Another deliciously gothic outing from Tim Burton, Corpse Bride has all the looks but unfortunately none of the smarts of a great animated movie. The Nightmare Before Christmas didn’t grab me, I must admit, so maybe if you liked his earlier stop motion feature then you’ll be impressed with this one.
The story is good insofar as it isn’t a remake of another fairytale (or at least one with which I’m familiar), but the script itself is fairly poor. Yes, it is a kids’ movie, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have top-notch dialogue – Pixar has been showing us this for years, and more recently Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is a great example.
Danny Elfman’s songs are a major letdown in the film. The musical numbers are completely forgettable, and one wonders if maybe Elfman needs to take a break to get his creative vibe back. To make matters worse one song had almost indecipherable lyrics – I had no idea what these jolly skeletons were singing.
Visually, Corpse Bride is stunning, and takes animation to new levels. This isn’t classic stop motion, rather a very polished cousin of the more primitive style we’re used to. It also features a fair amount of CGI to assist with the more elaborate effects, something the Wallace & Gromit movie did sparingly. I loved the fact that the world of the living was drab and grey, whereas the land of the dead was bright and colourful – it often reminded me of the old Lucasarts game ‘Grim Fandango’.
Corpse Bride is all style and very little substance. Disappointing.