Warner Bros.
Throughout the 80s and 90s, Tim Burton did his best work, and after the mainstream success he experienced thanks to 1989 ‘s Batman and 1992’s Batman Returns, the filmmaker would lend his eccentric style to the stop-motion medium, as Henry Selick would bring Burton’s A Nightmare Before Christmas to life one frame at a time, making the alternative tale of the Pumpkin King overcome with holiday cheer a staple on Christmas viewing lists the world over for decades to come.
Thus, when it was announced that Burton would write and direct a new stop-motion feature in 2005 featuring the voices of usual suspects Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter for the main characters, many were waiting with bated breath for what was hoped to be another classic.
Inspired by a Jewish folktale, Corpse Bride tells the tale of shy groom-to-be Victor (Depp) whose practice of his vows sees him unwittingly end up wed to the titular corpse bride when he places his wedding band on what he believes to be a branch, but turns out to be the deceased digit of murdered bride-to-be Emily (Bonham-Carter), pulling Victor into the afterlife, which is a lot less dead than one might think.
What ensues is the usual Burtonesque hijinks, which at this time had already begun encountering a fatigue that would increasingly define the filmmaker’s work going forward, leaving the film feeling somewhat lacking and superficial compared to the rich texture and imagination of his past efforts.
Narratively, the folklore of the original story is not explored as well as it could have been, the story instead feeling stripped down to platitudes, relying on stereotypes associated with Depp and Bonham-Carter’s respective acting styles to keep viewers engaged, just as the stop-motion – competent as it may be – feels lacking compared to Selick’s work.
The score from Danny Elfman brings the expected bombastic soundscape, with Elfman again lending his voice to one of the songs much like he lent his voice to Jack Skellington 12 years prior, which again makes Corpse Bride feel more like the ghost of nightmares before Christmas past than a truly worthy companion piece to the 1993 classic.
All the elements are there, but nonetheless, Corpse Bride struggles to create as genuine whimsy or richly textured attention to detail as Selick’s work did, which was only emphasized when the seminal Coraline followed in 2009, showcasing that it is his craft that is the key to making these dark yet warm tales spring to life with truly memorable, whimsical grandeur.
Corpse Bride is a product of its time for better and for worse; for some demographics, Burton’s name alone was still enough to sell tickets in 2005, but his fanbase was beginning to wane due to a decreasingly engaging output, and Corpse Bride was met with a willingness to engage with it in case it was a return to form, all the while also coming along at a time where there was an awareness that the director’s best days were behind him at this point.
In the grander scheme of entertainment with a gothic flair, Corpse Bride came with a built-in audience, and as such it was a success in that regard, but even at the time, it was not found to be as compelling as A Nightmare Before Christmas, and it has, by extension, not been as celebrated or heavily merchandised as Selick’s directorial effort, and while Corpse Bride retains its audience, its flaws have not diminished in the two decades since its release.
Extras include multiple featurettes and isolated score.
Verdict: 6 out of 10.
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