmare did. The Land of the Dead, in particular, is a wonder, with dancing/singing skeletons, a maggot (Enn Reitel) who sounds like Peter Lorre, a helpful Black Widow (Jane Horricks) and various ambulatory undead. As dull as life is among the living, it's strange that Victor wants to go back at all.

Burton has assembled a formidable cast of actors he's worked with before (Depp, Carter, Finney, Lee, Elfman, Michael Gough and Deep Roy) and a few other recognizable names, but aside from Lee and Gough (as an under-the-ground wiseman), most of the vocal performances lack passion and energy. Depp, in particular, sounds flat, possibly because he and Burton were shooting Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the same time. Elfman's score isn't impressive or memorable, either, with four songs that left my head as soon as they stopped playing.

But Corpse Bride does look great, is very short (76 minutes) and has a reserved sweetness that keeps it from just being leftovers reheated one too many times. It may not match giddy heights of The Nightmare Before Christmas, but it's grimly charming in its own right and deserves to be seen as something separate--and fun in its own special, slightly demented way.