“Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride” (2005) isn’t as celebrated because the stop-motion movies Burton produced and/or directed earlier than and since (extra on these later), however it deserves to be rediscovered.
Burton’s creativeness and dedication to the artwork of stop-motion animation storytelling, this time courtesy of co-director Mike Johnson, are at all times value savoring.
Victor (Johnny Depp) is nice however spineless, engaged to Victoria, a beautiful girl (Emily Watson) who agrees to the organized marriage. Whereas Victor and Victoria instantly discover themselves twitterpated with each other, their shyness and the strain from their domineering mother and father actually scare Victor off.
Whereas hiding within the woods and practising his marriage ceremony vows, Victor unintentionally proposes to a corpse (Helena Bonham Carter) who involves life, yanks Victor into the world of the lifeless and provides additional complication to his already hectic state of affairs.
“Corpse Bride” has turn out to be the “different” Burton stop-motion animated movie, because it has songs that aren’t as catchy as those in “The Nightmare Earlier than Christmas” (1993), the undisputed basic. Nor does it boast characters as endearing and moments wherever close to as shifting as in “Frankenweenie” (2011), the true masterpiece of Burton’s stop-motion theatrical movies.
How Tim Burton got here up with the concept for Corpse Bride
The director joined us at BFI IMAX to introduce a twentieth anniversary screening of the movie. Watch the complete intro on our YouTube channel. pic.twitter.com/RwbfLHtMgc
— BFI (@BFI) October 31, 2025
Using washed-out colours within the “actual” world, “Corpse Bride” depicts the world of the afterlife as if it had been a merry evening in a pub. Burton has taken us into such a world earlier than however, whereas “Beetlejuice” (1988) fleshed out the idea totally, this one skims the floor.
The songs by Danny Elfman are exposition heavy and lower than something belted out by Jack Skellington, although the title music is cool. Nonetheless, I wished this to be extra of a constant musical. Maybe “The Nightmare Earlier than Christmas,” an incredible however relentless, exhausting movie, set the bar too excessive, however I wasn’t capable of hold the songs taking part in in my head on the drive residence.
Burton’s finest movies are character-driven, whereas his worst are gimmick-driven or caught to IP constancy. “Corpse Bride” is just too quick and easy to fly as excessive as his finest movies, however the best moments are rooted in character and discover the central love triangle.
Depp, Watson and Bonham Carter join with the heat and idiosyncrasies of their characters however the movie is stolen by Richard A. Grant, taking part in Lord Barkiss, an actual scoundrel who competes with Victor over Victoria.
“Large Fish” (2003) might be Burton’s best love story, however “Corpse Bride,” despite the fact that it’s a lesser movie than his different stop-motion classics, is Burton’s most enjoyably twisted and odd romance since his “Batman Returns” (1992).
Victor and Victoria are cute, as they genuinely love one another in a world of organized marriages and partnering for social safety. As at all times, Burton is celebrating outsiders and dreamers who come throughout as oddballs in a world of conformity.
Talking of strange, an incredible supporting character is a maggot who lives within the Corpse Bride’s cranium (with Peter Lorre’s voice, no much less) and the character is the perfect of the underworld figures. In any other case, the undead supporting characters are interchangeable.
Arduous to imagine that, simply 15 years faraway from his debut of “Pee-Wee’s Large Journey” (1985), longtime followers felt a collective Burton fatigue. I admit to feeling that means with “Planet of the Apes” (2001), which averted gothic visuals however felt trapped by the blockbuster expectations positioned on its director.
“Charlie and the Chocolate Manufacturing facility” was launched the identical 12 months as “Corpse Bride” and, whereas I loved that one an incredible deal, it’s right this moment recalled by most as an unloved blockbuster.
The animation in “Corpse Bride” is at all times wonderful. Whereas the lifeless world right here lacks the various topography and visible humor of “The Nightmare Earlier than Christmas,” Burton’s twisted humorousness is at all times seen. Regardless of the abrupt method of that closing scene, the love story goes so far as it ought to.
If “The Nightmare Earlier than Christmas” is a December staple and “Frankenweenie” is a should for each Halloween occasion, then Burton’s underrated “Corpse Bride” is an unorthodox however stable decide in your subsequent Valentine’s Day film evening.