Dark World of Tim Burton-Corpse Bride
Its been a long time since i did my last feature on Tim Burton, and so am back again. This time looking at the other Tim Burton animated featue, Corpse Bride. I had already reviewed Burton’s animated feature The Nightmare Before Christmas before. Both Nightmare and Corpse Bride, were stop motion animation flicks but Corpse Bride, used still cameras for the first time in a stop motion animation flick. I would be discussing the technique later.
The Plot
Based on an old 19th century, Jewish Russian folktale, Corpse Bride is set in Victorian era England. Victor Van Dort( voice of Johnny Depp), is a shy, nervous young man, whose parents Nell( Tracey Ullman) and William( Paul Whitehouse) are nouveau rich fishmongers. Victor’s marriage is arranged with Victoria Everglot( Emily Watson), daughter of Maudeline and Finnis Everglot( Albert Finney), an aristocratic British family, who are now bankrupt. Victor and Victoria meet and fall in love, but unfortunately on the wedding day, Victor forgets to recite his wedding vows. As a consequence he is exiled by Pastor Galswells( Christopher Lee), till he can memorize his vows.
Wandering in the woods, Victor keeps practicing, till he is able to get his vows right, and finding a tree stump that looks like a human hand, he places his wedding ring on it. However as soon as he places it, the hand comes to life and grabs him, and from the frozen earth, the “Corpse Bride” Emily ( Helena Bonham Carter) emerges. Emily is an spirit in a wedding dress, that has gone moldy, and she declares Victor to be her husband. Victor tries to flee, but is grabbed and taken to the underworld, the Land of the Dead. Victor learns that Emily was a jilted lover, who was killed while eloping with her love, and she has been waiting ever since for her true love. Victor however insists on going back to Victoria, and pretends to take Emily to Land of Living, to introduce her to his parents.
In the Land of Living however, Victor ditches Emily, and reunites with Victoria. Emily however discovers it, and again spirits Victor back to The Land of the Dead. The rest of the movie is about basically whether Victor and Victoria are reunited, and what happens to Emily.
The Animation
Like his earlier animated feature The Nightmare Before Christmas, Burton here also uses the stop motion animation technique. But the first lies in the fact that Burton used still cameras here, rather than the commonly used Mitchell film cameras. For Corpse Bride, Burton made use of Canon EOD-1D Mark II, a digital single lens reflex camera. In many other aspects Corpse Bride was a breakthrough in animated features. It was the first to use Apple’s Final Cut Pro for doing the editing and the color mixing. And most importantly here what Burton did was using a gear and paddle technique inside the heads of the puppets for controlling their motion, their expressions. Check the link below to get a really good idea of how Burton and team managed to come out with it.
One of the movies most complex imagery comes in the way Burton distinguishes between the Living and the Dead. Burton in a way satirizes the Victorian era England as a dark gloomy world, and he uses a pretty dull color tone for it. In sharp contrast the Land of the Dead is shown as more lively, more colorful. In a way this was a satire against the puritanical codes of Victorian England, and the Land of the Dead was more depicting the Bohemian other.
Also the characters of Victoria’s parents are shown as aristocratic and corrupt, and even the suitor they later find for her, is a wealthy womanizer.
The Corpse Bride is taken from Jewish folklore, and in fact is a reference to the anti Jewish pogroms in Russia, where women on their way to the weddings where killed. As per folklore, the bride who is alive, would take an oath, that she honor the memory of the dead bride, a throwback to the traditional Jewish tradition of honoring the dead through the living.
As in most of his other movies, Burton uses fantasy here, to deliver a message against the hypocrisy of the Victorian era puritanism. The Corpse Bride works not just because of it’s animation techniques, but also for the way Burton fleshes out his characters.
We emphathize with the nervous Victor, wanting to be with his beloved Victoria. But at the same time, we feel sorry for Emily’s plight. One of the best scenes in the movie, is where Emily plays on the piano, and Victor for the first time, feels his love for her. Also the moments between Victor and Victoria are wonderfully crafted with sensitivity and tenderness. Johnny Depp doing his first animated voice over, beautifully captures the character of Victor, while Helena Bonham Carter is as usual excellent as Emily. To those wanting to watch the movie, i would suggest the DVD version which also shows the shooting and production. It is a must for any one aspiring to make a career in animation.
Tags: Albert Finney, Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Depp, Stop Motion, tim burton- Share this Blog! »
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I liked “Corpse Bride” but I’ve got more of a soft corner for Burton’s debut…which was another animation film “Vincent”…..it’s a little gem of a movie, but much lesser known… perhaps because it’s a short film…
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=ASHP-vgnjAw
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Adi, i actually wrote on both Vincent and Nightmare Before Christmas, in my earlier post. Vincent was Burton’s first animated feature, and a homage to his idol Vincent Price who was also the narrator for this.
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Hey folks what a coincidence! I had the chance to see this wonderful film today on HBO just after i read this article.
If you miss it today you can catch it again on Sunday the 28th of DEC(at 12.30 PM) again and also a programme on its making on the same channel at 6.30 AM of 28/12/08 for Indian viewers.
http://www.hbosouthasia.com/southasia/print_schedule_thismonth
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