Corpse Bride

2005 Comedy

Tim Burton returns to the dark but fanciful animated style of The Nightmare Before Christmas with this stop-motion black comedy. Victor (voice of Johnny Depp) lives in a small European village in the 19th century, where he is pledged to marry Victoria (voice of Emily Watson), a partnership arranged by their parents. The two only meet the day before their scheduled nuptials, and Victor performs disastrously in the wedding rehearsal. Later that evening, while he is walking through the woods and hopelessly practicing his vows, he puts Victoria's wedding band on what looks like a branch. Victor quickly discovers this was a big mistake; as it happens, he has put the ring on the skeletal finger of the enchanted Corpse Bride (voice of Helena Bonham Carter), who then whisks him off to a dark and mysterious netherworld where they are now married. Victor is frightened in the land of the dead, and even realizes that he has fallen in love with his true fiancée, Victoria, so he searches for a way back to his own world. Directed by Tim Burton in collaboration with animator Mike Johnson, Corpse Bride features a stellar voice cast, including Albert Finney, Christopher Lee, Richard E. Grant, Joanna Lumley, and Danny Elfman (who also composed the film's musical score). more..

Director: Tim Burton

Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Emily Watson, Tracey Ullman, Christopher Lee

Reviews

  • This stop-action animated feature is downright sweet and tender, as well as all the other things we've come to expect from him -- funny, bizarre, graphically stunning and blithely necrophilic.

    Joe Morgenstern - The Wall Street Journal

    19 January 2013

  • It's warped and wonderfully effervescent. Ditto the songs by Danny Elfman, who sings the role of Bonejangles, the frontman for a skeleton jazz band at a swinging underworld club. Best of all is the love story.

    Peter Travers - Rolling Stone

    19 January 2013

  • Features the season's most tragic heroine along with some of the liveliest dead people ever seen on film.

    Claudia Puig - USA Today

    19 January 2013

  • Burton, who directed the film with animator Mike Johnson, has rarely been in brisker, friskier form.

    Wesley Morris - The Boston Globe

    19 January 2013

  • There is something heartening about Mr. Burton's love for bones and rot here, if only because it suggests, despite some recent evidence, that he is not yet ready to abandon his own dark kingdom.

    Manohla Dargis - The New York Times

    19 January 2013

Awards

  • Best Animated Feature Film of the Year

    Academy Awards (2006)

     
  • Best Animated Film

    Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (2006)

  • Annie Awards (2006)

  • Best Foreign Film, Not in the Spanish Language (Mejor Película Extranjera)

    Argentinean Film Critics Association Awards (2006)

     
  • Best Feature for "Corpse Bride"

    British Animation Awards (2006)