Arranged to marry, Victoria (Emily Watson,) the daughter a penniless aristocrat and Victor (Johnny Depp) the son of a wealthy merchant are both nervous of their circumstance. When the wedding rehearsal is a disaster, Victor flees to the woods in order to practice his vows. He mistakenly concludes his vows placing the ring on the finger of the Corpse Bride, Emily (Helena Bonham Carter) becoming cursed to marry her and join her in the land of the dead. In his absence, Black Widower and Gold-Digger Lord Barkus (Richard E. Grant) makes a pass at Victoria and Victor must find a way around the curse in order to return to wed Victoria.
In typical Tim Burton fashion, this witty musical is chock-full of twisted humor and appropriate dark themes. The characters are well written and the story and themes are quite touching. The story is a touching romantic fling full of potent meaning about how marriage should be, being who you're supposed to be and loving the right person and finding true love.
Emily's heartbreak after her brutal murder by her former lover is well handled as is Victor's intended sacrifice as he's accepted his fate. And Emily also sacrifices her happiness with Victor in order to secure his happiness. And this speaks to what marriage is: sacrifice. And this one has it in spades.
And it's also very cute, I find.
***
In; Helena Bonham Carter
Out: Danny Elfman
Coming Soon: Nightmare Before Christmas
No comments:
Post a Comment