Corpse Bride (2005, USA/GBR) C-76m. **** D: Mike Johnson, Tim Burton. Starring (the voices of) Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Emily Watson, Tracey Ullman, Paul Whitehouse, Joanna Lumley, Albert Finney, Richard E. Grant, Christopher Lee, Michael Gough, Deep Roy, Danny Elfman. Delightful stop-motion animation, a dazzling follow-up to Burton's NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993). Depp lends his voice to Victor Van Dort, who is about to be married to Victoria Everglot (Watson), who he has never met. On the day before the wedding, however, Victor accidentally enters the world of the dead, where corpse bride Carter thinks he has just chosen her as his wife. Ingeniously designed dark fantasy by mastermind Burton (with co-director Johnson), whose work is more focused and mature than ever before. Irresistible, especially to buffs. Written by John August, Caroline Thompson and Pamela Pettler. Incredible how this failed to win the Best Animated Feature Oscar, should even have qualified for Best Film, Best Direction and Best Score. On-scren title is TIM BURTON'S CORPSE BRIDE. |