Tim Burton's Corpse Bride

Director: Tim Burton, Mike Johnson
Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Emily Watson, Christopher Lee
Running time: 77 mins
Certificate: PG

In a dark, gothic 19th Century town the respective parents of Victor Van Dort (Depp) and Victoria Everglot (Watson) are looking forward to a lucrative marriage of convenience between the pair and although not keen at first, Victor and Victoria come round to the idea. However, the hapless Victor can’t seem to get his wedding lines right at their rehearsal and decides to run through his lines in a murky wood. Upon bestowing the ring upon a seemingly innocent branch (which turns out to be the finger of the Corpse Bride, Emily, voiced by Bonham Carter) he is pulled underground to the land of the dead where he must fulfil his inadvertent promise. With Victor apparently out of the picture, the dastardly Barkis Bittern plans to make sure that someone takes good care of Victoria's dowry…

Corpse Bride is loaded with the inspired, creative and atmospheric visuals that Burton fans will be expecting and the aesthetic quality is by far the film's strongest point. The shift from the dreary and lifeless land of the living to the strangely sprightly and colourful land of the dead is very effective, whilst the characters are well-conceived and eye-catching. Victor and Emily, both bearing some likeness to their voice-actors, are particularly beautifully-sculptured.

The quality of the inventive animation also lends itself well to a great number of visual gags, often revolving around disembodied body parts. In addition, the script is well-sprinkled with some well-delivered witty one-liners. The cast all give good performances in their roles although the voice acting is overall fairly unremarkable – whilst they do their job the cast prevent their characters from becoming as animated as they could have been.

Danny Elfman’s soundtrack suits the film excellently although the handful of songs, which could have been a very welcome addition to the film, unfortunately let it down. Like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the songs are nicely varied in style and thought has been put into them to make them interesting. However, also like Charlie, it’s often quite a struggle to decipher the sometimes inaudible lyrics, which is all very well unless they are explaining something about the plot.

In fact the plot is the least impressive part of Corpse Bride. Although there is something to be said for a simple storyline, it’s getting silly when a fair proportion of a 77 minute-long film comes across as being filler with few notable things happening throughout the duration – even if said things aren't happening in a very good-looking way. Equally the ending is quite predictable and isn’t made as interesting as it could potentially have been. A little time added on to the relatively short running time could have brought some welcome plot and character development to put some substance to Burton and Johnson’s style.

Overall, Corpse Bride is certainly a good film in terms of an enjoyable visual experience and is a lot of fun along the way. Although it is worth watching from this point of view, it is let down by the unfortunately thin plotline and may lose what may have otherwise been universal appeal.