Review

Review Date: 25-September-05
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (2005)

Now that computers have made the marriage of fantasy and reality possible, a fully animated movie almost needs to justify itself, to offer something that couldn't or shouldn't be done with real actors on a real landscape. In short, it needs to apply particular artistry and imagination to creating its own world on its own terms, while inviting the audience to follow in its wake. "Tim Burton's Corpse Bride" does exactly that, offering a thoroughly entertaining, one-of-a-kind experience that ranks with "Edward Scissorhands" as the best of Burton's films.

"Corpse Bride" is a musical as well as a romance/comedy/melodrama, and it kicks off with an ominous tune about an arranged wedding. The upstart Van Dorts (voiced by Paul Whitehouse and Tracey Ullman) have made their money through the lowly line of fish mongering, so they eagerly anticipate the union of their son Victor (Johnny Depp) with the daughter of a noble family. For their part, the snooty Everglots (Albert Finney and Joanna Lumley) regard the sacrifice of their only child Victoria (Emily Watson) as a small price to pay to ease their bankruptcy. Of course, no one has bothered to ask the young couple what they think about the marriage, and they feel mortified at the prospect until they share a brief meeting which suggests the possibility of happiness.

But as even the most enlightened bride can tell you, getting to the altar is no easy task. After a marvelous debacle of a wedding rehearsal in which the groom sets fire to Mrs. Everglot's dress, poor Victor flees to the woods to clear his triangular but adorable head and stumbles into a nightmare. While practicing his vows, he slips the ring on what he believes to be a tree branch and the Corpse Bride rises to accept his offer of devotion. Although this eerie damsel is thin and pretty and in an early stage of decay, she's not exactly a breathing man's fantasy. It takes Victor's fainting for her to spirit him away to the necropolis where she lives.

In the city of the dead Burton and his collaborators really let loose with inventiveness and rousing song. Hollywood pundits have wondered whether the dancing skeletons of these scenes would be too creepy for younger viewers, but they're so much fun I can't imagine them scaring anybody. In fact, all of the Corpse Bride's companions are jolly, including the maggot who lives in her eye socket and sounds like Peter Lorre (Enn Reitel) and the motherly spider who sings to her when she's down (Jane Horrocks). (And the skeleton tyke in the sailor suit? Priceless!) Heck, the bride even digs up the remains of Victor's departed puppy as a wedding present, and you wouldn't believe how cute it is.

Yet despite a warm welcome below, Victor pines for a life among the living, and it soon becomes a race against time as he and his two lovers try to resist their cruel fates. Aboveground, Victoria is menaced by the shifty "Lord" Barkis Bittern (Richard E. Grant), who suspiciously appears as an alternate groom during Victor's absence. Does she marry him and forget her hope of happiness? Does Victor manage to return to his fiancée, thereby breaking the Corpse Bride's unbeating heart? All will be revealed to the lucky travelers who venture forth into Tim Burton's world, and a wacky, wonderful place it is.

Copyright © 2005 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.