Friday, September 23, 2005

Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (***)


I have to admit, I was a bit sleepy and sort of fell asleep during parts of this short (1:18) animated musical, so my rating is kind of tentative. Anyway, it’s a dark fairy tale in the vein of the Burton-produced Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), which with it shares one of its writers. In Burton's world, the land of the dead, shown in various states of decomposition, is literally more colorful than that of the living. Curious that the nervous groom voiced by Johnny Depp (with a British accent) wants to return to the dark Victorian place he came from, although, on the plus side, his fiancée there (Emily Watson) has no holes in her face, and no worm eating her eye socket. This contrasts with her decaying rival (Helena Bonham Carter). The contrasting visual imagery is stunning, the story less so. Longtime Burton collaborator Danny Elfman contributes one of his better scores, though I thought his songs in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Burton's other 2005 film, were better.


circulated via email 9/29/05 and posted 11/18/13

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