www.corpsebridemovie.co.ukDir: Tim Burton
Voices: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Emily Watson, Tracey Ullman
Should marry nice girl
not dead girl with wonky eye
and talking maggot
A long hard day at work, followed by a mad dash to Crawley in the driving rain and only ten minutes to gobble down a quick takeaway is not the best preparation for seeing a movie. Ten minutes into Corpse Bride and I was sparked out. So don't expect a highly incisive review, I was drifitng in and out of sleep on this one - what a true professional I am sometimes! Corpse Bride is the story of Victor (Depp), a polite, considerate young chap who's due to marry Victoria (Watson), in an arrangement dictated by their parents. Thankfully the couple like one another instantly (which must have come as a huge relief), alas disaster strikes when Victor is alone in the woods practising his vows and he accidentally finds himself betrothed to the Corpse Bride (Bonham Carter) after mistaking her dead fingers for a twig, like you do... oh, and she was murdered by her ex-fiancee and now has a loose eyeball with a maggot living in its socket - yes, she's quite a gal. Despite his feelings for Victoria, his sense of duty compells him to go through with the wedding to his new dead lady friend, whilst meanwhile back in the land of the living Victoria's folks have now lined her up to marry the roly-poly rogue Barkis (Richard E. Grant) who just happens to bear an uncanny resemblence to the Corpse Bride's killer. Who ever said that the path of true love ran smooth? Tim Burton's previous animated feature was The Nightmare Before Christmas (actually directed by Henry Selick), a delightful dark fairytale that appealed to adults as much as it did children. Corpse Bride follows a similar template, but is not quite as slick as its predecessor. The main characters are all likeable - Burton makes you feel for both Victoria and the Corpse Bride, thereby illustrating Victor's tough predicament - and they're ably brought to life by some great vocal talent. Other characters are colourful and distinctive, with the skeletons making me laugh, especially the one who literally has a 'jaw-dropping' moment, but the talking maggot is tiresome and looks like he's crawled out of a whole other Disney film. Danny Elfman again provides the songs and music, but except for the wedding singalong towards the end they're not as witty or as memorable as in The Nightmare Before Christmas; they just don't integrate seamlessly into the plot so well this time. Corpse Bride then - worth dating, but just don't plan on getting hitched.
soulmining rating: ***
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