Corpse Bride Review
Greetings once again to all who read this.
Well, I promised movie reviews when I saw a movie, and this weekend I saw Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride with Jesse and Jack. I was not nearly as excited about seeing this as I am about next month’s Wallace and Gromit, but still, I was looking forward to it. I liked The Nightmare Before Christmas.
This was not as good as Nightmare. That movie was great mainly because of the outlandish ideas it presented, and the way it made you care about Jack Skellington. He wanted to be good, but just didn’t know how. There was a tragedy to it. Here Tim Burton tries to do the same thing with Emily, the corpse bride, but fails, in my opinion.
This movie begins wonderfully, and keeps it up for some time. Then there is a point about two-thirds or three-quarters through where it really starts to fall apart. I can’t tell you what happens without giving too much away, but it has to do with a decision Victor makes. You’ll probably know what I’m talking about when you see it. The writers really paint themselves into a corner, and I remember thinking “there’s no way they can resolve this story well”, and I was right. The end of the movie is very unsatisfying. I’m trying to think of something to compare this to… Imagine if at the very end of Return of the King the producers just couldn’t stand to have Gollum die, so they fabricated an ending where Gollum and Frodo become great friends and go on to use the ring and bring everlasting peace and prosperity to Middle-earth, and Sam marries Eowyn and Elrond opens a Krispy Kreme with Gandalf. And the epic-sounding music builds and everyone acts as if this is the end they were building to all along. That’s how the end of this film felt. Like something tacked on to quickly resolve everything and make everyone “happy”, while not actually resolving any of the problems brought up throughout the film. Then they try to make it all seem so noble and meaningful, while I’m just sitting there with a big “huh?” in my head.
Well, there you have my review. Whether you agree or disagree, I’d love to read any comments you have, my dear reader. Am I being too hard on the movie? Did I miss something that really made the ending make sense? Let’s have those comments!
Gotta get to work now, stay tuned here for more thrills to come!
-Tim
posted by Tim @ 10:44 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Personally, I think you're being far too hard on the film. For one, it does the best job I can think of in a long time of wrapping up a film cohesively in less than 90 minutes. . . and it doesn't even feel like it's that short. The story is meaty enough, the characters weighty enough, and the surroundings exciting enough that ever last millisecond of that film count for something.
As for the ending, I have to totally disagree with you and say that I loved it. It was a perfectly poetic ending and I honestly would've been a bit peeved had it ended in further drudgery into any of the character's lives. The characters had accomplished their goals by that point and it was the perfect moment for a resolution, which Tim Burton realized. None of that "Let's stick around and see what the characters do next" nonsense that we so often see in films these days. Instead, Burton lets us fill in the story from there and just really wrap ourselves up in the heart of the whole tale.
As for the "decision" Victor makes, I honestly didn't bat an eye when it happened. It made sense for the character because of how insecure he was and how he'd finally come to the realization that it was pointless resisting the inevitable and made a tough decision to abandon his former plans and bond with another, regardless of the consequences (besides, by that point they were both starting to actually get along quite well).
Thus, Victor's decision made sense at the time he made it, the ending was bittersweet and poetic as only Tim Burton would have had it and didn't add any extraneous nonsense on the end that we didn't need. Definitely the first --what I would consider-- "perfect" film of the year. And this is coming from someone who adored Episode III. Sorry, Lucas, but Burton just did a better job. :)
-Josh
johnny depp was WIERD
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