The Corpse Bride-Arranged Marriages on a Budget
If you know anything about movie budgets you know that Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride was an impressive achievement, especially if you have already seen the film or even the trailer. The total budget is an estimated $35-$40 million. This is very impressive for the final production on the screen and the amount of man hours that went in the film. Part of this surprising budget of $35-$40 million is due, at least in some small part, to the incorporate of digital cameras for the photography.
The story itself takes its shots at the de-facto arranged marriages of the English aristocracy as our hero is pretty reluctant to marry the lass chosen for him by his parents. A series of comedic missteps, literally, ends up with Victor, voiced by Johnny Deep, accidentally placing a wedding ring upon the finger of the Corpse Bride who is partially reanimated in the process. What ensues is some Three’s Company type moments as Victor tries to keep it all a secret. To say more, would be to give away the ending. I hate spoilers and usually keep them out of my review, but skip the next paragraph if you haven’t already seen The Corpse Bride. SPOILER IN NEXT PARAGRAPH.
In the end, Victor is married to the woman, Victoria whom was selected for him by his parents and does not have to keep his Corpse Bride. I am not sure that Burton meant for this to be a commentary on maintaining the “natural or social” order of things, yet it could ultimately be interrupted this way. At the heart of the story Victor does accept the arranged marriage constructed by his parents after what could be viewed as experimenting with the notion of marrying someone who is inappropriate for him–to the extreme I suppose as she is dead. While the film does poke fun at de facto arranged marriages and caste systems, in final assessment it maintains that this is for the best and will make everyone happy. As much as I enjoyed the film, I was most definitely disappointed with this ending.
The bottom line is that for the dollar The Corpse Bride is a true accomplishment. Some may criticize that it is to short at 75 minutes, but in all fairness this is often the case with stop-motion animation. If you like off-beat, quirky films or stop-motion or Tim Burton movies you are in for a real treat.
Story B- (Many, if not most of the plot elements you’ve seen elsewhere before, but the world of the dead is novel enough. Unfortunately, the ending sent this movie spiraling out of the instant classic category and into the very good film category.)
Acting A
Visuals A+
Enjoyability Grade A-
Home Theater/HD Factor A+ (Considering that the film originated digitally you should see it in HD if at all possible.)
Overall Grade A-
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