Product ReviewsCorpse Bride (DVD, 2005)

TIM BURTON'S CORPSE BRIDE

Tim Burton's mind must be a very strange place. Remember, it's where if you commit suicide you have to work for social services in the afterlife (Ref: Beetlejuice). I'm a social worker, so I know what that means! Men with hands made of scissors, Jack Nicholson as Batman's foil...this is one sick puppy of a director.

So when you hear Mr. Burton is directing a film based on an Eastern European folktale in which one of the heroines-the heroines, mind you---is a corpse....well, family fare is not what comes to mind.

And, although it's animated, Corpse Bride definitely is not for the younger set, 9 or so and below. These characters look creepy. The title character has a habit of losing her eye and talking to the maggot, Louie, who lives behind it. Skeletons of dogs and people walk and talk about in the "underworld".

However, like Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands, older children will find the animations amusing and fascinating; and parents will be pleased with the messages packaged in the film.

Briefly, "Corpse Bride" is an animated operetta in which Victor (voiced by Johnny Depp), son of fishmongers, is engaged to Victoria, (Emily Watson) the daughter of nobles who are now penniless. Neither know each other but meet accidentally and fall in love. When Victor stumbles over his complicated wedding vows at the rehearsal, he's humiliated by a stranger at the wedding (Richard E. Grant) and walks in the woods to practice. When he says the vows, he places the ring on a "twig" that turns out to be the finger of Emily (Helena Bonham-Carter), the Corpse Bride, who of course jumps up and happily informs him they are married. (She's very pretty, by the way, dead or not).

Much of the rest of the movie is taken up by Victor trying to figure out how to get out from the Underworld and by Emily trying to either deny he's doing that or actively convince him to stay. Gradually, however, Victor finds, to his surprise, that he is falling in love with Emily.

In the end the viewers have heard some good lessons about love, and the main characters, primarily Emily and Victor, have each been willing to sacrifice greatly for the other, out of their love for each other. The importance of wedding vows is a central theme, and Victor especially gives long thought to whom his alliances lie, given what he's promised, and to whom. And those motivated by greed, such as Richard Grant's character, mostly come out empty handed.

The comedy is brilliant. In one scene, Emily's friends in the "pub" do a number quite reminiscent of the Star Wars cantina scene, given the odd-looking musicians. I'm not sure how well the "operetta" mode works with animation; while claymation gives these characters terrific means of expression, they are still limited in their ability to emote, and musical theatre may be best left to human faces. Still, Danny Elfman's score is beautiful as always.

Leave the wee ones with the other parent next door at "March of the Penguins" or "Wallace and Gromit: Search for the Were-Rabbit", then huddle with the rest of the kids to see this wonderful film.Read full review...

Corpse Bride

Victor is extremely nervous about getting married to a complete stranger. He ends up finding that he likes Victoria, but when practicing his lines, he keeps messing everything up. Everyone is making fun of him, and yelling to get it right. After so long, he runs out of the church and into the woods next to a cemetary, practicing his lines on trees and anything around him. Finally he gets it right with full confidence, and slides the ring onto Emilys(corpse bride) hand, thinking it was a branch sticking out of the snow. Now Victor is living among the dead with his mistake of a bride.(Emilys parents wouldnt approve of the man she wanted to marry, so their plan was to run away. Emily was waiting for her love to show up next to a tree to get married, but that never happened.)

Cute little romance story. Just as Unique as The nightmare before Christams. Its funny. Among the living it's dark and dreary, but amongst the dead it's much more lively and colorful. I enjoyed it. Suitable for all audiences.Read full review...

Exactly As Expected

Corpse Bride was great, just like I thought it would be. In fact, it was exactly as I expected it to be -- which is good and bad.

I like Tim Burton and I like Johnny Depp, but I'm getting a little tired of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, together forever, true love always, etc. This time we have a Johnny Depp puppet. He is great, don't get me wrong, and I deeply understand the fixation, but... enough already. Note to Johnny Depp: More Finding Neverlands. More Pirates. Fewer deranged chocolate magnates. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was a magnificent disaster.

Corpse Bride is neither a disaster nor a mess. In fact, it is lovely and charming, in exactly the way you would expect it to be -- no more and no less. The soundtrack is spot on, the visuals are haunting and exquisite, and the storyline is sweet. It did not blow me into next week like Nightmare Before Christmas did. However, this time I felt like I was in familiar territory, and when I saw "Nightmare" for the first time, I'd never seen anything like that before. Maybe if I'd seen this one first, I would have felt the same about it.

As for the love triangle between Emily Watson, Helena Boneham Carter, and Johnny Depp, I was definitely rooting for the Corpse Bride to win. The ending was tidy. The whole movie, in fact, was a little tidy. After the "Ahhhh cool!" moment of seeing how the real world was faded and the afterworld was saturated with color, I didn't see anything else in the movie to really charm me, apart from the usual Burton visuals.

I think that with the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Burton just lifted the bar so high that even he has trouble climbing over it any more. The one thing that did completely enthrall me was the fact that this is stop-motion animation. At the beginning of the film, I said to my husband, "It almost looks like stop-motion animation, but it couldn't possibly be. They must have used computers to kind of simulate it, for nostalgia purposes." No, it is really the genuine article. Which is stunning and beautiful. If you watch the "making of" featurette on the DVD, your teeth will fall out of your head with admiration for the effort that goes into this stuff. It is truly amazing.Read full review...

Thank you so much me and my grandson had a great time watching the movie. He’s five years old.

Thank you so much me and my grandson had a great time watching the movie. He’s five years old.

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: new | Sold by: yourmomlovesmedia

Awesome animated movie not run of the mill in any way!

This movie is completely awesome. My 6 year old loves to watch it over and over again. There are so many animated films these days and they are all very similar in structure even if not similar in content. This movie is nothing like anything out there but has similar tones as "Nightmare before Christmas" (a favorite as well) and the new very very good movie "Coraline". Worth every penny if you or your child is looking for something different in excellent animation.Read full review...

I like Tim Burton's imagination.

Even though it's basically a cartoon, I like anything that offers me a different perspective on life and death, even if it is a little far fetched. The guy with the broom keeping time with the clocks is one of my favorite characters.Read full review...

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Movie Lover!

I saw this movie years ago, my nephew had it and I could never find it until I looked on ebay! Found it at a great deal!!!!!! Thanks!

Even I liked it

I am not huge into cartoons but have a little girl that adores Tim Burton movies and this one is no different. True Tim Burton classic for the entire family to love!

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: nancys804

10/10 Perfection!

Arrived early and in perfect condition, thank you so much!! Can't wait to watch it! (I've seen the movie before and love it!!)

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: new | Sold by: m.c.vintage

Tim Burton is amazing

I enjoy seeing the mind of Tim Burton come to life. Johnny Depp being the voice of victor just makes it better. Another piece to my collection

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: jolsen9485