Reel Review
Set in a 19th century European village, this stop-motion, animated
feature follows the story of Victor, a young man who is whisked away
to the underworld and wed to a mysterious Corpse Bride, while his
real bride, Victoria, waits bereft in the land of the living.
Although life in the Land of the Dead proves to be a lot more
colorful than his strict Victorian upbringing, Victor learns that
there is nothing in this world, or the next, that can keep him away
from his one true love.
Carla_g: Greetings Cole.
ColeStValent: Hi Carla.
Carla_g: Well why don't we just start off by saying what we
thought about the movie? What did you think of it at first?
ColeStValent: (switches to professional movie critic mode)
Carla_g: lol impressive. What made you want to see the movie?
ColeStValent: It's Tim Burton, of course.
Carla_g: Agreed :) I've always liked his films.
ColeStValent: His last claymation movie was “Nightmare Before Christmas”, way back in 1990 I think. So naturally that is the standard everyone was comparing “Corpse Bride” to.
Carla_g: Yeah I liked how this one reminded me of that.
ColeStValent: Unfortunately, I thought CB fell way short of “Nightmare”. What do you think?
Carla_g: Well I think it's that I had such high hopes from it because of “Nightmare Before Christmas but it wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be.
ColeStValent: No… the songs were unimaginative and uninteresting
for the most part.
Carla_g: I didn't see the ending as I thought it was either. I thought things were going to turn out very different.
ColeStValent: I agree... given the premise of the movie, it should have been a little bit darker.
Carla_g: Yes, that's what I was expecting.
ColeStValent: Instead it was just... cute.
Carla_g: Yeah it was alright though. Not what I thought it would be but still just alright. I think I got most of the movie from the previews.
ColeStValent: Also, there could have been a few veiled references to necrophilia... I mean, he's married to a corpse... I thought that would have been funny.
Carla_g: lol - It seemed almost normal though that he was married to her.
ColeStValent: I know.
Carla_g: I'm a bit disappointed: I think it's alright for kids though.
ColeStValent: It would have been better in Johnny Depp's character had revealed some dark twisted side to his psychology or, something... there were a lot of directions Tim Burton could have gone. But I agree with you that it was an ok movie.
Carla_g: I felt like I didn't even know the main character. It didn't really tell much about him at all or even show his inner self. I felt like there was a struggle in him but I saw none.
ColeStValent: That's true. The only character that had any sort of development at all was the corpse bride herself.
Carla_g: Would you recommend this movie to anyone?
ColeStValent: I would, actually. It wasn't as good as I had hoped, but it was still good.
Carla_g: Yes. I think I would because it was a good movie even though I didn't think it met my expectations.
ColeStValent: Also, it is suitable for young children as you said.
Carla_g: I think I'd be moed to a corpse... I thought that would have been funny.
Carla_g: lol - It seemed almost normal though that he was married to her.
ColeStValent: I know.
Carla_g: I'm a bit disappointed: I think it's alright for kids though.
ColeStValent: It would have been better in Johnny Depp's character had revealed some dark twisted side to his psychology or, something... there were a lot of directions Tim Burton could have gone. But I agree with you that it was an ok movie.
Carla_g: I felt like I didn't even know the main character. It didn't really tell much about him at all or even show his inner self. I felt like there was a struggle in him but I saw none.
ColeStValent: That's true. The only character that had any sort of development at all was the corpse bride herself.
Carla_g: Would you recommend this movie to anyone?
ColeStValent: I would, actually. It wasn't as good as I had hoped, but it was still good.
Carla_g: Yes. I think I would because it was a good movie even though I didn't think it met my expectations.
ColeStValent: Also, it is suitable for young children as you said.
Carla_g: I think I'd be more likely to show it to children than adults. What would your overall rating of it be?
ColeStValent: On the Tim Burton scale, with one being "Sleepy Hollow" and five being "Nightmare Before Christmas", I give this movie a three.
Carla_g: Wow I don't know if I can work with your scale. I think out of 1-5 it would be a 4.
By Cole Wellman