Informal Review of Tim Burton's "The Corpse Bride" [animation]

                Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride tells the story of an awkward young man, named Victor, who is about to enter into an arranged marriage with a young woman, named Victoria, from a (supposedly) well off family. Things go awry, however, when Victor, unable to successfully say his wedding vows, runs out of on the wedding rehearsal. He flees to the woods where he practices his wedding vows and finishes by accidentally placing Victoria’s wedding ring onto the bony hand of Emily, a young bride who was killed just before her wedding. With Emily thinking he has married her, Victor must choose between escaping from the land of the dead and going back to Victoria or staying below with the very sweet, but very dead, Emily. Meanwhile, with Victor missing, Victoria parents enter her into another arranged marriage to a seemingly wealthy stranger, who wants nothing more than to take advantage of her supposed wealth.

The Corpse Bride not only tells a wonderful story using incredibly stylistic visuals, but with an impressive use of stop motion animation reminiscent of many of the films I used to watch as a child.

Growing up I was naturally drawn to stop motion animation. Every Christmas I looked forward to discovering and watching new Rankin Bass Christmas specials, and today I own almost the entire collection. I also have several fond memories of watching James and the Giant Peach and a few slightly disturbing memories of some Gumby movie that was made in the sixties. During my early teens I discovered more of Tim Burton’s films and, once I got used to his darker style, his animated films became some of my favorites. Needless to say, out in-class viewing of The Corpse Bride was not my first. It was, however, my first time viewing it specifically to study its animation. Compared to the old Rankin Bass films and even compared to the old Rankin Bass films and even compared to Burton’s earlier film The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Corpse Bride has come leaps and bounds in terms of animation. Every model moved fluidly, without any notable breaks and every character had their own specific way of moving. However, no medium is without flaws and stop motion animation is no exception. Much like very early stop motion, there are certain elements that will continue to look and move as if they are “heavy” because of the material used to make them. This is most notable in objects such liquids, hair, and some fabrics. One of the most obvious examples of an unnaturally heavy object seen in the film was Emily’s wedding veil. While it has proper physics most of the time, there are instances when it doesn’t move quite as it should.

                Regardless of its very few and minor flaws in animation, I found Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride to be a wonderfully creative with a unique story, memorable songs, and stunning visuals. It is one of my favorite Tim Burton films to date and I am sorry that I don’t get more opportunities to watch it than I do. I would highly recommend this film to any lovers of Tim Burton or Tim Burton-esque films, stop motion animation, or untraditional musicals.