‘The Corpse Bride’ Shines With A Witty and Heartwarming Story

December 18, 2009 Patrick Hickey Jr. Film 0

corpse_bride_posterIt’s been over 15 years since Tim Burton created the stop-motion classic “The Nightmare before Christmas,” a film that mystified the imaginations of millions of children and adults with a great soundtrack and beautiful animation.

Since its release, the cult following that fell in love with “The Nightmare before Christmas” wondered when Burton would work his magic with stop-motion animation once again, they now have their wish.

“The Corpse Bride,” while showing off the huge advancements in stop-motion technology over the past 15 years, doesn’t have the same charm that Jack Skellington and “The Nightmare before Christmas” did. The music, composed by Danny Elfman, the man responsible for composing the entire score of “The Nightmare before Christmas” and countless other Hollywood blockbusters, just doesn’t recreate the magic that was apparent in Burton’s first animated classic.

This in itself may turn off some die-hard fans of “The Nightmare before Christmas,” but that’s only because “The Corpse Bride” is a different type of film. While it’s apparent from the beginning that this is a type of spin off the same universe that Burton created in “The Nightmare before Christmas,” it’s not nearly as dark and is much wittier and heart warming and as a result, is a lot of fun to watch.

The story revolves around Victor Van Dort, voiced by Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean, From Hell). Van Dort is nervously stuck in the middle of an arranged marriage that will give his parents access to the upper-tier of society that they have always wanted to be a part of. Van Dort is first reluctant, but after meeting his fiancée, Victoria Everglot, voiced by Emily Watson (Red Dragon, Punch-Drunk Love) falls in love at first sight.

Now overcome with nervousness, Van Dort fails to memorize his vows at the wedding rehearsal, and is deemed unworthy of marriage until he can remember his vows. Van Dort then walks into the forest, trying desperately to recite his vows with utter perfection. The good news is that yes, Van Dort recites his vows perfectly, the bad news is he accidentally places his fiancée’s wedding ring on what he believes is a tree branch that turns out to be the dead body of the Corpse Bride, voiced by Helena Bonham Carter (Fight Club, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).What ensues is a fight for Van Dort’s love between his lovely fiancée and the heart broken but equally as beautiful in her own way Corpse Bride.

Those with a penchant for great animation will find that this movie is a shining example of the beauty of stop-motion animation. Those looking for movie that is equally enjoyable to watch and look at will not be disappointed either. For what it’s worth, “The Corpse Bride” may not have the soundtrack and charm of “The Nightmare before Christmas,” but that doesn’t mean it isn’t entertaining and a ball to watch.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14316 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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