Victor Van Dort (voiced by Johnny Depp) is about to be married, blindly, to the lovely Victoria Everglot (voiced by Emily Watson). Their parents have decided that this is to be so. No, it's not a joyous announcement for the bride and groom; they are scared stiff. Heck, they've never even met each other!
Once the pair finally meet, they realise they like each other. But at the wedding rehearsal, Victor fumbles his lines and even lights his soon-to-be mother-in-law on fire. Nervous and all a flutter, Victor runs for the hills, so-to-speak.
Wandering around a dark forest, Victor broods about his impending marriage. Practicing his lines, Victor places Victoria's wedding ring on a twig and unwittingly become married to the Corpse Bride.
One can't help but wonder just how they made the film. There is so much attention to detail throughout the whole production from the simplest shadows moving in sync with the puppets to the Victor puppet hitting the exact keys when playing the piano.
This of course adds to the grandeur of the production, and makes it special. No, it isn't an epic like The Ten Commandments, but the visual effects are just as cutting edge as they were for Commandments in 1956.
Well, maybe not. But do you see what I'm getting at?
This wasn't Tim Burton's first stop-motion feature; he also produced 1993's The Nightmare before Christmas, and, inevitably, I'm forced to draw comparisons between the two films. Corpse Bride surpasses Nightmare in many ways; most notable is that the film looks a lot less jerky, more smooth. Although Nightmare was more colorful, and still a great film, Corpse Bride was a film of much higher quality. What ever they learnt from making Nightmare a decade ago they built upon and then some.
Still, you have to marvel at Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, his dreary, gothic, yet lively pet project. It is a rousing stop-motion animation spectacular filled with dazzling puppetry and incredible, memorable characters of all shapes and sizes. A virtual lock for this year's Best Animated Feature Oscar.
Plot: 
We are drawn into Tim Burton's world when we enter Corpse Bride. And what a world it is! It is a world filled with colorful (and not so colorful) characters (pun intended), great songs and that twisted genius that is Tim Burton's mind.
Animation:
Even better than The Nightmare before Christmas, the animation in Corpse Bride is the best Stop-motion to date. Shadows movie with the puppets; piano keys are correctly depressed; eyes blink with ease. It all adds up to great, great fun.
One other thing that may or may not be noticeable: the land of the dead is more colorful than the land of the living. This may have been done on purpose, but it works very well. Any color used in the land of the living is bleached out and dull.
It is small touches like this that make the film so good.
Sound:
Once again, Danny Elfman's score and songs are top notch.
Character Development: 
Atmosphere:
This is a film with a very imaginative world that will draw you in like a moth to flame and keep your attention for the full 77 minutes. Guaranteed.
Realism:
It is because the isn't realistic that it is so great!
Warren’s Rating:
8.57/10 Is the movie worth your time to watch?
02-10-06
