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Wednesday, 1:19 pm in Movies & TV

Finally got to see Corpse Bride  tonight. I got sick of waiting for it to be released in cinemas, so the dirty pirate in me downloaded it. Unfortunatley it was a kind of dodgy cam copy, though ironically the grainy, washed-out cam quality kinda made it look a lot cooler in parts; though I’d still like to see the real version. So yeah, I have to say I like it more than Nightmare Before Christmas, even if – I suppose – the story was kinda predictable. I mean, it’s farily obvious from the outset who the ‘bad guy’ is, and even though you end up sympathizing with Emily (I cried a lot) it’s kinda a given that Victor will end up with Victoria; I suppose the tension in the movie comes from the ‘how’ part. I did like Emily, and I’m glad she wasn’t played as the kind of ‘vengeful corpse’. Okay, except for that one scene, but I mean come on! She doesn’t even really get back at Barkis. I admit the story probably sn’t for everyone, since romance-with-corpses isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

It was still a sweet movie, though; sort of a more romantic version of Beetlejuice, in a way. Not sure how kids would react to it; I mean, lil’ Dee would’ve lapped it up (the same lil’ Dee who sat transfixed by the first volume of the Beetlejuice cartoon at the grand old age of, erm, possibly six), but lil’ Dee always liked things like that. The animation was absolutley wonderful (I love the way certain ‘little’ things moved, like the cuffs of people’s clothes and the giant wedding cake), even if I occasionally find Burton’s stick-thin limbs a little awkward when rendered in 3D, and ostensibly on living characters. I think Depp is often under-estimated because he’s pretty, but once again he proves what a great character actor he is; he’s pretty much unrecognisable as the voice of Victor, especially compared to Charlie and – heaven forbid! – Pirates. Christopher Lee pops up again, and his sudden resurgence of popularity (one assumes lead by directors like Burton and Jackson who one can easily picture as old Hammer fans) makes one wonder whether that, had Lugosi or Karloff survived, they would have enjoyed a similar revival. Ah well.

So yeah, if romantic and silghtly silly adventure stories involving the dead are your cup of tea (or you just like wonderful animation), Corpse Bride is well worth a watch. And, I’d have to say, it’s style and execution leaves this season’s other stop-motion movie for (ahem) dead.

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