Corpse Bride
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| Corpse Bride | |
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 Promotional poster |
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| Directed by | Tim Burton Mike Johnson |
| Produced by | Tim Burton Allison Abbate Executive producer: Jeffrey Auerbach Joe Ranft |
| Written by | John August Caroline Thompson Tim Burton |
| Starring | Johnny Depp Helena Bonham Carter Emily Watson Tracey Ullman |
| Music by | Danny Elfman |
| Cinematography | Pete Kozachik |
| Editing by | Jonathan Lucas Chris Lebenzon, A.C.E. |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Family Entertainment |
| Release date(s) |  September 10, 2005 September 23, 2005 October 19, 2005 October 21, 2005 October 22, 2005 October 28, 2005 November 3, 2005 November 17, 2005 January 26, 2006 |
| Running time | 78 min. |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $40,000,000 |
| Gross revenue | $117,195,061 (worldwide) |
| Official website | |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride is a 2005 stop-motion-animation film based loosely on a 19th century Russian-Jewish folktale version of an older Jewish story and set in a fictional Victorian era village. It was directed by Tim Burton and Mike Johnson, and filmed at 3 Mills Studios in London. Johnny Depp led an all-star cast as the voice of Victor and Helena Bonham Carter (for whom the project was specially created) as the voice of the title character. This is the first animated film in which Johnny Depp has been a voice actor. The film's initial release was two weeks prior to that of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, marking the first time that a stop-motion animated film and a claymation animated one were in simultaneous wide theatrical release. Interestingly, both films feature the voice of Helena Bonham Carter in a lead role and a character named Victor. Coincidentally, Burton's first stop-motion film, The Nightmare Before Christmas was released the same year as Nick Park's The Wrong Trousers.
The film was nominated in the 78th Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature. It lost to Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
The film is dedicated to the memory of Joe Ranft.
The movie exhibits Burton's trademark style and recurring themes (the complex interaction between light and darkness, and of being caught between two irreconcilable worlds). It is portrayed that life is being boring and dull (hence it is coloured in pastel greys) and death being more fun (it being colorful and very musical as well). The movie can be particularly compared to The Nightmare Before Christmas, Burton's previous stop-motion feature project (directed by Henry Selick and based on a Tim Burton poem, which Corpse Bride director Mike Johnson worked on as an animator) and Beetlejuice, especially in the scenes depicting the underworld and its deceased denizens. The studio intentionally emphasized the links, as some commercials for Corpse Bride were accompanied by songs from The Nightmare Before Christmas (specifically, "What's This"); also, in an issue of Disney Adventures, Emily (the title character) was compared to The Nightmare Before Christmas's Sally, despite the stark contrasts in personality between the outspoken, free-spirited Emily and the quiet, timid Sally. The Corpse Bride is also considered to be the spiritual successor of The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Most of the characters in the film bear a strong resemblance to the original cast of the British period drama Upstairs, Downstairs. In the "Special Features" section of the DVD, Tim Burton states that the films' setting pays tribute to the series, with the Land of the Living being the "upstairs", and the Land of the Dead being the "downstairs".
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[edit] Plot
The story is set in a cold, gloomy Victorian era town, a parody of aristocratic Europe. A nervous young man by the name of Victor Van Dort, son of rich fishmongers Nell and William Van Dort, is due to be wed to beautiful young Victoria Everglot (Emily Watson), daughter of bankrupt hereditary aristocrats Maudeline and Finis Everglot. Victor isn't too keen on the idea of an arranged marriage until he meets the charming Victoria face-to-face. The two hit it off from the start despite their earlier misgivings, falling in love with each other almost instantly. But after botching the wedding rehearsal (and accidentally setting Victoria's mother's skirt on fire in the process), Victor is banished by Pastor Galswells and forbidden to return until he can learn his wedding vows.
Victor wanders through the forest practising his vows, consistently blundering them. Finally he gains confidence and successfully recites them, and upon spying a tree root that resembles a human hand, places his bride's wedding ring on it. No sooner has he done so, the hand, for it really is a human hand, grabs him by the arm and Emily, the Corpse Bride (Helena Bonham Carter), emerges from beneath the frozen earth dressed in a moldy, flowing wedding dress and declares Victor her husband ("I do"). Victor attempts to escape, making it to the bridge, but finds the Corpse Bride already there, he then blacks out as she kisses him ("You may kiss the bride").
Surprised, Victor awakes in a pub with the dead. At first, he is terrified when he is told, through a jazz tune sung by a skeleton with one eye named Bonejangles and his group of other likewise musical bones, the news of his unexpected marriage. He is told how the Corpse Bride was mysteriously murdered on her wedding day and has been waiting for her groom to come and claim her ever since. Soon, however, he shakes himself and runs into the streets. Emily finds Victor and gives him a wedding present of the live skeleton of his dead puppy, Scraps. He then convinces Emily and the elderly Elder Gutknecht to return them both temporarily to the Land of the Living via a Ukrainian Haunting Spell (the only way to return is if either says "hopscotch") under the pretense of introducing her to his parents.
Once back, however, Victor goes to see Victoria instead to confess his marriage to Emily, and they are about to kiss when Emily discovers them and spirits him away while Victoria watches helplessly. While Victoria tries unsuccessfully to convince the pastor and her parents that Victor needs help, Maudeline and Finis lock her in her room and plan to match up their daughter with the presumed rich drifter "Lord Barkis Bittern" instead. Unknown to the others, Barkis intends to kill Victoria and make off with her fortune, which he mistakenly believes is still viable.
Back in the Land of the Dead, Emily feels betrayed and heartbroken by Victor's deception, but reluctantly begins to think that maybe he and Victoria are meant for each other because they are both alive while Emily is not. Victor apologizes for lying to her and Emily's love for him is renewed as he starts falling in love with her as well. Victor's coachman, Mayhew (newly-deceased), delivers the news of Victoria's engagement, leaving Victor distraught. Thinking that Victoria is marrying Barkis willingly, Victor decides to make the best of his situation below and agrees to drink poison as part of an above-ground ceremony that will make his marriage to Emily official. The reason being that since the marriage vows bind the couple until "death do them part" and Emily is already dead, the marriage won't exist until Victor is dead as well.
As Victoria and Barkis are married, the residents of the Land of the Dead busy themselves preparing for a wedding of their own, storming the town and marriage "celebration" on their way to the church. In the ensuing chaos, the newly-wed Lord Barkis finally realizes that Victoria is penniless. Meanwhile, there is panic with the village at the invasion of the dead, until both sides suddenly recognize their loved ones and realize to their mutual joy the temporary reunion.
Victoria heads for the church as well, and discovers Victor in the midst of the ceremony that will kill him. Emily sees Victoria watching them but unable to bring herself to speak; realizing that she is cheating Victoria out of a happy life, stops Victor from drinking the poisoned wine. She gives Victor back to Victoria, saying that in her despair and sadness she was just about to commit a terrible mistake, but the reunion is interrupted by Lord Barkis, who reminds the crowd that Victoria is still his wife, and moves to kidnap her at sword point. Emily is shocked and horrified as she recognizes Barkis as the man who both jilted and murdered her long ago.
Victor tells Barkis to get his hands off his living former bride, and Barkis is about to kill him, but Scraps bites Barkis' leg. A sword fight ensues between the two men (with Victor wielding a dinner fork tossed to him by a dead cook). Barkis corners Victor and is just about to jam his sword into Victor's stomach, when Emily rushes between them and blocks the blow, saving Victor's life.
A seething Emily orders Barkis to leave, which he smugly agrees to. The rest of the dead, outraged at what he did to Emily, try to stop him, but they are unable to interfere, since he is of the living, and therefore not under their power. But before leaving, he proposes a mock-toast to Emily, "always the bridesmaid, never the bride". Barkis drinks the wine intended for Victor, not knowing its contents, which kills him shortly afterward. The dead then proceed to induct the "new arrival" and drag the dying Barkis through a side-door to presumably eviscerate his carcass.
Emily explains to Victor and Victoria that they belong together. When Victor protests, saying that he "made a promise to Emily", she explains that he had already kept it by setting her free, and that now she shall do the same for him. As she begins to leave the church she still feels pain, but stops to throw her bouquet to Victoria, then continues to leave her true love behind and set herself truly free. As she reaches the threshold of the church, Emily finds peace and moves on with herself and her body transforms into hundreds of night butterflies, which soar towards the moon. Victor and Victoria look on together at the sight free to be married and live happily ever after together.
[edit] Cast of characters
[edit] Voice cast
| Character | English voice actor | German voice actor | Spanish voice actor | Japanese voice actor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victor Van Dort | Johnny Depp | David Nathan | Roger Pera | Hidenobu Kiuchi |
| Emily, the Corpse Bride | Helena Bonham Carter | Melanie Pukaß | Mar Roca | Kaori Yamagata |
| Victoria Everglot | Emily Watson | Heidrun Batholomäus | Graciela Molina | Sayaka Kobayashi |
| Nell Van Dort | Tracey Ullman | Dagmar Biener | Concha García Valero | N/A |
| Hildegarde | Tracey Ullman | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| William Van Dort | Paul Whitehouse | Bodo Wolf | Javier Viñas | N/A |
| Mayhew | Paul Whitehouse | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Paul the Head Waiter | Paul Whitehouse | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Maudeline Everglot | Joanna Lumley | Kerstin Sanders-Dornseif | Aurora García | Tomoko Miyadera |
| Finis Everglot | Albert Finney | Jürgen Kluckert | Jordi Vila | Takaya Hashi |
| Barkis Bittern | Richard E. Grant | Lutz Mackensy | Óscar Barberán | Jin Yamanoi |
| Pastor Galswells | Christopher Lee | Otto Mellies | Josep María Ullod | Iemasa Kayumi |
| Elder Gutknecht | Michael Gough | Wolfgang Völz | Santiago Cortés | N/A |
| Black Widow | Jane Horrocks | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Mrs. Plum | Jane Horrocks | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Maggot | Enn Reitel | Michael Pan | José Javier Serrano | N/A |
| Town Crier | Enn Reitel | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| General Bonesapart | Deep Roy | Stefan Krause | Juan Fernández | N/A |
| Bonejangles | Danny Elfman | Thomas Fritsch | Jordi Boixaderas | N/A |
| Emil | Stephen Ballantyne | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Solemn Village Boy | Lisa Kay | N/A | N/A | N/A |
[edit] Filming techniques
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This article does not cite any references or sources. (November 2006) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
Corpse Bride is the first movie to be shot with still cameras. Previous stop-motion movies (such as Aardman Animations' Chicken Run) were shot on modified Mitchell film cameras, the same old cameras used to shoot King Kong. As confirmed by American Cinematographer (October 2005), the camera chosen for the production of Corpse Bride was Canon EOS-1D Mark II, a digital single-lens reflex camera, which also makes it the first stop-motion feature to be shot in digital. Additional work was required to develop systems to permit precise camera positioning, the mounting of Nikon optical lenses, and previewing a scene in camera. Corpse Bride was the first stop-motion animated film to use Apple's Final Cut Pro as well. To give the film the traditional look of movie film stock, each image was processed with a color profile based on a type of film used in feature length movies.
The film was the first stop-motion animated movie to use the new "gear and paddle" technique for the maquette's heads. This new system involved the maquettes being built with a complex gear system inside of the main character's heads. The various gears were attached to external paddles. A soft skin-like material, mainly made of silicone and foam, was placed over these paddles to create the head and then painted. By adjusting the gears, done by inserting an allen wrench into small holes located on the maquette's head and in the ears, the paddles would move, therefore adjusting the facial expression of the character. This allowed for a much more smooth system of emotion change and lip-sync than the old style of replacing heads. The soft "skin" also gave the characters a much more natural look.
The puppets were made in Altrincham, near Manchester, England, by the leading puppet manufacturers Mackinnon and Saunders. They were also responsible for a major contribution to another Tim Burton film (Mars Attacks!), as well as numerous British animated series like Bob the Builder (Hit Entertainment), Andy Pandy (Cosgrove Hall) and Pingu (Hit Entertainment).
[edit] Origins
The origin of the folktale can be traced back to Rabbi Isaac Luria of Safed, a 16th century mystic. In the original folktale, "The Finger", the "corpse bride" in question is not a deceased woman, but a demon. In the 19th century Russian-Jewish adaptation, a woman is killed on her wedding day and is buried in her wedding gown. Later, a man on his way to his own wedding sees her ring finger poking out of the ground and thinks that it's a stick. As a joke, he puts his bride's wedding ring on the finger and dances around it, singing and reciting his marriage sacrament. The woman's corpse emerges from the ground (with the man's ring on her finger) and declares herself married to the man.
The folktale adaptation was born of the anti-Jewish Russian pogroms of the 19th century, in which young women were said to have been ripped from their carriages and killed on the way to their weddings. The folktale usually ends with the rabbis deciding to annul the corpse's marriage and the live bride swearing that she will live her marriage in the corpse's memory, part of the Jewish tradition of honoring the dead through the lives and good works of the living.
A similar motif has also been used by Prosper Mérimée in his story La Vénus d'Ille [1]. Instead of the corpse bride, the ancient statue of Venus figures in the story.
"Remains of the Day" may have been named after a book (The Remains of the Day) that was later made into a movie in which a butler misguidedly pledges his loyalty. This plot resembles that of the story of how Emily became the Corpse Bride.
The allegorical theme of the two brides, one living and one dead, occurs from ancient times in Christian (especially monastic) spirituality. The first evidence comes from the fourth century. It focuses on the differing meanings of the English word "love", which come out better in Latin. Christian love, or "caritas" (hence the English "charity"), is the willful seeking for the good of the other person in all ways. "Amor", which is the main meaning of the word in modern English, concerns the emotional and passionate attraction to the other person. In the allegory, "caritas" is the living, shy, quiet bride (i.e. "Victoria"), whereas "amor" is the dead, extrovert, flagrant bride (i.e. "Emily"). The lesson is that "amor" by itself is selfish and essentially dead, and can only be redeemed by making way for (and being incorporated into) "caritas", which is the true love for the other.
A recurring image through the movie is that of a blue butterfly, ranging from a drawing Victor makes at the beginning, using a live model, to the Corpse Bride herself dissolving into mass of butterflies. This resonates with a European folktale in which a brutally murdered woman would be reborn as a butterfly.
[edit] Box office
The film debuted at number 2 with $19.1 million, behind Flightplan. The film closed with a total of $53,400,000 domestically and an estimated $117,195,061 worldwide.
[edit] Soundtrack
The soundtrack has written by Danny Elfman with the help of John August and released on 20th September 2005. It contains all of the music from the film including score music and four songs with lyrics sung by voice actors.
[edit] DVD release
The DVD was released in the US on January 31, 2006. The film has also been released in the Blu-Ray and HD DVD formats. These releases include featurettes on the shooting and production of the film, as well as an isolated score. The image of Emily on the DVD cover and a poster with the same image is mirrored. Her skeletal features in the film (her left arm, right leg, exposed ribs, etc.) are opposite to those in the image.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Official site
- Corpse Bride at the Internet Movie Database
- Corpse Bride at Allmovie
- Corpse Bride at Rotten Tomatoes
- Corpse Bride at Metacritic
- Corpse Bride trailer
- Music samples from the motion picture (4 complete songs)
- Film Review
- Johnny Depp interview for Corpse Bride
- 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
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