Corpse Bride

Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride is a morbidly whimsical animated film with a unique visual style. The story follows a reluctant groom who’s arranged to be married, but is whisked away to the underworld by the Corpse Bride; a young woman who was murdered while eloping and continued to look for a groom throughout her afterlife. The plot’s rather weak and doesn’t have a clear focus or fully developed characters. However, the performances by Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and Emily Watson are fairly good. And, the stop-motion animation is quite impressive, and is full of interesting character designs. Danny Elfman’s score is also especially well-done, though the songs are rather mediocre and unmemorable. A dark and surreal comedy, Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride is entertaining but ends up being more style than substance.