Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (DVD)

Tim Burton's Corpse Bride is a breath of fresh air in this day and age of CGI animation run rampant. In all honesty I am growing particularly tired of all this computer animation. It just doesn't seem fresh anymore, it is no longer innovative and when filmmaker's say it is what audiences want they forget one thing; it is all they are getting! Just because Toy Story made $191 million doesn't mean it is because audiences wanted to see a computer animated film. It was because it was a good movie. Last I checked people aren't willing to sit through 90 minutes of crap over and over again just because it was animated by computers.

This is where Corpse Bride comes in. This film speaks volumes for both Tim Burton and Warner Bros. Granted Warner Bros. did succumb to the CGI monster with Polar Express, but even with that they went a different route than the traditional with the motion-capture technique. While other studios are cranking out CGI-animated films that all start to look the same, WB and Burton bring to us something much more special using old school stop-motion animation and this DVD takes you into the world in the most intimate way.

First off, I liked this movie. That should be obvious after those first two paragraphs, but I feel I should say that they really got this one right. Aside from the tremendous animation in Corpse Bride, the voice cast is phenomenal. My favorite of the bunch are Emily Watson as Victoria Everglot and Albert Finney as her father Finnis Everglot. When you hear Finnis say, "There's an eye in me soup," if you don't keel over laughing there is something wrong with you. The way these two deliver their lines are fantastic. Watson's voice fits Victoria so well and goes with Johnny Depp's Victor in such a way that it is pure magic.

As for the DVD, I will say that this film was ten-times better on the big screen. The animation in this picture is so phenomenal that to see it on the silver screen is something to behold. Unfortunately for those of you that decided to wait for the DVD you won't get to experience it and will have to settle for the small screen action. While the DVD presentation is fantastic there is something to be said for seeing this one in the theater.

The special features are a mixed bag of tricks, ranging from the traditional making-of to some really cool looks at the puppetry and voice work for the film. Out of all the features there are three you should make a point to watch:

The Animators: The Breath of Life: This feature focuses on the boys bringing these characters to life and making them move. The coolest part of the feature is when they speed up the making of cams and show you how much work goes into one tiny scene.

Making Puppets Tick: This feature shows the creation of the characters of the film and what exactly makes them... well... er... "tick". From the mechanics inside the puppets' heads to the way they create wind in an inanimate object, this is one cool feature.

The Voices Behind the Voice: This feature shows the actors doing their voice work in time with a split screen look at the scene they are voicing. Might not sound cool, but it is.

Overall this is a fantastic DVD for a fantastic movie. Definitely drop a little bit of cash on this one, it is worth it.