There's been a grave misunderstanding.


It happened some years ago. American animation giant Disney decided that the traditional 2D animation was dead and went on to embrace what it called the future of animation : 3D CG animation. Fans of Disney animation mourned this move, thinking it was the final nail in the coffin of traditional animation. Of course, animation fans from other parts of the world didn't give a damn because they knew traditional 2D was alive and well in other countries like Japan, France and the UK.
So, thanks to those countries, 2D animation is in safe hands. But what about it's lesser known cousins like Stop Motion animation? It was a pleasant surprise to know that a stop motion animated movie came out of Hollywood recently. Corpse Bride, directed by Tim Burton and Mike Johnson seems like the odd one out from the bunch of 3D animated films that Hollywood churned out of it's assembly line this year. While the 3D animated movies followed the same, predictable formula that they have been using for years...
Talking animals/creatures + One-liners + Spoofs of every possible movie = Disney-Pixar movie.
Here was a movie that seemed so different. And, why not? It is co-directed by Tim Burton, the man behind the amazing stop motion animated flick The Nightmare before Christmas.

Story :

The story about the Victorian era and values, stars Victor and Victoria, who are to be married soon in an arranged marriage. Victor Van Dort is the son of a nouveau riche couple who are looking to marry their son into aristocracy. Victoria Everglot is the daughter of the aristocratic Everglot family who are bankrupt and are looking to their daughter's marriage to restore their family fortune. Victor is a shy young man, who is not ready to get married. However, he changes his mind after he meets the lovely Victoria. Unfortunately, he manages to bumble during the wedding rehearsal and runs away into the forest. While wandering about there, he rehearses his wedding vows and places the wedding ring on pointy branch sticking out of the ground and says, "With this ring, I ask you to be mine". Who was to know that the pointy branch turns out to be the skeletal ring finger of Emily, the Corpse Bride? She rises from the ground and says, "I do"...
From then on, the story takes a wild ride through the highs of Victorian aristocracy and the lows of the world of the Dead. Victor is the unfortunate man caught between his aristocratic bride-to-be Victoria and his lawfully wedded Corpse Bride Emily. Who gets to marry Victor? Victoria or Emily?

Characters :

The story introduces some incredible characters, both alive and dead. Victor Van Dort, brilliantly voiced by Johnny Depp (said to be his first role as voice actor) is perfect as the shy man caught in a unenviable situation. Both Victoria and Emily are fleshed out really well to the point that you can't decide who should marry Victor. Like Nightmare before Christmas, this movie too has very Burtonesque, weird characters. My favorite is Victor's long dead dog Scraps, who comes to life in the world of the Dead.

Animation :

Stop motion animation is not dead! That is the message that this film sends out loud and clear. If you have already seen Nightmare before Christmas, then you have an idea of the kind of animation to expect in this movie. But, Corpse Bride, which was made almost 12 years after Nightmare before Christmas shows how much stop motion animation has advanced over the years. The animation is simply incredible. It is so amazing that I had earlier mistaken it for a complete CG creation while watching the trailer. While Nightmare before Christmas has impressive animation, it was obvious that the technique used was stop motion.
However, Corpse Bride looks fantastic. And, the making-of video confirms that the animators used only stop motion techniques to create the film. The puppets seem lifelike with perfect lip-syncing to the dialogues. The backgrounds are created with painstaking detail. Overall, I can say that this is stop motion animation like you've never seen it before.

Soundtrack :

Accompanying the gorgeous animation is a haunting score by Danny Elfman, who also did the score for Nightmare before Christmas . Danny Elfman also voices the singing, storyteller character Bonejangles.

So, what's the verdict?

I love the Corpse Bride, till death do us part.


Reviewer : foogarky