Tim Burton’s latest success, “The Corpse Bride,” stars Johnny Depp as Victor Van Dort, a character who warmed a lot of hearts this weekend for a film about the dead. The animation alone will have you fidgeting with excitement throughout the film. Typical of Burton’s style, the movie’s color and intricacy compels you from the start.
Only in a Tim Burton film can the dead be more alive than the living. Burton’s depiction of the living as boring, colorless, mundane creatures is quite the oxymoron, and one that is characteristic of Burton’s charm as an artist. The dead, however are full of life and have a zest for fun which is what most of us call living. You’ve got to appreciate Burton’s irony in this film; like most others, he finds a way to make his point without throwing it in your face.
Along with a great visual metaphor, “The Corpse Bride” presents a great plot filled with enchanting characters, a few evil villains and even some musical skeletons. What more could one ask for in a movie?
“The Corpse Bride” is a fun mixture of laughs and excitement and even a little bit of that mushy gushy feeling many people call love. The movie’s bold attempt at combining several genres of film together really explodes into a successful vision. Bringing animation, horror, love, action, and comedy into one film is almost impossible, but the unstoppable duo of Burton and Depp accomplish this feat with ease. The Burton and Depp duo has been successful in many other films like “Sleepy Hollow,” “Edward Scissorhands,” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” This film is no different. The collaboration is impeccable. Expect a lot of fun with this film in several underlying metaphors that Burton will keep swooping in front of your eyes just to give you a taste of the inside of his mind. It is a scary but beautiful place, a description that also translates to the movie itself.
Aside from an obviously great director, the cast really pulls off a flawless performance with a sarcastic ironic humor that is geared more toward adults. But children will love the magic of the film that Burton creates with ease. At some points during the movie, I had invested myself so much into the story that I forgot it was animated. And it is easy to get so immersed in the characters that it almost becomes an interactive experience.
I think this film, like “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” will be considered original and innovative for years to come. Its plot is original and spectacular, its cast is perfect, and its level of fun is off the charts. Burton forces you to become so close to the characters that you find yourself relating to a dead girl and her best friend, a maggot who lives in her eye. Only in a Tim Burton film!
If you are going to run out and see anything this weekend, make sure it’s “The Corpse Bride.” It is more than worth the price of the movie ticket.
