Coming only months after the release of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride (to give it its full title) might suggest the director has just tossed off this little baby. The truth is, it has been in development for nearly a decade. This is in part due to the laborious nature of stop action animation, the process Burton also used for The Nightmare Before Christmas, to which Corpse Bride (co-directed with Mike Johnson) will inevitably draw comparisons.
But whichever medium Burton uses, all his films share a distinctive vision, one that makes every frame of Corpse Bride bewitching. Its haunting style is both sinister and childlike with characters that incorporate elements of Edward Gorey and Terry Gilliam's work. Stop action has the advantage of computer animation in that the tangible 3D figures have a greater presence and realism, even when conjured from Burton's warped imagination.
Less memorable than Corpse Bride's magical look is a story that is as skeletal as many of the characters that inhabit its colorful underworld. The bashful Victor Van Dort, who not only has Johnny Depp's voice but even resembles the actor, has been thrust into an arranged marriage with the equally timorous Victoria Everglot (Emily Watson) by their forceful parents, who have their own selfish motives for the union.
Overwhelmed with the wedding rehearsals, Victor runs off and places his ring on what appears to be a twig, but turns out to be the bony finger of an alluring but slightly dead woman (Helena Bonham Carter) who rises, thrilled to find herself a bride at last. Poor Victor is then faced with the dilemma of choosing between the two women, both of whom love him, but only one of which has a pulse.
It's hard to conceive of Johnny Depp not commanding the screen, even when in voice only, but Victor is so wispy as to all but disappear at times, leaving it to others, in particular the buoyant Corpse Bride and Maudeline (Joanna Lumley), Victoria's formidable mother, to impose themselves.
It says much about Burton that he portrays life above ground with the living as dark and drab while the dead lead a far more colourful, joyous existence, filled with music and plenty of corny gags. There is even a maggot with attitude, though it seems more a refugee from Shrek than in keeping with Burton's more shadowy sensibilities.
Not as satisfying as Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, The Corpse Bride is still a visual wonder and further proof that, in an era where Hollywood films have become homogenized, Burton is a true original.
Kevin Murphy
