By By Michael Gleason

Director Tim Burton has returned to the world of the macabre with his latest stop-motion animation feature, Corpse Bride. This film is an extremely enjoyable romp through a world filled with imaginative beings and creepy creatures. In short, Corpse Bride is a resounding success and enthusiastically recommended.

The story follows a young man named Victor (voiced by Johnny Depp), who is to marry a woman he has never met. The marriage was arranged by the bride’s parents, as an attempt to avoid destitution. Victor meets his bride-to-be, Victoria (Emily Watson) and is entranced, but after a disastrous rehearsal, he flees to the forest. He places his wedding ring on what appears to be a tree branch and accidentally marries the Corpse Bride (Helena Bonham Carter). The rest of the film flips back and forth between the land of the living and that of the dead, as the young lovers and the amorous departed wife seek to resolve the love triangle.

The story, while very straightforward (few twists are to be found), is written with care. There are a great number of humorous moments, especially coming from the bride’s parents (voiced by Albert Finney and Joanna Lumley), who are devious and constantly plotting.

All the characters are immensely likable, as the heroes and villains have much more personality than most movies. The Corpse Bride’s story elicits genuine sympathy. However, more plot would have been preferable, as the film, at 76 minutes, passes all too quickly. The film’s life is cut short.

Although the film casts itself as creepy, it is actually more of a love story. The grotesqueries are held to a minimum, though there must be some since, after all, this is a story about dead people. The focus of this movie is less on the eerie and the odd than sorrow and lovesickness.

The film’s look is perfect. The animation is exceptionally clean and the characters, though they have physical impossibilities, have exteriors that reflect wonderfully their inner personalities. This world is awash in jutting chins and rounded figures, which beautifully set the rather somber mood. No other film this year has such well-designed and colorful characters. The animation is a noticeable evolution from the film’s spiritual predecessor, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and that is an admirable feat.

Sound design is also smoothly handled. Danny Elfman, veteran of numerous Burton flicks, handles the music-writing duties neatly, creating a great sense of ambiance. The songs, while entertaining, don’t force themselves into the heads of the audience. Unfortunately, the songs don’t have the infectious catchiness that people have come to expect from Elfman.

If the film suffers anywhere, it is that it is not quite as memorable as Burton’s other foray into stop-motion. Indeed, this is not much of a complaint: Nightmare Before Christmas invented the visual language in which Corpse Bride expresses itself. If the characters of the more recent film are less memorable, it is because the first film gave audiences something they’d never quite seen before. While Corpse Bride is not as colorful as Nightmare, and its songs not as catchy, it is still a worthy successor..

This movie is a must-see for Burton fans and for fans of good films. It is carried far by whimsy and beautiful visual design and has a great story to back it up. Hopefully, this film marks a return to form for Tim Burton after a few hit-or-miss years. Weird, wacky and fun, this movie is one of the best efforts of the year.

Final Grade: A-

The characters in Tim Burton´s Corpse Bride are well-designed and colorful. (Image courtesy cinema.com)