CORPSE BRIDE FILM REVIEW

It's telling that the hand grabbing the quill in close-up at the beginning of Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride uses it to draw a picture instead of writing once upon a time. The Corpse Bride is a love letter to stop motion animation surpassed only by it's predecessor A Nightmare Before Christmas. But it leaves one wondering? What will Tim Burton be remembered for?

Critics point to a chronic overindulgence in imagery over story sense. It seems a strange complaint given that Burton's chosen medium of film is more about image than anything else. Still there isn't any real wiggle room to argue the narrative merits of films like Mars Attacks or Planet of the Apes. Even better Burton fare like Sleepy Hollow showcases this. Critics acknowledge Burton has turned in some great work but more often than not he leaves us feeling frustrated.

Nightmare is a case in point. Sally and Jack's true love conquering all seems somehow merely tacked on to a story that is at it's heart about exploring the visual wonder and splendor of Christmas and Halloween. We know that they'll get together in the end and thus the ending of the film seems abrupt and perfunctory. But The Corpse Bride has a story so rich it would seem right at home in Nathaniel Hawthorne's or Washington Irvings books of short stories exploring love, loss and the mystery of death with more poignancy and power than I expected given how much of run time is given over to one liners and sight gags. As much as I loved the references to Ray Harryhausen, Vincent Price and Hammer Films I left the theater wanting more.

Poor Victor is on his way to meet his betrothed Victoria for the first time. When he realizes that she is indeed the girl of his dreams he's almost ready to be happy despite his grumpy parents and in-laws. All he has to do is get through his wedding vows. But his nervousness, fumbling hands and tied tongue threaten everything especially when they lead him into a disastrous practice session in the moors. Alone at last and able to think he recites the vows perfectly slipping the ring onto an old tree branch- or is it.

Up rises the Emily the Corpse Bride, a jilted lover who after being left for dead vowed to wait until someone asked her hand in marriage. She's a nice girl and all but… There are a few plots and subplots but the movie wisely spends most of it's scant 75 minute run time exploring the fate and destiny of Emily who desperately wants Victor but questions what she should do to keep him.

Scenes such as Emily rising from the grave stand head and shoulders above the rest of the film. So does a scene where Emily sings of her heart breaking even though it doesn't beat. But where the film loses most of its steam is in the endless parade of mostly forgettable songs that don't hold a candle to anything in Nightmare. A joke involving a dead man who can split himself down the middle is used no less than three times and the villain of the piece, unnamed here, is dispatched in a most unsatisfying fashion. Worse yet one cares enough about Emily Victoria and Victor at the end of the piece that one wants to be moved more maybe die a little ourselves instead...well you'll get no spoilers here.

Still it's a stellar voice cast, Christopher Lee, Tracey Ullman, Albert Finney and Richard E. Grant are merely the background players. And Elfman's music does take on a sort of Gilbert and Sullivan light shine. But one wishes ultimately that Burton had made a fully realized timeless fairytale instead of a mere movie. This one might rise from the grave someday but if so it will be for other reasons.