Movie-Corpse Bride

I have wanted to see Corpse Bride ever since it came out, but never have gotten around to it. But it finally got to the top of my Netflix queue, and I am glad I liked it very much---it would have sucked to not like it after waiting for so long it.

The movie is VERY Tim Burton---bizarre, weird, a little creepy, but with great humor and warmth too. A young man Victor, from a noveau-riche family is set to marry a young woman, Victoria from a titled, but very poor family. Both families win in this deal, and the happiness of the two young people is not really taken into consideration. But Victor does like Victoria very much, and the felling is mutual.

However, Victor gets trapped in the underworld where another woman has her sights set on him. She is the title character, Corpse Bride. Now she is not unattractive (you know, despite seeing the bones of her jaw through her decaying skin), nor does she seem a bad sort of dead person. But Victor really wants to get back to his real bride to be, and Corpse Bride...she is pretty unrelenting in getting her man.

Burton has his two main actors doing the voice work in this animated feature. Both Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter do a nice job. And the animation is wonderful. The scene where Victor gets to the underworld bar reminds of the very best of Disney, though with a more ghoulish bent to it.

But what Burton does best is take a very twisted situation and imbue it with warmth and emotion. So while all the weird stuff is happening, we are having our senses counter-balanced by emotion. And he plays that very effectively here once again.

Corpse Bride is better than his previous animated work, A Nightmare Before Christmas, and reminds us again that there is no one like Burton working in the movies. He is unique. I used to feel very so-so towards his work, but seeing his films over the years make me respect, admire and like his work much more.

Does Victor escape from the underworld to wed Victoria? With Burton you can never be sure of the ending...but the journey inn Corpse Bride is great fun- visually, thematically and just as good story-telling.

At least that is my opinion.