"Bride" Is Dead On Arrival
TIM BURTON'S CORPSE BRIDE

RATING: C+

Starring: the voices of Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Emily Watson, Tracey Ullman, Paul Whitehouse, Joanna Lumley, Albert Finney, Richard E. Grant, Jane Horrocks, Michael Gough, Deep Roy and Christopher Lee. Music by Danny Elfman, Production Design by Alex McDowell, Edited by Jonathan Lucas, Director of Photography Pete Kozachik, Written by John August, Caroline Thompson, Produced by Allison Abate, Tim Burton, Directed by Mike Johnson, Tim Burton.

Rated PG, Running Time 78 mins., 1.85 to 1 Academy Standard Aspect Ratio.

Having produced the celebrated features "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "James and the Giant Peach", Tim Burton is no stranger to stop motion animation. In fact Burton's association with the technique dates as far back as his 1982 student short film, "Vincent", the tale of a young boy who idolized genre veteran Vincent Price. Though "Nightmare" and "James" were directed by Henry Selick, both films seemed to capture Burton's macabre-like essence -- they shared a dark tone, yet at their hearts were stories that appealed to children as well as adults. Burton delves deeper into the macabre with his latest effort "Corpse Bride", another stop-motion animated feature in which he's put himself in the director's seat alongside Mike Johnson. This story of a young man who unwillingly develops marital ties to the underworld is based on an old Russian folktale and was produced simultaneously with Burton's current hit "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". But by wearing the director's cap on two features it appears Burton may have spread himself a little too thin.

Johnny Depp, (the Brando to Burton's Elia Kazan) leads an all-star cast as the voice of Victor Van Dort a young and jittery 19th century pianist about to exchange vows with the beautiful Victoria Everglot (Emily Watson). This marriage will be one of convenience, not for the bride and groom, but for their parents: Victoria’s folks (Joanna Lumley & Albert Finney) wish to climb out of bankruptcy while Victor’s (Tracy Ullman & Paul Whitehouse) wants their title. In fact Victor and Victoria don't really know each other at all – they’ve never met, but if a successful union will bring happiness to both their families, they’re willing to accept it. After Victor continually flubs his lines during the wedding rehearsal, Pastor Galswells (the magnificent voice of Christopher Lee) orders him to practice outside the church. Repeating his wedding vows to himself, while wandering through the woods, Victor practices the placing of the wedding ring on a dead tree branch. That tree branch turns out to be the withered boney hand of a corpse named Emily (Helena Bonham Carter), once a young woman who vowed to re-awaken if she found her one true love. And since Victor just recited his wedding vows while placing a ring on her hand, she thinks she’s found her man!

Whisking Victor off to a land of the dead that’s more colorful than the de-saturated world of the living, Emily is extremely excited at the prospect of finally getting married to a man who loves her. After all, it was her last fiancé who was responsible for her death after he proposed to her to inherit her dowry. That sinister individual is none other than Baron Barkis Bittern (Richard E. Grant) and he is up to his old tricks again by setting his sights on Victoria, who at the moment appears to have been abandoned by her fiancé Victor. Victor soon finds himself torn between his obligations to a bride he hardly knows and a bride who has been wronged by the living and is seeking the true happiness she deserves.

"Corpse Bride" is an outstanding visual marvel. The technology and achievement within the animation is light years ahead of "Nightmare" and "James". 35 millimeter film is no longer a necessity to capture performances with the advent of digital photography. Burton and Johnson’s crew have chosen to work with commercially available digital still cameras as well as improved mechanical effects within the puppets themselves, eliminating the need for various heads to achieve expressions for the characters. There is of course the occasional use of CGI to achieve atmospheric efforts like smoke or shadow, but Burton has managed to keep this nostalgic technique pure by sticking with the basics. The characters themselves are designed in Burton's familiar method that resembles the work of Edward Gorey and one can easily picture them as penciled creation's in his sketchbook. There's also the occasional homage to animated characters created by Warner Bros. and Disney, studios that molded Burton into the director he is today: a musical sequence resembles Disney's 1929 Silly Symphony “The Skeleton Dance”, a talking maggot that inhabits Emily's eye socket reeks of the Peter Lorre type characters that frequented "Looney Tunes” and the land of the dead bears a striking resemblance to the netherworld of Burton’s own “Beetlejuice”.

The failure that lies with the film is that style succeeds over substance. Burton’s projects have always had a style of their own, but at the center of them all were intriguing stories and characters that were easy to relate with no matter what kooky eccentricities they possessed. This film is a lavishly designed production with a few clever musical numbers by Burton’s longtime collaborator Danny Elfman, but the story is rather, well…dead. The musical numbers (not Elfman’s best work) serve as bridges between dramatic moments, but a hero like Depp’s Victor lacks the bravado of Jack Skellington or the innocence of James, the boy who saw the good in everyone. He’s not an engaging individual which is interesting since Depp is known for his amazing ability to disappear into fully realized and mesmerizing characters. Bonham Carter does her best to give a “spiritual” performance, but the suggestion of a love triangle between her, Depp and Watson fails to materialize. This is an animated feature that moves at such a brisk pace, there is little time to breathe and absorb the characters. As a beautiful visual feast, the film no doubt will appeal to children and aspiring animators. Is it a classic in the making? The film might stand the test of time, but the animated features that still haunt my soul are the ones that managed to tap into my hopes, my dreams and even my fears. “Corpse Bride” is unfortunately no more than visual eye candy that dissolves too quickly and is easily forgotten.