The Corpse Bride

The Corpse Bride  Directed by Tim Burton and Mike Johnson

Review by Kaite Rose

                 Well it is October, so I have to do at least one Halloween classic!  The Corpse Bride is one of my all-time favorite movies. Considering the glory of stop animation combined with an all-star voice cast, and of course coming from the mind of Tim Burton, there really is a lot to love here.  What I love most about this movie, however, is the characters! And the music is pretty snazzy too!

                The setting of the film is an unnamed Victorian town, and the big news is that a wedding is about to happen. The wedding is an arranged match between Victor, the main character and the son of fish merchants, and Victoria, the daughter or broke aristocrats. Victor and Victoria….I know, it is like they were made for each other! Neither one wants to get married, but once they meet each other they fall instantly in love. However, that does not make the arrangement any easier for Victor, who completely ruins the rehearsal and happens to catch his future mother in law on fire. After fleeing the church and running into the woods, Victor practices his vows and manages to get them perfectly right. Unfortunately for him, he accidentally marries himself to a corpse in the process.

                The corpse is the lovely Emily, who takes him down to the surprisingly colorful and upbeat realm of the dead to be her husband forever. The proceeding story is touching, funny, heartbreaking, and really just a lot of fun!

                Victoria, the gentle bride to be, is more than she appears. She was raised in a loveless home by parents who do not care about her, and yet manages to be brave and kind. When she realizes what has happened to Victor, she does everything she can to save him. Her fate is never truly in her hands, and she suffers for it. Though the two main women in this are technically rivals for Victor’s heart, they are never truly pitted against each other. You root for Victoria just as much as you root for Emily.

                Emily, the corpse bride herself, is a truly wonderful character. In life, she was a local beauty and the daughter of very rich people. She was tricked into eloping with a man ended up robbing and killing her (yes this is a children’s film, so this bit of information is presented in as kid friendly a way as possible). This has left her unable to “move on”. Instead she vows she will one day meet her true love and marry him. She believes that she loves Victor, despite all their very obvious differences, and that he loves her too. It sounds like she is very naïve, and she certainly starts out that way. She has no conception of why Victor would not want to spend eternity married to a corpse, and becomes angry and upset when she realizes he is in love with Victoria. What is really fantastic about Emily though, is underneath her delusions she is a sweet, passionate, and talented woman. Her thoughtfulness and thriving personality make her a beloved resident of the afterlife community. She has suffered tremendously and is looking for peace in death. In the end, she realizes that even though she loves Victor, he is not hers to love, and helps reunite him with Victoria. Emily also comes face to face with her murderer, and proves her strength against him.

                Emily’s reaction to being rejected by Victor is one that is rarely portrayed in popular media. She feels envy of Victoria, she is hurt by Victor not loving her, but she never turns those feelings of grief into hatred or tries to destroy any chance of Victoria and Victor being together. She certainly has to chance to do so, but does not take it.

                What I find most successful about this movie is how Emily turned out. On paper she should be very easy to dislike. The most beautiful woman for miles, popular, silly, and a man stealer. Throughout the course of the film, however, you learn she is so much more that those labels.

Final Recommendation? Well this is one of my favorite movies ever….so of course I am going to tell you to watch it. It is perfect for Halloween time, appropriate for the kids, and is something of a cult classic. The music if colorful and fun, the characters are lovable and dynamic, and the ending is REALLY REALLY SATISFYING. Trust me.