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| ==Release== | ==Release== | ||
| The film was a financial success, grossing $53,359,111 domestically and $117,195,061 worldwide. It was also met with a positive reaction from critics. ] reported 84% of their critics gave the film a positive review. The film also maintains a nearly identical 83/100 rating from ]. ] of the '']'' awarded the film three stars out of four, praising the voice acting and animation, stating that it is not a "macabre horror story as the title suggests", and calling the film a "sweet and visually lovely tale of love lost". | The film was a financial success, grossing $53,359,111 domestically and $117,195,061 worldwide. It was also met with a positive reaction from critics. ] reported 84% of their critics gave the film a positive review. The film also maintains a nearly identical 83/100 rating from ]. ] of the '']'' awarded the film three stars out of four, praising the voice acting and animation, stating that it is not a "macabre horror story as the title suggests", and calling the film a "sweet and visually lovely tale of love lost". '']'' of ''The Reel Deal'' gave the film 4 out of 5 stars. "Combining old school, stop motion with cutting edge digital design, Tim Burton has created a universe that possesses an ethereal, timeless quality. And while you may not wish to kiss this bride, you can still appreciate her beauty. A beauty that radiates from within."<ref>{{cite web |last=Sells |first=Mark |work=The Reel Deal |title=Corpse Bride: Review |url=http://www.thereeldeal.co/reviews/corpsebride.html}}</ref> | ||
| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
Revision as of 16:47, 18 March 2011
2005 Template:Film UK film| Corpse Bride | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Tim Burton Mike Johnson |
| Screenplay by | John August Caroline Thompson Pamela Pettler |
| Produced by | Tim Burton Allison Abbate Joe Ranft Derek Frey |
| Starring | Johnny Depp Helena Bonham Carter Emily Watson Tracey Ullman Paul Whitehouse Joanna Lumley Albert Finney |
| Cinematography | Pete Kozachik |
| Edited by | Chris Lebenzon |
| Music by | Danny Elfman |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release dates |
|
| Running time | 77 minutes |
| Countries | Template:Film UK Template:Film US |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $40 million |
| Box office | $117,195,061 |
Corpse Bride (often known as Tim Burton's Corpse Bride) is a 2005 musical stop-motion-animation fantasy film directed by Mike Johnson and Tim Burton. It is set in a fictional Victorian era village in Britain. Johnny Depp led an all-star cast as the voice of Victor, while Helena Bonham Carter (for whom the project was specially created) voiced Emily, the title character.
The film was nominated in the 78th Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature, but was bested by Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. On a technical level it was shot with a battery of Canon EOS-1D Mark II digital SLRs, rather than the 35mm film cameras used for Burton's previous stop-motion film The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Plot
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The film is set in an unnamed European village. Victor Van Dort (Johnny Depp), the nineteen year old son of nouveau riche fish merchants, and Victoria Everglot (Emily Watson), the neglected daughter of hateful aristocrats, are engaged by their families to marry, so that the Van Dort couple can ascend to high society, and the penniless Everglots can secure their future. When they meet each other for the first time, they like what they see. After the shy, clumsy Victor bungles a wedding rehearsal, he practices his wedding vows in a forest, placing the wedding ring on what looks like an upturned tree root.
The "root" is actually the finger of a murdered woman, clad in a tattered bridal gown, who rises from the grave, assuming that she is now Victor's wife. Horrified, Victor flees, but the dead girl pursues him and spirits Victor to the Land of the Dead. In the surprisingly festive afterlife, Victor learns that his new bride's name is Emily (Helena Bonham Carter) and that she was murdered in the woods on the night of her elopement after bringing money and dressed in a wedding gown. Later Victoria's parents hear Victor has been seen in another woman's arms, and become suspicious.
After Emily gives him a wedding present that turns out to be his deceased dog, Scraps, he tells Emily that his mother never approved of Scraps or anything else, Emily asks if Victor's mother would have approved of her (Emily). Victor, wanting to get back to Victoria, convinces Elder Gutknecht (Michael Gough), the kindly ruler of the underworld, to send him and Emily temporarily to the Land of the Living under the pretext of introducing Emily to Victor's parents. Once back home, Victor rushes to see Victoria and confesses his love, which she gladly returns. The Maggot living inside Emily's head says that they should go look for Victor and Emily finds Victor and Victoria together. Emily feels betrayed and drags Victor back to the Land of the Dead by saying a magic word ("Hopscotch!"). Back in the Land of the Dead, Emily is hurt by Victor's lies to her and accuses Victoria of being "The other woman" without knowing that she (Emily) is "The other woman."
Victoria tells her parents that Victor has been forcibly married to a dead female, but they believe she has lost her mind and lock her up in her bedroom. She escapes her room and heads to the callous Pastor Galswells (Christopher Lee), who is disgusted by her story of the Corpse Bride, and he returns her to her parents. With Victor gone, Victoria's parents plan to marry her off to a presumably wealthy newcomer in town named Lord Barkis Bittern (Richard E. Grant), and do so against her will.
Emily is devastated at first by Victor's deceit, but eventually realizes that Victor and Victoria probably belong together, despite the protests from her Maggot and Black Widow companions, who state that Victoria's only positive quality is that she is living, and other than that, cannot compare to her. Victor apologizes to Emily for lying to her and they are reconciled.
Victor's recently deceased coachman appears in the afterlife and tells him about Victoria's impending wedding to Lord Barkis. Victor, feeling betrayed, decides to end his own life so he can properly marry Emily, as Elder Gutknecht states their marriage is invalid due to Emily being dead. The dead go "upstairs" to the Land of the Living to hold Victor and Emily's wedding in the town church. At first, the living are terrified, but their fear dissipates once they recognize their departed loved ones.
Meanwhile, Barkis is outraged to discover that Victoria is in fact penniless, and she storms out, toward the church where she finds Victor about to drink poison. Emily spots Victoria and stops him, knowing that she is preventing Victoria from marrying the man she loves. Victor and Victoria joyfully reunite, but Lord Barkis interrupts the festivities to remind them that Victoria is now his wife and that he wants money. Emily recognizes Lord Barkis as her former fiance, who murdered her for her dowry and intended the same fate for Victoria. Lord Barkis attempts to kill Victor with his sword, but Emily takes the blow herself. She then demands he leave. Before he goes, he proposes an insulting mock-toast to Emily. He drinks the poison meant for Victor and dies (though his dead body remains animated). The dead gleefully drag him underground to punish him for his evil while he screams in horror.
Emily prepares to leave, but Victor states he cannot break his promise to her. She replies that he has kept his promise by setting her free, and she in return sets Victor free of his vow to marry her. Then, she gives her wedding bouquet to Victoria, and transforms into a swarm of white butterflies which fly away into the night.
Cast
- Johnny Depp as Victor Van Dort
- Helena Bonham Carter as Emily, the Corpse Bride
- Emily Watson as Victoria Everglot
- Tracey Ullman as Nell Van Dort, Victor's mother, and Hildegarde, the elderly, hunch-backed maid of the Everglot household
- Paul Whitehouse as William Van Dort, Victor's father; Mayhew, the Van Dorts' coachman; and Paul the Head Waiter, a head that speaks with a French accent
- Joanna Lumley as Maudeline - Lady Everglot, Victoria's cold, unloving mother
- Albert Finney as Finis - The Lord Everglot, Victoria's miserable father, and Grandfather Everglot, Finis' deceased grandfather
- Richard E. Grant as Lord Barkis Bittern, the main antagonist of the film who is exposed as a murderer.
- Christopher Lee as Pastor Gallswells. In an interview, he is described by Lee as a very unsympathetic character.
- Michael Gough as Elder Gutknecht, an ancient and rickety skeleton
- Jane Horrocks as The Black Widow, an affable black widow spider seamstress, and Mrs. Plum, the deceased, plump and bawdy proprietress of the Ball and Socket Pub.
- Enn Reitel as Maggot, a sarcastic, green maggot who lives inside Emily's head and acts as her conscience, and The Town Crier. Maggot is a twisted parody of Jiminy Cricket, as well as a homage to actor Peter Lorre.
- Deep Roy as General Bonesapart, a dwarfish skeleton in a military uniform with a sword stuck in his chest. He is a parody of Napoleon Bonaparte.
- Danny Elfman as Bonejangles, a one-eyed, singing skeleton who tells the story of Emily through the song "Remains of the Day".
- Stephen Ballantyne as Emil, the Everglots' butler
- Lisa Kay as Solemn Village Boy, who recognizes one of the corpses as his 'grandpa'
Origins
The film is based upon Jewish folklore with a similar plot.
One version of the legend is included in the Shivkhey HoAri, the biographical collection of mystical stories about a renowned kabbalist Rabbi Yitzchak Luria Ashkenazi. There someone jokingly put a ring on a finger sticking from the ground and pronounced the formal betrothal phrase, thus unwillingly becoming married to a woman from an underworld who subsequently came to claim him as a husband. The case was brought in front of the Arizal, who ruled that since the man did not willingly perform the betrothal he was not bound by the marriage, but to be sure that the woman should remain free to marry one of her kind, the man had to give her a formal divorce according to the Jewish law.
Release
The film was a financial success, grossing $53,359,111 domestically and $117,195,061 worldwide. It was also met with a positive reaction from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported 84% of their critics gave the film a positive review. The film also maintains a nearly identical 83/100 rating from Metacritic. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film three stars out of four, praising the voice acting and animation, stating that it is not a "macabre horror story as the title suggests", and calling the film a "sweet and visually lovely tale of love lost". Mark Sells of The Reel Deal gave the film 4 out of 5 stars. "Combining old school, stop motion with cutting edge digital design, Tim Burton has created a universe that possesses an ethereal, timeless quality. And while you may not wish to kiss this bride, you can still appreciate her beauty. A beauty that radiates from within."
See also
References
- Bowles, Scott (2005-09-27). "Stop-motion coaxes 'Corpse Bride,' 'Gromit' to life". Usatoday.Com. Retrieved 2011-03-01.
- "Corpse Bride (2005) - Box Office Mojo". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-03-19.
- "Tim Burton's Corpse Bride "filmed" with EOS-1D Mark II's", Rob Galbraith.com, September 14, 2005
- "Corpse Bride - About the DVD: Inspiration".
- "שבחי האר"י".
- "Burton's 'Corpse' Has Jewish Bones".
- Sells, Mark. "Corpse Bride: Review". The Reel Deal.
External links
- Official website
- Corpse Bride at IMDb
- Template:Allmovie title
- Corpse Bride at Box Office Mojo
- Corpse Bride at Rotten Tomatoes
- Corpse Bride at Metacritic
- Music samples from the motion picture (4 complete songs)
- Tim Burton's Corpse Bride: From Concept Art to Finished Puppets - an interview with Graham G. Maiden's narrates the process involved with taking Tim Burton's concept drawings and making them into fully articulated puppets.
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- 2005 films
- American films
- British films
- English-language films
- 2000s romantic comedy films
- American animated films
- Animated features released by Warner Bros.
- Bangsian fantasy
- Clay animation television series and films
- Fantasy-comedy films
- Films directed by Tim Burton
- Films shot digitally
- Romantic fantasy films
- Stop-motion animated films
- Warner Bros. films
- Undead in fiction
- British animated films
- Comedy horror films
- Ghost films