Corpse Bride (2005) - 7/10

Yet again, I find myself struggling with where exactly to score this one. This time, I'm torn between the excellent creative execution of the film, while grappling with the story being fairly lackluster. So what is more important - the craft of making a film, or, the final product itself? Let's jump into the rubric and see what shakes out. 

1. Acting 

As this is a stop-motion film, the acting really is a two part endeavor: the voice acting and the animation. 

For the voice acting, the film is well executed, but I enjoy the supporting cast more than the leads. That's not to say that Johnny Depp or Helena Bonham Carter drop the ball, but it just doesn't feel standout in any major ways. Instead, I find the moments that feature the likes of Tracey Ullman, Paul Whitehouse, Joanna Lumley, Albert Finney, Christopher Lee and Richard E. Grant to be more compelling. It's made more compelling to know that each of those actors largely play multiple roles throughout the film with each feeling wholly unique from the others. 

Apart from the voice acting, the various animation teams did a wonderful job bringing a wide range of emotions to the stop-motion puppets. Each puppet clearly has a great deal of care put into them and everything reads as very authentic while selling the underlying emotions coming from the voice actors.  

2. Cinematography 

The gothic aesthetic is nothing new for Tim Burton and there is certainly a lot of common visual language to his other films. However, having this be an animated film really seems to allow Burton and his cinematographer Pete Kozachik to lean into things a little bit more. For instance, in the land of the living we get treated to a drab, yet compelling black and white color palette that looks great. Then, they get to rapidly change pace in the land of the dead by trading in the black and white for a vibrant and colorful vista that forms a great juxtaposition. 

Aiding the lovely and varied color palettes is fantastic lighting that highlights the incredible details of the set and puppet designs. It also lends itself to the creation of both compelling shadows and radiant illuminations. For instance, there are multiple shots that utilizes the moonlight to create shots that a gorgeous. 

Lastly, the cinematography team seems to have been dedicated to pushing stop motion beyond its typical limitations. The camera moves and shot angles are creative, kinetic, and elevate the film beyond what it could be. There are sweeping tracking shots, twirling 360 degree shots, picturesque wide landscapes, and gripping closeups. In fact, the variance in shots really exceeds what most films try to accomplish with far fewer limitations put on them. This was also likely the result of the various production and VFX teams that used newer digital cameras that allowed the stop motion animators to see there shots rendered in almost real-time. 

3. Production/Costume Design 

The most apparent labor of love for this movie was the creation of the various stop motion puppets utilized for filming. To help, renowned puppet builders Mackinnon & Saunders built around 14 different characters and helped supervise their use on set. Additionally, they developed a new method by which the filmmakers could utilize to make the puppets change expressions and emotions. Previously, most stop motion film would have interchangeable heads that get swapped out depending on the shot. For Corpse Bride, Mackinnon & Saunders built mechanical adjusters into the puppet that could be manipulated to move the various face 'muscles' on the puppets. This simplified the production and provided greater emotional flexibility to the on-screen characters. 

From a more simplistic perspective, the design for all the puppets just look great. The gothic design and Burton-esque flavor are wonderfully crafted. The costumes all looks great, the sets creative and full, and the uniqueness of each character is imaginative. Burton gets a lot of flack for having a particular artistic style, but I see the same commonalities in most animation studios like Pixar, Dreamworks and Studio Ghibli - so I consider this a strength vice a flaw. 

4. Writing 

This is where the movie falls down the score sheet for me. The premise for the film is based on a 17th century Jewish folktale which Burton had heard about from his The Nightmare Before Chirstmascollaborator Joe Ranft. And while this is not a direct adaptation of it, the framework of the film was crafted with it in mind. The problem is, outside of having an interesting concept in mind, the story feels half baked. 

The basic premise here is that our protagonist, Victor, is being placed into an arraigned marriage with his love interest Victoria Everglot. Despite initial reservations, Victor and Victoria become smitten with each other and really the only obstacle in their marriage is Victor's inability to get through the vows without fumbling the words. The inciting incident then occurs when Victor is practicing his vows in the woods and inadvertently places his ring onto the corpse bride - Emily. Victor's journey then, is finding a way to break his accidental marriage with Emily in order to return to Victoria. The rest of the film is basically a series of events that coalesces in Victor and Emily coming to a mutual understanding, and Victor eventually reuniting with Victoria with Emily's blessing as she finds her own peace. 

As I write it out, the plot isn't really that bad - it is just mostly pointless because the characters don't really change much throughout it. For instance, Victor starts off as a nervous and bumbling character, but by the end he is having a full on sword fight against one of the antagonists. However, the problem is that Victor doesn't really do anything in the plot the justifies his change. In reality, he spends most of the runtime spurning Emily's attempts at affection and constantly trying to run away from his situation. 

As for Victor's first bethrothed, Victoria doesn't really get much of a story. She starts off resistant to the idea of an arraigned marriage, quickly reverses that position by falling for Victor, and spends the rest of the film pining for him in his absence. Her biggest hurdle to overcome is her parents trying to marry her off to a second suitor once Victor goes missing - an arraignment she quickly resigns herself to. In the end it works out, but things in the plot really just happen to her; she doesn't actively effect them. 

Victor's other betrothed, Emily, starts off as kind of as an antagonist. She is basically taking Victor away from his life and engagement thanks to a sort of psychotic obsession of getting wed herself after her original husband killed her.  However, she is then quickly established as a sympathetic character who goes out of her way to endear herself to Victor - a notion he repeatedly rejects in harsh manners. She is basically a punching bag for Victor that is actually a lovely person. In the end, she basically sacrifices herself for Victor and Victoria and then 'ascends' to another afterlife and promptly removes herself as an obstacle. And despite her being the character that has the closest thing to an actual arc, the conclusion of her story feels like it was in the service of others, more than herself. 

Outside of the leads, the rest of the characters don't really have much in the way of arcs. Additionally, the world the characters inhabit doesn't really change much either. Everything is mostly just the status quo by the time the credits role and it makes the entirety of the story feel hollow. Corpse Bride seems overly content to have a cool concept, without actually endeavoring to make it emotionally compelling. And you can make a movie look as pretty and well executed as you want, but without substance underneath it, the entire thing can collapse. 

5. Sound Design 

Frequent Burton collaborator Danny Elfman was brought in to score the film and, as usual, does a fantastic job capturing the off kilter and haunting tone of the film. The score here is everything this film encapsulates. It is fun, whimsical and has just a dash of spooky. It may not be on the Mt Rushmore of Elfman scores, but it is a worthy entry in a fantastic discography. The only detraction I would take from the soundtrack is that the original musical pieces feel less inspired. This movie has a lot of common DNA with The Nightmare Before Christmas, but it's original songs are far less notable in comparison. 

In addition to the score, an essential part of making a stop motion film work is carefully crafted sound effects. The sound team did a wonderful job adding in all of the sounds that make up the world of Corpse Bride and it really helps bring the characters and settings to life.  

6. Editing 

Most of the time, I am a believer that keeping a film from being overly long or indulgent is a good thing. In this particular instance, the 77 minute runtime feels like the pendulum swung in the wrong direction. I think the film could have benefited from spending more time with the various characters and building out their stories. However, if I had to guess, this was less an issue with the editor, and more an issue with the writers not having enough on the page to work with. 

7. Visual Effects 

The film is obviously mostly executed with stop motion. However, there is a good deal of subtle VFX work being done to bring everything together. It isn't overly intrusive, rather it takes what the stop motion animators were able to achieve and then helps elevate it in smart ways. In fact, this is really what VFX endeavors to be - invisible and in service of creating the best possible look for the film. 

8. Originality or Strength of Adaptation 

As I mentioned, this film is based on an old Jewish folktale that Burton borrowed the basic concepts from.  However the folktale, despite being known by some, has mostly been lost to time. There are no formal written works that recount the tale, rather it has been mostly past down as spoken word. As such, there really is much use comparing Corpse Bride to its source material. Really the only thing I will mention here is that, while I may not be completely sold on the final product, I can appreciate getting to see something based on a story that hasn't been done over and over. 

9. Stunt Coordination 

Obviously we don't have much to talk about in terms of classical stunt work. However, the action animators did a pretty decent job crafting some of the film's more elaborate sequences such as the various musical scenes and the sword fight finale.  

10. Direction 

This was a long gestating project for Burton. I'd call it a 'passion project', but when you look at Burton's filmography that could be applied to most of his films. Corpse Bride might not rank very high in the director's eclectic resume, but it was certainly an ambitious undertaking that came out beautifully in many aspects. As a work of love, I rate it high. As a work of film-making, I am less satisfied. 

Legacy/Final Thoughts

I really wanted to like this film more than I did because it is so unique, creative, and beautifully crafted. However, I cannot ignore that there isn't enough to connect with outside of its stop motion achievements. The story ultimately feels lacking and its characters are not fleshed out enough to be compelling. I am always down to see what Tim Burton comes up with, but this feels inferior to some of his other films that are true cinematic classics. And though I wish other animated films would strive to put this level of creative effort in, I don't imagine it will ever be more than a niche film.