Another Burton Masterpiece

I am a huge fan of Tim Burton, and with award winning classics like Edward Scissor-Hands and Nightmare Before Christmas to his acclaim, it's no wonder that he is such a popular artist. His unique talent for transforming the macabre into a lovable and timelessly classic motion picture is profound. So naturally, when I heard that he was doing a new motion picture along the lines of his infamous Nightmare Before Christmas, I was all ears.

I went to see The Corpse Bride the first day it came out, with high expectations, and I wasn't disappointed. Burton, being one of the very few artists that still uses, and in fact brought back to popularity the Rudolph-esk animation style known as "claymation", not only does it justice to the highest accord, but breaks the mold with his amazing special effects and fluidity.

The movie itself is set in about the early 1900's possibly early, and starts out in a small town, with a rousing musical number called "According to Plan", which is sung by the mother's and father's of a young man and woman who are arranged to be married, but whom have never met. The young man, coming from a mid-level of wealth, the woman coming from a wealthy family, that, incidentally, has gone broke and needs the marriage to solidify an income. The young couple, Victor and Victoria, meet for the first time and instantly fall in love, but Victor gets cold feet at the rehearsal and runs off into the woods. While there, practicing his vows, he accidentally ends up marrying a corpse, Emily (The Corpse Bride). Emily drags him down into the underworld, where he gets an enthusiastic welcome from the dead, and an explanation of his situation, and how the Corpse bride came to be. The story takes some amazingly entertaining, funny and even depressing turns to come to a truly inspiring and touching end.

Tim Burton has truly outdone himself with the beautifully macabre story of true love.