Corpse Bride (2005) Review

“This is gonna be good”

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Tim Burton has had his name attached to classic stop motion films from the 90s, but he never officially directed one of his own until 2005, alongside Mike Johnson for Corpse Bride.


PLOT


The 2005 film takes place in a Victorian town and follows Victor Van Dort who is arranged to be married with a woman named Victoria Everglot. This marriage is important for both families because it will raise the social class of Van Dort and restore Everglot’s wealth. Due to being nervous, Victor forgets his vows and accidentally catches his mother-in-law’s dress on fire. When fleeing to a nearby forest, he practices his vows successfully towards a root that turns out to be a deceased woman in a wedding gown named Emily who proclaims herself as his new bride. As a result of the confusion, she takes him to the Land of the Dead where all deceased spirits reside. There, Victor learns Emily was murdered years earlier the night she was married by her then groom who stole her family jewels. Although he bonds with her, he tricks her into making her think he wants her  to meet his parents. They get temporary passage thanks to the underworld’s ruler, Elder Gutknecht (Michael Gough), and he takes advantage to tell Victoria he hopes to marry her as soon as possible. Shortly after this does Emily drag him back to the Land of the Dead betrayed. Victoria does try telling everyone what happened to him, but no one believes her. Assuming he ditched her, they arrange for her to instead marry Lord Barkis Bittern who attended the previous rehearsal. As Victor tries reconciling with Emily, he discovers from the recently deceased caretaker Mayhew (Paul Whitehouse) of the change in plans. Disappointed, he agrees to marry Emily for real. But according to Elder Gutknecht, their marriage can only be official if he dies which he’ll have to do through a poisonous wine. This leads to the undead join the couple to the land of the living to see their wedding take place, but it shocks all in town who reunite with their departed loved ones. The commotion would cause Barkis to confess he intended to marry Victoria for her wealth, only to be disappointed she didn’t have any. She’d then walk away disgusted of his true intentions before seeing the undead attend the church for the wedding. When she sees Victor recite his vows, Emily stops him from drinking the poison, realizing she’ll be taking away his chance to live a happy life. Just upon doing so, Barkis arrives as well and she remembers him to be her killer. He tries to abduct Victoria, until Emily & Victor prevent him from doing so. He then accepts defeat by having a mockingly toast, drinking the poison unknowinlgy and his death allows the undead take retribution against him for his crimes. Emily returns the ring to Victor now that she is free from torment, which allows him to marry Victoria. The film ends with her finding eternal peace by transforming into a swarm of butterflies flying into the sky, while Victor & Victoria watch and embrace each other.


THOUGHTS


Burton has been known to make the most provocative tales and it's no exception here when crafting this animated flick with Johnson. The gothic designs are his tour de force and it's dialed up to eleven due to how dominant the grim feeling is. Danny Elfman's score is mesmerizing in nailing said mood and each design of these characters is unique. While the living are so pale to represent how miserable they are, the dead are colorful to represent how proud they are of the time they had. Frame by frame, the cinematography by Pete Kozachik enlightens me for how lifelike the Land of the Dead is depicted due to how we all wish to be content by the time. That too is what brings this film full circle in saying to not only judge people by appearance, but also to accept how unpredictable life can be, thus motivating us to live it to the fullest while we still can which makes it easier to be happy. This is the case when following two sides of the coin that struggled to understand this until their encounter changed things for the better. When you look at how Johnny Depp depicts Victor to be quite overly anxious and Emily Watson portrays Victoria to be timid & gentle like him, they do feel like a match made in heaven but needed a confidence booster in the next chapter of their lives, whether or not they would get used to each other so quickly. Enter Helena Bonham Carter who truly felt like a national treasure as Emily. This is arguably her best work with Burton because despite her naivety, she has the most vulnerable due to desperately wanting a partner after things went poorly for her. Although there was luck for Victor & Victoria to accept each other overtime, she had to realize she's not the only one fighting to be happy. While Victor was willing to change his mind thanks to miscommunication, Emily does the right thing not letting him die because she'd be selfish not to let him do things his way, which was what happened to her in the first place. Due to this, she got to achieve content and on top of that, she extracted vengeance towards the one that wronged her. Richard E Grant showed Barkis to be much worse than either of Victor & Victoria's parents combined because his goals to kill for money make him maliciously sophisticated. Had he done some kind of background check on the Everglots, he would've not wasted his time after them and could've saved his life a little longer. Instead, he walked into his own doom and paid an eternal price. With Emily achieving overdue peace, I do hope both V&V try to live to the fullest in her honor, knowing she would if given a second chance. This movie may be fine on its own, but there are still some things that confuse me when looking back on it. For instance, Victor is already leaving a bad impression by playing the Everglots’ piano without permission. Even if he’s marrying Victoria, it is respectful to ask and him not doing that is why I think the rehearsal became a mess. While the Elder may make it sound legit it’s not natural to go back to the land of the living, he should notice it’s also unnatural for a corpse to believe it’s married to a human. Also, you could admit that Victor was rude to say he’d never marry Emily, but can you blame him? He just met her and he knows damn well he wouldn’t be happy with a corpse, so he’s not really wrong despite the delivery. And in a similar sense, it’s not valid enough for an argument for Victoria to beg not marrying Barkis since she barely knew Victor. Love at first sight may be their thing, but it’s not enough of an argument in this case. Moving on, how would Victor’s mom be contacted via missing sign if there is no instruction on how contact? There’s no address to write a letter, so the plan is hysterically farce if you ask me. And why the fuck was Barkis’ wedding cake so small? If he’s somewhat rich, he should’ve gotten one way bigger than what was on the table. Ignore these things however, then you’ll still be mesmerized of what’s being done here before. To wrap up, Corpse Bride is an animated classic for having an impressive setting in its platform that has aged well for the most part. If you enjoy unusual fairy tales, check this out.