Review: Corpse Bride is a Tim Burton Masterpiece (Spoilers)

If any of you are familiar with Tim Burton’s work, you’re probably familiar with his 2005 film Corpse Bride. It’s almost everywhere during the Halloween season with costumes and decorations galore and there’s tons of fan edits and playlists dedicated to the movie on YouTube. Plenty of people have reacted to it over the years and now it’s time for me to do the same. Let’s dive in.

#1: Claymation Animation

I’m not usually the biggest fan of Claymation when done by certain people. While I can appreciate the time and artistry that goes into it, a lot of the time, I think it looks creepy and a bit unpolished. For example, the movie Chicken Run is still creepy to me because of how the chickens look and I’m not a fan of the general aesthetic of that movie. However, Corpse Bride is one of the few Claymation movies that I thought they did a really good job on. In watching the behind the scenes, I thought it was so cool how they manage to animate everything, especially the faces and Emily’s dress, making everything move as naturally as possible, something that’s not easy to do when working with puppets, especially on a small scale.

#2: The Aesthetic

Like I said in my review of Dark Shadows, Tim Burton does a really good job of making everything feel very dark and gothic. That said, it’s no surprise that he nailed it in this movie’s set design. However, the thing that makes it stand out even more is the fact that though everything seems very drab and melancholy (especially in the world of the living), the characters seem very alive. This is best shown in the Underworld where everyone is having a good time, singing, dancing, and being merry.

Another thing that makes it stand out more is Emily’s dress. Made up of varying shades of gray, blue, and white, Emily’s dress really makes her feel like a ghost as she gracefully seems to float through both worlds.

#3: The Overall Story

The story of Corpse Bride is really a story about heartbreak and the process of healing from that heartbreak. Emily was killed by her fiancé when she tried to elope with him, which broke her heart, making her want to marry whoever would say the vows. When Victor comes along and does this accidentally, she’s thrilled as we see when she takes him to the land of the dead. However, in trying to keep Victor there, she’s also breaking his heart because he loves his fiancé, Victoria, who is alive. Because of the mutual heartbreak, both characters inadvertently hurt each other. Because of Emily’s heartbreak over being betrayed by her former fiancé (who we later learn is Lord Barkus), she sees Victor as the next best thing and clings to him like a life preserver, ignoring his obvious pain, which almost destroys his relationship with Victoria her parents marry her off to someone else.

Though Victor and Emily start off hurting each other, towards the middle of the story, they begin recognizing each other’s pain. Victor feels compassion for Emily after she finds out about Victoria and when Emily realizes that in order to keep Victor, she would have to kill him, she comes to the dramatic realization of: “I could never ask him.” She realizes that if she loves him, she cannot rip him from his former life just so her dreams can be fulfilled and this crushes her, though it shows how she has started to heal from her previous heartbreak. When Victor says he would be willing to do it (having lost Victoria and now seeing Emily as the next best thing), you can see what seems like shock and relief on Emily’s face (a testament to how great the animation in this movie is). This all comes a head during the wedding when Emily sees Victoria and tells Victor: “I love you, Victor. But you’re not mine.” Because she has finally healed from the grief of having her dreams crushed, her soul is set free in a cloud of blue butterflies reminiscent of the one we saw at the beginning of the movie. A beautiful end to a beautiful film.

#4: The Music

Like any Tim Burton film, Danny Elfman did most of the work. However, what I want to focus on is how the music is used to really advance the story and show different aspects of the characters and how they’re changing over the course of the plot.

Corpse Bride is a musical, so most of the songs just provide exposition, but one of the best songs on the entire soundtrack is “Tears to Shed.” It perfectly encapsulates Emily’s sadness and her fear of losing Victor, which helps the audience mark where she starts to grow as a character. However, the main thing I want to focus on is their duet on the piano. In the beginning of the movie, Victor’s skill playing the piano is what initially intrigues Victoria. In the scene where Emily finds out about Victor’s other life, the piano is used to highlight their emotions. Emily starts off angry and sad, which is reflected in the initial foreboding notes. Victor then joins and the notes reflect a want for reconciliation. Emily picks up with similar notes from before and the song gradually becomes happier as they seem to reach a conclusion where the anger and sadness from before fade away. This also does a lot to show the different aspects of the characters’ personalities, particularly Emily’s gracefulness, grief, pettiness, anger, etc. and Victor’s guilt and want of reconciliation.

To sum this up, I’m not crying; you’re crying.

Until next time,

M.J.