Corpse Bride
Corpse Bride (also known as Tim Burton's Corpse Bride) is a 2005 British-American stop-motion animated musical dark comedy film directed by Mike Johnson and Tim Burton with a screenplay by John August, Caroline Thompson and Pamela Pettler based on characters created by Burton and Carlos Grangel. The plot is set in a fictional Victorian era village in Europe. Johnny Depp leads the cast as the voice of Victor, while Helena Bonham Carter voices Emily, the titular bride. "Corpse Bride" is the third stop-motion feature film produced by Burton and the first directed by him (the previous two films, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "James and the Giant Peach", were directed by Henry Selick). This is also the first stop-motion feature from Burton that was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was dedicated to executive producer Joe Ranft, who died in a car accident during production.
Corpse Bride
Andrew Sarris of "The New York Observer" gave the film a negative review, saying ""Corpse Bride" turns out to be a ponderous mixture of puppetry and animation that is far too technologically complex and laborious for this hopelessly Luddite reviewer." Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars, calling it "A sweet and visually lovely tale of love lost." Roger Moore of the "Orlando Sentinel" gave the film four out of five stars, saying "The sweetness, the visual flourishes and inspired pieces of casting carry the "Corpse Bride", if not all the way down the primrose path, then at least across the threshold." Robert K. Elder of the "Chicago Tribune" gave the film three and a half stars out of four, saying "If "Nightmare Before Christmas" was a jazzy pop number, "Corpse Bride" is a waltz--an elegant, deadly funny bit of macabre matrimony." Kenneth Turan of the "Los Angeles Times" gave the film two out of five stars, saying "The film does have a fairy-tale aspect, but, like many of its characters, it is more dead and buried than fully alive." Claudia Puig of "USA Today" gave the film three and a half stars out of four, saying ""Corpse Bride" is an unexpectedly touching celebration of love told in a quirky and inventive style." Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" gave the film three and a half stars out of five, saying "In the guise of a family film, Burton evokes a darkly erotic obsession that recalls Edgar Allan Poe and Hitchcock's Vertigo. It would be a test for any filmmaker, and Burton aces it."