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‘Corpse Bride’ Is An Underrated Tim Burton Classic Filled With Creepy Charm And Dark Moments
The Character Designs Are The Most Tim Burton-y Possible
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Most of Burton's movies, especially his early work, all have a very distinguishable style. With lots of twisted, gothic imagery, Corpse Bride is no exception. The movie's character designs are also some of Burton's most extreme. From a very tall and sharply angled priest to the matching inverted shapes that make up the heads of Victor's parents to the contrasting thin and rotund bodies that belong to Victoria's parents, no character aside from Victor, Victoria, and Emily have bodies that resemble those of normal humans.
Some of Burton's designs go so far as to add to their role in the film, such as the town crier whose silhouette is bell-shaped. Burton even foreshadows the true character of Barkis Bittern by giving him overly long, tail-like coat tails and a hairstyle that resembles two horns.
The World Of The Living Is A Dreary, Colorless Nightmare
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Corpse Bride opens in a fictional Victorian-era town containing plenty of towering gothic buildings and an old stone bridge. It's also surrounded by a spooky, dense forest which contains a graveyard. Both the setting and its inhabitants are almost completely monotone shades of gray, cluing viewers in that this is a boring, oppressive place.
Victor and Victoria's parents sing about planning a wedding, normally a happy event, and as it becomes clear that they're both only following through due to the promise of inherited money, their environment makes sense. When Victor enters the underworld and finally finds the ability to stand up for himself, it's partly due to the more vibrant and freeing world of the afterlife. This contrast between the "boring" normal world and the more exciting world of the outcasts is one of Burton's most favorite themes, and with the ability to create an entire world from scratch thanks to animation, Corpse Bride's visuals help make his point obvious.
The Afterlife Is A Vibrant, Hopping Jazz Club
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After Victor accidentally proposes to Emily and she kisses him, he passes out and awakes in the afterlife. In stark contrast to the bland, gray world he leaves behind, the world of the departed is colorful and exciting. Victor's first experience in this new place takes place in a jazz club complete with strange and obviously deceased characters dressed in bright, vibrant colors playing peppy music. Although the idea of the afterlife as one big party is rooted in the beliefs of several cultures, and other animated films like Coco and The Book of Life depict the world of spirits in this way, the afterlife world of Corpse Bride is very Tim Burton.
In all his films, the people considered "normal" by society's standards always become the weirdos and the eccentric underdogs the heroes. Because of this, the mustached skeletons and fatally harmed corpses dancing and singing in his version of the underworld are one of the most visually Burton-esque movies he's ever created.
Believing He's Lost Victoria, Victor Agrees To Perish
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While a main character dying in a kids' movie is usually sad, in this children's movie, death is a happy alternative.
After witnessing Victoria marrying another man - albeit against her will - Victor believes he will achieve happiness from marrying Emily, the corpse bride. Unfortunately, because he's still alive, he'll have to perish to do so. For a brief moment, Emily thinks about tricking Victor into drinking the Wine of Ages, which is actually a poison. She has second thoughts, however, since she doesn't want to take advantage of Victor. To her surprise, Victor agrees to drink the stuff voluntarily and calls everyone in the afterlife together to plan their wedding.
A character finding solace in the afterlife rather than the world of the living is not a new idea for Burton; Beetlejuice's Lydia Deetze and Victor might have a lot in common.
No One Believes Victoria, And They Trap Her In Her Room Before Forcing Her To Marry Another Man
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After Victor manages to trick Emily into thinking he wants to visit his parents in the world of the living, he sneaks off to visit Victoria. Emily catches them and drags Victor back to the afterlife in the most frightening manner possible, complete with raging winds and lightning. Victoria tries to tell everyone why Victor disappeared, but her family believes her to be mentally unstable.
After being locked in her room, Victoria scales a wall from her window and runs to the church in the rain, believing the priest might help. Although he acts as if he believes her, the priest drags Victoria back to her parents, who not only lock her in her room but board up the windows and then force her to marry a man she has no interest in. If this isn't trauma-inducing, what is?
Emily's Tragic Backstory Is Relayed Through An Upbeat Musical Number
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Advancing the plot through song is not a foreign concept to many children's movies. However, most songs in kids' movies tend to be about dreams and feelings, not explaining how a main character was slain.
Fitting with the jazzy vibe of the underworld, a one-eyed skeleton sing-tells Victor this story in the most conflicting manner possible. Instead of a morose ballad or song expressing anger at Emily's assailant, Burton relays the backstory to the viewer through an upbeat dance number with skeletons as backup singers. Titled "Remains of the Day," the lyrics include lines:
Die, die we all pass away, but don't wear a frown 'caus it's really okay. You might try and hide, and you might try and pray, but we all end up the remains of the day.
The song tries to put a positive spin on death through cheery music, but hearing it in a kids' movie is still pretty creepy.
The Deceased Return To The World Of The Living And Terrorize The Town
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To celebrate Emily and Victor's wedding, the residents of the underworld travel to the world of the living. The way in which they appear, however, is downright terrifying. In a scene reminiscent of the "Day O" dinner party in Beetlejuice, Victor and Victoria's families enjoy a meal until skeletons and corpses suddenly emerge from the fireplace and drop an eyeball into Victoria's father's soup. The scene becomes chaos as the living run and cower in fear and the deceased seemingly have fun taking over the town, frightening old people and children. It's a child, however, who recognizes they aren't as scary as they seem, as one kid recognizes a soul as his relative. In fact, all the souls are someone's relative, and they share a brief moment of bonding with the living.
As pleasantly as the scene unfolds, it's horrifying at first glance. It also doesn't help that the town crier runs around screaming, "The dead walk the earth!" - something frequently yelled by characters in zombie movies.
A Peter Lorre-Like Maggot Repeatedly Pops Out Of Emily's Eye Socket
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Many children's movies feature animal sidekicks, and this film is no exception. This time, however, the featured creature companion is a little more macabre.
Fitting with her existence as a living corpse, Emily shares her head with a maggot who looks and sounds exactly like horror movie legend Peter Lorre. Like all great animated sidekicks, he exists to offer advice and deliver punchlines, all while squirming his way out of Emily's eye socket and repeatedly causing her eyeball to fall out. Toward the end of the movie, the maggot connects with a familiar member of the living, telling him, "You don't know me but I used to live in your dead mother."
Grotesque yet friendly companions like this are a hallmark of Burton's movies, so as gross a character the maggot might be in concept, he fits right in.
The Spirits Of The Underworld Retain The Physical Effects Of Their Ends
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In the movie, Burton took some of the ideas he played around with in Beetlejuice and made them more extreme. While the 1988 film featured an afterlife world filled with characters with obvious fatal wounds - such as slashed wrists, being flattened, and still hanging from a noose - Burton seemingly took advantage of animation to make these maladies even worse.
Characters have knives sticking out of their heads and huge blast holes in their chests. The act of pulling a sword out of a skeleton's chest to allow the beverage he drinks to flow out is used for comic relief. Even people being split in half is comical to Burton, as Victor encounters a man who splits in half in order to pass him on the narrow street. Even more horrifying, this character appears several times, and the same joke is made more than once.
Emily Gifts Victor The Remains Of His Childhood Dog As A Wedding Present
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Burton seems to have an interest in deceased pets, as seen in Frankenweenie and The Nightmare Before Christmas. The pet in Corpse Bride, however, is a little more horrifying.
As Victor begins coming to terms with the fact he accidentally proposed to a corpse and is now living in the underworld, he and Emily begin to bond. Emily gives him a wedding present; a nicely wrapped box which makes a rattling noise when it's shaken. Victor opens the gift to find bones and is horrified until they come to life and fly around to form Scraps, his childhood dog. Once Victor realizes Emily has given him back a precious companion, he's no longer as freaked out. Or perhaps he's just seen so much weirdness by this point that a living skeleton dog is no big deal.
Victor Recites His Vows In A Creepy Graveyard Forest Filled With Crows
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Because he is so timid and meek, Victor can't remember his wedding vows correctly. In what precedes the most arguably scariest scene of the film, he wanders out of town while practicing and walks through a forest which grows darker, more dense, and much more creepy the farther he walks.
Eventually, he comes to a gnarled tree straight out of Burton's Sleepy Hollow and places the ring on what he believes to be branch. Throughout his walk, Victor is apparently so caught up in his mind, he doesn't notice how terrifying his surroundings have become. It's dark, there are hundreds of crows staring at him, and it's full of graves and imposing trees. Then, a woman grabs his hand and crawls out of the ground to chase him. Although there's plenty of slapstick as Victor falls and runs straight into trees, sometimes, it's hard to believe this is a movie meant for children.
The Head Waiter Is The Literal Head Of A Waiter
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This film is no stranger to puns and clever jokes that may go over the heads of younger viewers. That may be a good thing in some cases, since many of the jokes are pretty macabre.
One of the most extreme examples comes when Victor regains consciousness in the jazz club of the afterlife and comes into contact with its residents for the first time. He soon meets Paul, the club's head waiter, who is literally a severed head that also happens to be a waiter. Paul speaks with a French accent to enforce the classy waiter stereotype and is able to travel around thanks to a group of bugs who carry him. Among the weirdos who hang out in the club, however, Paul is amazingly one of the least disturbing.
A Character Collapses And Is Run Over By A Carriage
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As a fishmonger and the carriage driver for Victor's family, the character of Mayhew suffers from a nasty cough throughout the first part of the movie. Eventually, whatever ailment he has causes him to suddenly drop while driving the carriage, and he falls off before being run over by the vehicle. Because he perished and then traveled to the underworld, he was able to relay to Victor the important information about Victoria marrying someone else. So, although his demise served to move the plot forward, it's pretty horrifying to watch a character keel over on screen and then hear him being crunched beneath the carriage's wheels. It's one thing to watch deceased characters singing, but another to experience their end and then see them with a blue face in the afterlife.
Of course, Corpse Bride is one of Burton's most Burton-esque films, so nothing involving death is off the table, even if it's meant for kids.
The Underworld Features A Literal Second-Hand Shop
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Corpse Bride is filled with subtle jokes, some of which may take several viewings to catch. Observant fans might have noticed Victor playing a "Harryhausen" brand piano, a tribute to Ray Harryhausen, a legend in the world of stop-motion animation. There's also references to Walt Disney's The Skeleton Dance, Rhett Butler's famous line from Gone With The Wind, and Edward Gorey's creepy Victorian style artwork, among many others. Some of the movie's jokes, however, are a little more gruesome.
As Victor first realizes he's trapped in the underworld, he tries to escape while Emily calmly walks after him. He runs through the street of the underworld, allowing viewers to see it in detail. One of the most clever yet disturbing sights Victor and the viewer experiences is the secondhand shop, which sells not gently used items but literal arms and hands that residents can presumably purchase if they'd like another limb.
