In "
Corpse Bride," Tim Burton has taken his love of animation and his obsession with the afterlife, so prominently on display in his 1988 gem "Beetle Juice," and created a unique animated musical treat. In an age where most animated films adhere religiously to "The Lion King" formula (young orphaned hero overcomes insurmountable obstacles), "Corpse" is a simple story about love and sacrifice.
As he did in 1993's "The Nightmare Before Christmas", Mr. Burton, who shares directing credit with Mike Johnson, uses stop-motion animation to tell his story which is as thin as the female character's waistlines: a hapless groom with cold feet wanders into the woods and inadvertently weds a corpse. No explanation is given (or needed) for how these events are able to unfold, or in what fairytale land this story takes place. But all that kind of discussion is moot. "Corpse," written by John August ("Big Fish",
"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory") and Pamela Pettler is not about the story, it's about the visuals. And there are plenty of those trademark Tim Burton moments to make the film's 78 minutes visually stunning.
After a vertiginous opening sequence during which the camera swoops through Mr. Burton's mythic village, watch as a butterfly perches on the opening credits, a clockmaker sweeps in time with his wares, a piano bears the name Harryhausen in place of Steinway. The characters that populate the film are more like walking caricatures, all jutting chins and spindly legs. The hapless hero Victor, voiced by Johnny Depp (naturally), could be an avatar for a young Jimmy Stewart. The Corpse Bride herself, voiced by Helena Bonham Carter (with more of a smirk than she's ever shown in live action), resembles no one as much as Geena Davis from "Beetle Juice." In fact, once Victor and his bride are wed, they attend an undead jazz club which is a dead ringer (pun intended) for the "waiting room" sequence from that earlier Burton film.
Animation, it would seem, frees Mr. Burton from the nuisance of realism which has plagued him possibly since 1999's "Sleepy Hollow". His recent efforts, particularly "Planet of the Apes" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", have had little of the wide-eyed wonder that made "Edward Scissorhands" and even "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" such fun.
As you would expect, Mr. Burton assembles top tier vocal talent. Aside from Burton-mainstay Johnny Depp, the film features Emily Watson, Tracy Ullman, Christopher Lee and even Mr. Burton's longtime musical collaborator Danny Elfman, as a scattin' skeleton named Bonejangles. All are in top form and all help to keep the film as light and airy as possible for a necrophilic fairytale. In the hands of another director, this material could have been dead on arrival, but for Mr. Burton it's dead on.
