November 08, 2005
Corpse Bride review
One of my work friends has just gone to see Corpse Bride, and she's kindly written a short review of it for us, so big thanks to Louise Fraser for this.
Have a read of it, see if you agree and let us know your thoughts. Especially let us know if you've seen it and what you thought of it as. Over to Louise...
Cards on the table - you could accuse this review of bais as I am a big Tim Burton fan. However, having never gotten over the disappointment of Planet of the Apes, I do now go to his films with a little trepidation. I was not disappointed. The Corpse Bride is Tim Burton at his usual excellent standard.
This animated film is about Victor (voiced by Johnny Depp), whose parents have arranged a marriage to Victoria Everglot (Emily Watson). Going into the woods at night to learn his vows Victor inadvertently weds himself to the Corpse Bride (Helena Bonham Carter) - a woman who died whilst waiting for her love to come and marry her years before. With limbs falling off and a maggot acting as the voice of reason inside her head (literally) she does not at first seem like the best marital material. However, as the film goes on, you realise that she is, in fact, a hopeless romantic with a misplaced sense of who you can marry when you are, well, dead!
The film immediately reminds you of The Nightmare Before Christmas and if you enjoyed that you will definitely enjoy this. Gothic is what Tim Burton does best and the animation brilliantly achieves this, with spindly legged characters and a strange grey hue to everything. Jazz singing skeletons dance with headless French waiters, whilst the characters in the living world are fairly grotesque too. The irony the film uses is that the world of the dead is more alive than the world of the living.
The humour is clever and dark, rather than slapstick, and watch out for the jokes in the background. Johnny Depp plays his usual nervy, clumsy character but is well supported by a strong British cast - including Joanna Lumley, Albert Finney and Paul Whitehouse.
This film is a Halloween classic. Go and see it!
Posted by Richard Brunton at November 8, 2005 12:09 PM
Comments
Posted by: miles at November 8, 2005 12:18 PM
Personally I was very disapointed in this flick. Horrible horrilbe music, saddly unfunny, aside from the Corpse bride herself none of the characters had any endearing qualities whatsoever.
I believe I ended up giving this film a 3/10.
A sad sad follow up to Burton's fine work in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Posted by: John Campea at November 8, 2005 02:23 PM
hahaha, it is funny, i actually really wanted him to end up with the corpse bride! i thought she was great.
Posted by: miles at November 8, 2005 03:40 PM
Whoa. John hated it...? I'm so there!
(kidding, but our tastes in film are nearly completely opposite, so a slam is considered a must-see!)
:)
For the record, I loved DARK WATER and hated BRAVEHEART!
Posted by: Triflic at November 8, 2005 03:52 PM
Heh Trifflic, do you mean the new Dark Water or the original?
See John, that's that subjectivity!
Posted by: Richard Brunton at November 8, 2005 04:54 PM
Tim Burton has now gone over a decade without a good movie.
Posted by: Goon at November 8, 2005 06:09 PM
i like big fish, and charlie and the chocolate factory was great...i also think sleepy hollow was not all bad, it had christopher walken in it! and he rox my sox.
Posted by: miles at November 8, 2005 08:29 PM
I'm glad Louise liked it, and it had its moments - I didn't hate it - but the problem was the story. (Here be spoilers.)
The central dilemma of the film is which bride to choose. Depp's little guy can have the Corpse Bride, or he can have the live chick.
The problem is, he doesn't give a damn about either of these women! He meets them both for the first time in the first 20 minutes of the movie - one is part of an arranged marriage designed to steal his money (oooh, what red hot passion!) and the other he meets entirely by accident (oooh, more red hot passion!).
His two candidates for the love of his life may as well be total strangers off the street.
And not only does he not give a damn one way or the other about the Major Life Choice he's preparing to make, but in the end *he winds up not even making it*! The CB simply changes her mind and he's left with Bride # 1, the fallback option if you will. The whole story winds up being a totally inconsequential series of events.
Imagine if he hated Live Chick and loved the CB, or hated the CB and loved Live Chick? We'd have had something to be worried about.
Oh well. The skeletons were cool, and I liked the Harryhausen gag, and didn't Christopher Lee sound great?
But Tim Burton really needs some writers.
Posted by: Brian at November 8, 2005 09:16 PM
Oh, and another thing...
Depp's relationship with the Corpse Bride: He meets her purely by accident. He's tied to her only by the most tenuous of legal loopholes. And yet he's ready to commit SUICIDE in order to stay with her for eternity!
Like the man said: Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?
Posted by: Brian at November 8, 2005 09:29 PM
I loved Big Fish. Made me sob at the end.
Posted by: Richard Brunton at November 9, 2005 11:15 AM
A Halloween classic that is a definite must see. It cleverly combines intellectual humor with animation that clearly reminds you of The Nightmare Before Christmas. This movie shows that Love can come in the strangest of forms and that even the most unusual of people can become the most successful of couples. There is also a certain irony involved with the way the undead world is portrayed in contrast to the living world, were life is richer in the undead world then in the other. If you have not yet seen this movie, I highly recommend that you go out and see it.
Posted by: laur at November 21, 2005 08:27 AM
I liked it, but did it ever have some problems!
songs were not so hot, absolutely friggin' hated that worm, 1 hour and 12 minutes long.
but it sure did look good! and it was pleasant!
but i completely disagree with any sort of labeling of classic.