Corpse Bride May Look Cold, But It Feels Warm

Tim Burton is a most unconventional director. His movies are skewed and stylized – and superb. Last year was a big year for him. While I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as soon as it hit theaters, I did not get the chance to experience Corpse Bride, a rather overlooked gem, until this weekend. As kids’ movies go, it’s dark, but adults don’t generally lay down a fistful of hard-earned money to see a film that clocks in under 80 minutes. The key demographic of the movie’s audience, therefore, is indeterminate, bound not by any particular age range or gender but by a certain aesthetic sensibility. This is a film whose premise seems to spell ghoulish horror but instead develops into a charming love story. Its brevity is appropriate for its folk tale quality and is just right for maintaining younger viewers’ attention.

The first film with which I always identify Tim Burton is The Nightmare Before Christmas, a freakish romp through the conventions of two holidays that often seem at odds with each other. As in that landmark effort, Burton utilizes the painstaking stop motion technique for Corpse Bride, creating models out of clay and moving them ever so slightly in order to cause the action to progress. While the people populating the realm of the living are considerably more realistic-looking than the characters populating Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, most of them still seem slightly skewered. In the land of the dead, these differences are more pronounced, though these characters are generally more like the sort of people most of us encounter in day-to-day life.

Burton sets up a dichotomy. Up above, everything is cast in gloomy blue-gray tones, and most folks are stuffy, repressed and miserable. The obvious exceptions are our hero Victor Van Dort (Johnny Depp), an adorably clumsy, soft-spoken, sensitive soul, and his intended, Victoria Everglot (Emily Watson), a timid lass whose fear of an arranged marriage blossoms into hope once she meets Victor. That two such appealing people could spring from such drab circumstances is fortuitous, but when Victor’s nerves and klutziness get the better of him, an unforeseen complication arises. While practicing his vows in the forest, Victor inadvertently binds himself to Emily, a corpse (Helena Bonham Carter) who has been waiting for a husband since she was murdered on her wedding night years before.

Suddenly we are transported into the realm of the dead, which is vastly more lively and colorful than the Victorian society above. All these goners seem to be having a great time, laughing and dancing and drinking, even though the liquid runs right through them. Had Victor accidentally landed here prior to meeting Victoria, he might have been inclined to stay at once. But however welcoming and congenial his new neighbors are, Victor’s only concern is how to get back to his fiancé. Meanwhile, when he fails to return after the botched rehearsal, Victoria’s parents begin to plot an alternative method of marrying their daughter off and securing the family fortune.

The characters in the film are entertaining, particularly the parents of the bride and groom. Mrs. Van Dort (Tracey Ullman) is nouveau riche and intensely interested in moving about the circles of high society. She’s fairly boisterous, but she’s also restrictive and unsympathetic. Her somewhat inarticulate husband (Paul Whitehouse) doesn’t seem so bad, and his vocalizations are amusing. Mrs. Everglot is nightmarish, an extraordinarily icy woman in the vein of the headmistress in Heidi. Her primary concern is to avoid bankruptcy, and she sees Victoria as her only means of securing that goal. Mr. Everglot (Albert Finney), meanwhile, is a grumbling curmudgeon who bears a remarkable resemblance to a toad. It’s not such a good year for British clergymen in movies. Like the rector in Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Pastor Galswells (Christopher Lee) is fairly creepy and not a terribly nice person. With Lee’s voice emanating from him, though, Galswells makes for a much more intimidating figure, in contrast with the kindly and slightly perplexed Elder Gutknecht (Michael Gough), spiritual leader of the deceased.

Emily is vivacious and outgoing, while Victoria is dainty and shy, but both women are quite likable, though the most endearing character is hopelessly inept Victor, caught between the two of them. One area where he is not out of his depth is music, and two of the film’s best moments involve him playing the piano. Music is always a big part of Burton’s movies, and once again Danny Elfman composed both score and soundtrack. The sounds of the film, therefore, is very much in line with previous projects. There are several songs, including an ethereal wedding march, a jazzy retelling of Emily’s last days, and an opening number that introduces the Van Dorts and Everglots and explains their circumstances. This number, which reminds me of the opening song in Beauty and the Beast, is my favorite.

Corpse Bride is a tender little tale, artistically rendered, with very little material that is likely to cause offense, in spite of the potentially grim subject matter. There are many touching moments and just enough physical humor to keep those in the youngest set entertained. My suspicion is that this film will never be quite as lauded as The Nightmare Before Christmas, but ultimately I found it even more enchanting.