Corpse Bride (2005)

User Review

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  Barneyonmovies

  8 / 10

  WHAT I LIKED: You'd think it would be hard to imagine a more Tim Burton problem than not being able to fit in, but Tim Burton managed to find a way with 'Corpse Bride,' by having his protagonist struggle with not just one world, but two. Victor (Johnny Depp) is a dishevelled creative type who lives with his posh Victorian parents, and they're forcing him to marry Victoria (Emily Watson). But in a strange twist of fate, on the night before his wedding, he ends up down in the underworld myseriously wedded to a corpse called Emily (Helena Bonham Carter). He fits in even less down there, and the story then becomes about the calling of his two potential lovers - one in the land of the living, and one in the land of the dead.
  
  But perhaps what's more engaging about this particular Burton flick is that his two love interests aren't just caricatures like everyone else, but also real, engaging characters struggling to find their place themselves. Victoria is in a similar situation to Victor with her battleaxe parents, whilst Emily ended up left for dead far too early by her husband to be, so the story of those three genuinely has the ability to pull at the heart strings.
  When you couple that fact with the usual spectacular stop-motion animation, and the hilarious caricature parents, you've got yourself an amusing, creative and touching love story for the whole family to enjoy.
  
  WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: Beyond the two worlds idea, it's hardly the most testing or original love story for the characters, and as usual, it packs no thematic depth at all.
  
  VERDICT: Though Tim Burton's usual blend of quirky and macarbe, more human characters populate his 'Corpse Bride,' and that makes the film's simple love story translate far more effectively than otherwise.

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