But the wedding rehearsal goes sour and, in the kind of Goth-eerie forest that only exists in Burton-land, Victor suddenly finds himself accidentally married to the Corpse Bride, voiced by Helena Bonham Carter, a blue-tinted, half-skeletal beauty with a loquacious maggot installed behind one prone-to-popping eyeball.

This being a Burton creation, the underworld of the dead is a lively and colorful place indeed, and Danny Elfman's songs and score make it even livelier, presenting Victor with quite a dilemma: Should he return above-ground to Victoria, or remain devoted to his corpse bride? At a brisk 76 minutes, Burton's graveyard whimsy never wears out its welcome, and the voice casting is superbly matched the film's gloriously amusing character design, guaranteed to yield a wealth of gruesome toys and action figures for many Halloweens to come. --Jeff Shannon


Customer Reviews (Average 4.5 from 64) :
Best Movie Ever
Rating:5
I have watched this many times with my daughter now twelve but we bought it a year or two back. It is her favourite of all time but I think Shrek has a slight edge. We went to see Alice in Wonderland yesterday, because that is also by Tim Burton, and were not disappointed. My daughter picked Corpse Bride to analyse for her English homework last term. A truly original, amusing and moving romance beautifully animated.

Better than Nightmare before xmas? Hmmm..
Rating:5
When practicing his wedding vows in the woods Victor (Depp) accidently proposes to a corpse who has been waiting for her true love to set her free

Released in 2005, Tim Burton's Corpse Bride had everyone wondering one thing. Could this topple The Nightmare before Christmas?

This having released over a decade since that cult smash shows a certain step up in technology with CGI advancing beyond belief, which was evidently going to be more precise in detail considering Pixar's achievements in the industry.

But the question is whether this topples the previous Burton animation. Having brought darkness into the light in 1993 the Halloween/Christmas masterstroke of time and happiness provided spills of enjoyment with clever gags, splendid imagery and a catchy array of songs that have us all singing when December 25th rolls around.

Corpse Bride, in comparison has the intent to please with a sharp selection of characters, a selection of musical numbers and with Burton, we have the typical brutal style of darkness, that sheds light into darkness.

This is evident in the way we look at life in this picture. Brilliantly thought out, we cast the living into darkness with miserable looking faces and neglectful personalities whilst the dead are the life and soul of the picture. Their exuberance and cheery faces make a complete contradictory of what is assumed to be normal real life and adds a dimension of intrigue and wonderful puzzlement to this wonderfully enchanting animation.

The plot centres around Victor, a clumsy and unprepared man who accidently proposes to a dead woman and from there on in he is looking for means to get back to his bride to be Emily. Flowing with other world gags ("Play dead") and smart physical humour ("There's an eye in me soup!") this has enough arsenal to entertain the entire family. If preparing the young one's for a viewing then be prepared for a few moderately scary sequences and strong frowning.

Regarding the musical numbers this hasn't quite got the energy to rival Henry Selick's picture. The scripting for the opening piece is perhaps lacking in prospect and build up but as the film progresses and we familiarize ourselves with the characters we can appreciate their moods. The wedding song towards the finale is beautifully choreographed with excellent imagery and tremendous parody of real life.

To conclude Corpse Bride has everything going for it. This plot revolves around a wonderfully set atmosphere of love for the bride and entertainment for the stakes and unusual and with some catchy songs and settings, is very open to interpretation.

So, is it better than The Nightmare before Christmas? Having seen, and enjoyed, both, I must confess, it is a personal choice as both are equally brilliant.

9/10

tim burton rocks again!
Rating:5
typical dark fun from tim burton, lovely plotline, will be well loved by all ages!!

Corpse Bride
Rating:3
Very original film, lots of singing scenes, difficult to watch on psp as scenes tend to be dark, good story line. Not the best film we have seen but watchable and very different.

Rubbish...
Rating:1
wernt impressed at all, me and my mum went to se this at the cinema and we were the only ones in the cinema! i wouldnt buy it. was no were near as good as some of the other tim burton films. was really boring and dragged on.