Main Cast: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Emily Watson, Tracey Ullman
Release Year: 2005
Country: UK/US
Run Time: 76 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Tim Burton returns to the dark but fanciful animated style of The Nightmare Before Christmas with this stop-motion black comedy. Victor (voice of Johnny Depp) lives in a small European village in the 19th century, where he is pledged to marry Victoria (voice of Emily Watson), a partnership arranged by their parents. The two only meet the day before their scheduled nuptials, and Victor performs disastrously in the wedding rehearsal. Later that evening, while he is walking through the woods and hopelessly practicing his vows, he puts Victoria's wedding band on what looks like a branch. Victor quickly discovers this was a big mistake; as it happens, he has put the ring on the skeletal finger of the enchanted Corpse Bride (voice of Helena Bonham Carter), who then whisks him off to a dark and mysterious netherworld where they are now married. Victor is frightened in the land of the dead, and even realizes that he has fallen in love with his true fiancée, Victoria, so he searches for a way back to his own world. Directed by Tim Burton in collaboration with animator Mike Johnson, Corpse Bride features a stellar voice cast, including Albert Finney, Christopher Lee, Richard E. Grant, Joanna Lumley, and Danny Elfman (who also composed the film's musical score). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride is essentially a reunion of every actor, composer, or animator the director has ever worked with. This is good news if you're a Burton fan, not such good news if his familiar milieu has worn thin. Those entranced by Burton's gothic stylings will find Corpse Bride resembling an obvious source of inspiration, the drawings of Edward Gorey, perhaps more than anything Burton has filmed. The blue-tinted, chiaroscuro world of the living is practically an homage to Gorey's work, full of jagged angles, caricatures ranging from gaunt to rotund, and gnarled, haunting beauty. It's when Burton goes downstairs to the world of the dead that Corpse Bride begins feeling like a lazy rehash of his own work. This full-color revue of singing skeletons is his third such visitation to a land of campy undead, following Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas. The cheekily grotesque whimsy of these characters, with their removable body parts and PG-rated gore, felt fresh in those films, but here it just seems perfunctory and warmed over. Danny Elfman's lyrics and songs have also lost their charm to the point of anonymity, and his score, complete with its standard complement of ethereal choral voices, is as much a tired self-allusion as anything Burton's guilty of. Perhaps if the plot were sturdier, these elements wouldn't be so noticeable. Some obvious reservations aside, Corpse Bride is overall a winning achievement, as Burton's collaborators mostly continue to excel at what they do. The vocal talent is evocative, notably Helena Bonham Carter (Burton's "collaborator" in more than one way) as the forlorn corpse bride herself. It's just that such great things are expected of Burton as a visual trailblazer, it can't help but be disappointing when he doesn't go very far off the path. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Albert Finney - Finis Everglot; Richard E. Grant - Barkis Bittern; Jane Horrocks - Mrs. Plum; Christopher Lee - Pastor Galswells; Joanna Lumley - Maudeline Everglot; Deep Roy - General Bonesapart; Danny Elfman - Bonejangles; Enn Reitel - Town Crier; Lisa Kay - Solemn Village Boy; Paul Whitehouse - William Van Dort; Stephen Ballantyne - Emil; Michael Gough - Elder Gutknecht
Credit
Nelson Lowry - Art Director, Brad Schiff - Animator, Tim Allen - Animator, Trey Thomas - Animator, Tim Watts - Animator, Stefano Cassini - Animator, Jo Chalkley - Animator, Mike Cottee - Animator, Brian Demoskoff - Animator, Pete Dodd - Animator, Antony Elworthy - Animator, Anthony Farquhar-Smith - Animator, Tobias Fouracre - Animator, Jens Jonathan Gulliksen - Animator, Brian Hansen - Animator, Malcolm Lamont - Animator, Drew Lightfoot - Animator, Matt Palmer - Animator, Jason Stalman - Animator, Chris Stenner - Animator, Chris Tichborne - Animator, Chris Tootell - Animator, Mark Waring - Animator, Charlotte Worsaae - Animator, Phil Dale - Animator, Derek Frey - Associate Producer, Tracy Shaw - Associate Producer, Michelle Guish - Casting, Nick Ingman - Conductor, Ezra J. Sumner - First Assistant Director, Tim Burton - Director, Mike Johnson - Director, Chris Lebenzon - Editor, Jonathan Lucas - Editor, Joe Ranft - Executive Producer, Jeffrey Auerbach - Executive Producer, Danny Elfman - Composer (Music Score), Danny Elfman - Songwriter, Alex McDowell - Production Designer, Pete Kozachik - Cinematographer, Harry Linden - Production Manager, Tim Burton - Producer, Allison Abbate - Producer, Priscilla Elliott - Research, Steve Boeddeker - Sound/Sound Designer, Martin Cantwell - Sound/Sound Designer, Jeffrey Lynch - Screen Story, Caroline Thompson - Screenwriter, John August - Screenwriter, Pamela Pettler - Screenwriter, Pete Kozachik - Visual Effects Supervisor, Jessica Norman - Visual Effects Supervisor, Joern Weisspfennig - CGI Effects, Isabel Cody - CGI Effects, Andre De Souza - CGI Effects, Neil Roche - CGI Effects, Philip Borg - CGI Effects, Nicolas Seck - CGI Effects, Mohammed "Mo" Sobhy - CGI Effects, Roxanne Newsham - CGI Effects, Alexander Seaman - CGI Effects, Penn Stevens - CGI Effects, Rupert Davies - First Assistant Camera, Matt Day - First Assistant Camera, Christophe Leignel - First Assistant Camera, Beth MacDonald - First Assistant Camera, Mark Nutkins - First Assistant Camera, Geoff Robbins - First Assistant Camera, Mark Swaffield - First Assistant Camera, Caroline Wilson - First Assistant Camera, Michael Higham - Music Editor, Shie Rozow - Music Editor, Katie Reynolds - Post Production Coordinator, Jessie Thiele - Post Production Supervisor, Sarah Feeley - Production Coordinator, Victoria Bugs Hartley - Production Coordinator, Fleur Jago - Production Coordinator, Dale A. Smith - Production Coordinator, Mike Prestwood Smith - Re-Recording Mixer, Michael Semanick - Re-Recording Mixer, Chris Burdon - Re-Recording Mixer, Anthony Scott - Supervising Animator, Eddy Joseph - Supervising Sound Editor, Gilbert James - Visual Effects Producer, Lorea Hoye - Visual Effects Producer, Edgar Alberto - Assistant Chief Lighting Technician, Robert Collins - Assistant Chief Lighting Technician, Dean Ford - Assistant Chief Lighting Technician, David Genge - Assistant Chief Lighting Technician, Andy Green - Assistant Chief Lighting Technician, Tom Guy - Assistant Chief Lighting Technician, Adam Maslowski - Assistant Chief Lighting Technician, Aaron Walters - Assistant Chief Lighting Technician, Gary Welch - Assistant Chief Lighting Technician, Michell Fraser - Assistant Production Coordinator, Charlotte Owen - Assistant Production Coordinator, David Mackie - Assistant Sound Editor, Gaby Kester - Casting Associate, Clive Scott - Chief Lighting Technician, Colin Ritchie - Dialogue Editor, Tony Currie - Dialogue Editor, Hannah Moseley - Draftsman, Poppy Luard - Draftsman, Claus Wehlisch - First Assistant Editor, Emma Gaffney - First Assistant Editor, Ralph Foster - First Assistant Editor, Paul Hank - Foley Artist, Ian Waggot - Foley Artist, Simon Chase - Foley Editor, Jeffrey Broom - Production Accountant, Claire Dodgson - Second Assistant Editor, Sharon Smith - Storyboard Artist, Tim Watts - Storyboard Artist, Chris Butler - Storyboard Artist, Patrick Collins - Storyboard Artist, Dean Roberts - Storyboard Artist, David Stoten - Storyboard Artist, Moving Picture Company - Visual Effects, Phillip Barrett - Foley Mixer, Harry Barnes - Foley Supervisor, Paul Langwade - Production Sound Mixer, Sandy Buchanan - Production Sound Mixer, Rupert Coulson - Production Sound Mixer, William Campbell - Visual Effects Editor, Jordi Grangel - Character Design, Carles Burges - Character Design, Huy Vu - Character Design, Paula McBride - Graphic Design, Carlos Domeque - Assistant Editor, Richard Overall - Assistant Editor, Aled Robinson - Assistant Visual Effects Editor, Chris Baker - Illustrator, David Scott - Compositor, Andre Brizard - Compositor, Judy Barr - Compositor, Kim Gordon - Compositor, Kirsty Lamb - Compositor, Vince Goodsell - Compositor, Delphine Buratti - Compositor, Nicolas Hodgkinson - Compositor, Tom Kimberley - Compositor, Natalie Macdonald - Compositor, Jolene McCaffrey - Compositor, Salima Needham - Compositor, Scott Pritchard - Compositor, Norbert Ruf - Compositor, Murray Barber - Compositor, Loraine "Lolly" Cooper - Compositor, Phil Man - Compositor, Dylan Owen - Compositor, Jim Russell - Compositor, Kim Stevenson - Compositor, Miquel Ubeda - Compositor, Astrig Akseralian - Painter (digital), Jamie Carruthers - Painter (digital), Lucy Grannon - Painter (digital), Richard Jeffers - Painter (digital), Angela Kiely - Painter (digital), Danielle Mullins - Painter (digital), Tony Travis - Painter (digital), Laura Treen - Painter (digital)
