I was worried that Corpse Bride would draw way too much from The Nightmare Before Christmas, essentially riding the wave of its resurging popularity.
And, well, it does a little, but there's little avoiding that, I guess. It's most clear in the songs (Yeah, I didn't know it was a musical either) that Elfman was trying to harken back to his work on Nightmare, but that an awfully far star to shoot for, and he does fall rather short. They're not awful, but I can barely remember any of the tunes.
Fortunately, when the songs are going on (there aren't very much of them), there's at least a lot of fun stuff going on onscreen to gaze at in awe. Corpse Bride looks beautiful, of course, but there's only so much you can improve with puppetry. The level of detail is nearly the same as it was in Nightmare (though they managed to present skeletons more anatomically correct than Jack), but the movement is noticably more fluid. As for the design, it seems Burton took a bit of inspiration from the likes of Edward Gorey and even Terry Gilliam in creating the living characters, who appear to have been made with as much whimsy as the dead ones.
Though this is the third (right?) time Burton has dipped into the land of the dead, the movie does set itself apart from the likes of Nightmare and Beetlejuice (which I'm pretty sure I spotted an homage to). It's kooky and weird, of course, but also very funny and sweet, if a little more mature.
I never know how to end these.
And, well, it does a little, but there's little avoiding that, I guess. It's most clear in the songs (Yeah, I didn't know it was a musical either) that Elfman was trying to harken back to his work on Nightmare, but that an awfully far star to shoot for, and he does fall rather short. They're not awful, but I can barely remember any of the tunes.
Fortunately, when the songs are going on (there aren't very much of them), there's at least a lot of fun stuff going on onscreen to gaze at in awe. Corpse Bride looks beautiful, of course, but there's only so much you can improve with puppetry. The level of detail is nearly the same as it was in Nightmare (though they managed to present skeletons more anatomically correct than Jack), but the movement is noticably more fluid. As for the design, it seems Burton took a bit of inspiration from the likes of Edward Gorey and even Terry Gilliam in creating the living characters, who appear to have been made with as much whimsy as the dead ones.
Though this is the third (right?) time Burton has dipped into the land of the dead, the movie does set itself apart from the likes of Nightmare and Beetlejuice (which I'm pretty sure I spotted an homage to). It's kooky and weird, of course, but also very funny and sweet, if a little more mature.
I never know how to end these.
) but I'm glad you saw it. I'll probably catch a matinee one day.
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