Tim Burton is well known for taking light, cheery tales and turning them on their head...or vice versa - taking dark, morbid situations and turning THEM on their head - witness The Nightmare Before Christmas and Edward Scissorhands. So you won't be surprised to discover he has done much the same in his most recent stop-motion masterpiece Corpse Bride.

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The Story
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In common with many a fairy tale, the plot is quite simple to recount, yet has its own ramifications. Victor (Johnny Depp), the son of a family of upwardly mobile fishmongers (Tracey Ullman and Paul Whitehouse - both of whom voice other roles as well), is to be wed to Victoria (Emily Watson), the daughter of haughty yet penniless lordlings (Joanna Lumley and Albert Finney). Although the pair meet for the first time during the wedding rehearsal, it is clear from first meeting that they are meant for each other.

After a disastrous rehearsal, (at which there is a surprise guest, Lord Barkis Bittern, voiced by Richard E Grant...who may or may not have been invited) presided over by Christopher Lee's marvellously sonorous Pastor Gallswells, Victor flees into the conveniently nearby dark and foreboding forest to attempt to perfect his vows.

During his private rehearsal, he finally gets the vows word perfect...only to discover he's placed the ring on a dead-branch seeming corpse hand...and he has wed Emily (Helena Bonham Carter), the corpse bride of the title.

Victor attempts to escape his charming, yet clearly dead, bride and the underworld and its rather jolly dead folks (in varying stages of decay and skeleton-hood), whilst Victoria must escape the clutches of her scheming parents and the somewhat sinister and insincere Lord Bittern.

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The Review
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Wow. What a fun film. The story, though simple, hooks the viewer in, and the technical wizardry is eye-boggling and mind boggling - all done with the type of stop-motion animation pioneered by Ray Harryhausen (who gets a name check in the film - the piano Victor and Victoria duet on is, according to the nameplate, a Harryhausen). It is visually bizarre yet wonderful, somewhat reminiscent of Gerald Scarfe's unique style of drawing, particularly in the people and animals - long of limb and thin of body (except those characters such as Victor's mother, who are meant to be fat). There is big hair on show, and strange creatures (many of whom are dead). Given Burton's penchant for confounding expectations, the underworld is a cheery and colourful place, whilst the Victorian(ish) world of the living is grey and dour.

Animation
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The animation itself is knockout - I spent the first five minutes wondering how it was done, and the remaining 71 minutes simply entranced. I have read some trivia regarding the making of Corpse Bride (all hail imdb.com), like the fact it took 28 separate shots to make Emily (the corpse bride herself) blink, or that "This is the first feature to be made with commercial digital still photography cameras (31 Canon EOS-1D MARK 2 SLR cameras with Nikon Lenses) instead of film cameras" - but none of that really matters - the film is vidsually stunning.

Voice Work
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The voice artistry matches the scenery and animation. Johnny Depp is, to me, hardly recognisable - as may be remembered from Finding Neverland, his English accent is, at least to my ears, unfaultable. He plays the naïve young man - somewhat awkward, and slightly (well, sometimes very) frightened individual - superbly. Helena Bonham Carter brings a sadness yet strength to Emily, and Emily Watson voices a wistful Victoria.

However, it is in the smaller parts where the voice work really excels. From the Peter-Lorre styled maggot, played by Enn Reitel (who is also the astonishingly habit-bound Town Crier) to Elder Gutknecht ('Gutknect', according to Google, means 'property farmhand' - I'm sure that's somehow relevant - can't think how, offhand...) - the only skeleton I've seen with a beard (and a vision problem) - performed by Michael Gough (who played Alfred in Tim Burton's Batman), the voices fit the characters to a tee - and some folk voice more than one character (Reitel, mentioned above and Jane Horrocks). Richard E Grant is especially notable, exuding sliminess, smarminess and scumminess as the obligatory money-loving and grubbing villain of the piece, Lord Barkis Bittern.

I did find it somewhat amusing that Deep Roy, the 'little person' who played all the Oompa-Loompas in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, plays in this film General Bonesapart (gettit - Bones Apart - boom-boom), a set of bones clearly based on Napoleon in costume and in stature. The attention to detail is very cool.

Song and Dance
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In common with more conventional movie fairy tales, this is a musical. And what a fun musical it is. The song and dance numbers are cleverly done - both from a musical standpoint and from an animation one. There is an homage to Skeleton Dance (as you might expect, given the subject matter and many of the bony extras). Danny Elfman, who is often to be found writing soundtracks for Tim Burton, once again excels himself with catchy, slightly satirical and subversive song and dance numbers. Having seen the film, this is a soundtrack I could well imagine downloading onto my iPod.

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Matty's Recommendation
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We (my husband, myself and my 14 year old daughter) had practically a private screening of Corpse Bride last night - there was one other couple there. We all thoroughly enjoyed it. The film is rated PG, and I would think carefully before bringing the wee ones to it - there are some startling scenes, and mildly frightening scenes. My 14 year old did grab my hand a couple of times - admittedly anticipating something scarier that what actually was there - but I can imagine children under around eight years old finding the film somewhat disturbing. As a parent of a smaller child, I'd certainly recommend seeing the film first, before inviting little'uns to view.

Other than that, Corpse Bride comes highly recommended. It managed to be sweet yet grim; scary yet cheery; dark and light; all at the same time.


Recommended: Yes