Tim Burton is capable of making visually stunning movies, and Corpse Bride is no exception. It’s beautifully dark and atmospheric. But unfortunately I found it to have too much style and not enough substance.

Directed by Tim Burton and Mike Johnson in the stop motion animation style of the classic The Nightmare Before Christmas (and with a nice little nod to the master of stop motion…check out the piano closely), Corpse Bride tells the story of Victor, as voiced by the always awesome Johnny Depp, who is betrothed by familial prearrangement to Victoria, as voiced by Emily Watson, and the bizarre situation he finds himself when he unwittingly marries a beautiful but bony corpse, as voiced by Helena Bonham Carter, the real life Mrs. Tim Burton.
The whole cast is great and all the voices work very well for the characters.

There is a lot of great scenery and visuals to please the goth-punk crowd that has claimed Nightmare as their own, and even more conservative yet dark types like yours truly, but the story, while sweet and interesting at it’s core, could really have been told in a half hour. No character is particularly well fleshed out, and I don’t think enough time is given to truly care about anybody in the film as much as I would have liked. There are some laughs, and some of the visual gags work well, but I really wanted more form this movie. Even the music is a let down. Wait, let me clarify, the music itself is nice, but the songs didn’t really do it for me. I still admire the heck out of Danny Elfman, and I hope the team of Burton and Elfman continue to work together in the future.

So I wasn’t blown away by Corpse Bride. Oh well.
At least the cast is stellar and there are some nice visuals to enjoy. I especially like that little bit at the end. I think you will too.