[MOVIE REVIEW] Corpse Bride (2005)

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Title: Corpse Bride

Starring:  Johnny Depp, Emily Watson, Helena Bonham Carter, Tracey Ullman and Christopher Lee

Genre: Horror / Fantasy / Halloween / Romance

Company:  Warner Bros and Laika Entertainment

Directed by: Tim Burton

Year: 2005

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: Rated PG – For Some Scary Images and Action, and Brief Mild Language

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Best Buy  //  Blu-Ray.com

When a young man named Victor Van Dort is engaged to a young woman named Victoria Everglot (Victor, Victoria, get it?) due to Victor's family, the Van Dorts wanting to get Victor to marry Victoria because they want to be in high society; while Victoria's parents, the Everglots, want Victoria to marry Victor in order to get more money from the Van Dorts, Victor ends up messing up his wedding rehearsals to Victoria and ends up going into the woods to practice his wedding vows.  Unfortunately, Victor accidentally places his wedding ring on a bony finger that was embedded in the ground and he ends up being engaged to Emily, the Corpse Bride.  Meanwhile, in the living world, a sly and diabolical gentlemen named Lord Barkis Bittern wants to take Victoria's hand in marriage in case Victor does not come back to the living world.  

Can Victor get back to the world of the living and who will he choose: Victoria or Emily?

I have been watching many of Tim Burton's animated films and "Corpse Bride" happens to be one of his most ingenious works yet!  I loved the fact that this movie was based off an ancient folktale about a man accidentally marrying a corpse as I love reading about folktales in general and this movie definitely has the ancient folktale feel to it.  I also enjoyed seeing the two different worlds between the living world and the world of the dead as they contrast each other in a very unique way.  In this case, the world of the living is seen as a dreary black and white world while the world of the dead is shown in a loud and colorful manner, which is surprising since you would expect to see the world of the dead as a dreary place while the world of the living is a colorful place.  I also enjoyed the relationship shared between Victor and Emily, even though Victor at first didn't want to be in the world of the dead.  Even though the idea of even communicating with a talking corpse is horrifying at best, this film managed to make the interactions between Emily and Victor be as charming as can be and I was able to really enjoy their innocent bantering with each other!  I really loved the way that each voice actor portrayed the characters as they made them come to life, especially with the performance of Johnny Depp as Victor as he made Victor sound timid yet friendly at the same time.  I really loved Helena Bonham Carter's performance as Emily the Corpse Bride as she was probably the most interesting character in the entire movie and I loved the way that Emily is so innocent and yet can be pretty frightening when she wants to be!

The only issue I had with this film was that I felt that the songs in this movie were not as memorable as "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and they didn't really get me to feel so much for the characters' situations since they weren't catchy or emotional enough.  I also wished that the movie actually explored the characters a bit more like explain how Victoria's family got into financial troubles in the first place and what was Lord Barkis Bittern like as a character before he is introduced into this film.

Overall, "Corpse Bride" is a great film for anyone who is a huge fan of Tim Burton's dark comedy films and who loves watching films starring dead characters in general!

 

[MOVIE REVIEW] James and the Giant Peach (1996)

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Title: James and the Giant Peach

Starring:  Paul Terry, Susan Sarandon, Jane Leeves, and Richard Dreyfuss

Genre: Fantasy / Family / Friendship / Insects

Company:   Walt Disney Pictures

Directed by: Henry Selick

Year: 1996

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: Rated PG - For Some Frightening Images.

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Best Buy  //  Blu-Ray.com

When a young boy named James loses his parents to a rampaging rhinoceros (who takes the form of a thunder cloud) and he is forced to live with his cruel aunts, Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge, James dreams of going to America to live a better life.  However, later on James meets a strange old man who gives him a bag of "crocodile tongues" and he tells James that there is magic in those tongues.  James takes the tongues, but accidentally drops the tongue near a peach tree, which causes one of the peaches on the tree to grow into gigantic proportions.  Later that day, while Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge used the giant peach to make a fortune, James goes inside the peach and discovers a group of bugs who have also grown in gigantic sizes. James and the bugs then decided to head over to New York City to get a better life for themselves, while avoiding various dangers along the way.

Now, I was practically introduced to "James and the Giant Peach" through Roald Dahl's original book and I instantly fell in love with this story!  So, I was definitely excited to see Roald Dahl's classic novel come to life in animation and I must say that I practically enjoyed this bizarre yet creative version of the classic children's story.  I absolutely loved all of the characters, with my favorite characters being Miss Spider and the Centipede.  I loved Miss Spider because she was quite an unusual character as she is considered frightening by the other bugs due to her literally eating other bugs, but I loved the fact that she cares so much for James and was willing to help him out no matter how horrifying the situation is.  The Centipede was a truly fun character as he might be a little rude and annoying to the other bugs, but I loved his courageous nature and the fact that he is also willing to help James out of his situation.  The voice acting was fantastic, especially Susan Sarandon as the quiet and serious Miss Spider and Richard Dreyfuss as the fun loving Centipede, as they fit the characters extremely well and they bring so much life to the characters.  The story was truly creative, especially about the idea of a group of friends (giant insects in this case) coming together inside a giant peach and traveling around the world with it!  I found that idea to be a bit strange yet creative at the same time and even though I have an intense fear of bugs, I definitely would have loved to be friends with giant bugs!

The major problem I had with this movie was that there seemed to be so many plot holes within this film that there were times that I did not understand what was going on in this film. Like for example, how did Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker drive their car through the ocean and how can a mechanical shark appear out of nowhere in the ocean?

Overall, "James and the Giant Peach" is definitely one treat that fans of Roald Dahl's works and fans of surreal animation should definitely check out!

 

[MOVIE REVIEW] The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

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Title: The Nightmare Before Christmas

Starring:  Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara, Glenn Shadix, Ken Page

Genre: Horror / Fantasy / Halloween / Romance

Company:  Touchstone Pictures

Directed by: Henry Selick

Year: 1993

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: Rated PG - For Some Scary Images

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Best Buy  //  Blu-Ray.com

Every Halloween, Jack the Pumpkin King, would go out and scare many people with his frightening theatrics.  Unfortunately, Jack has grown tired of doing the same routine every year and wanted to do something different.  It was then that Jack accidentally ended up in Christmas Town and he was so awed and amazed at the Christmas visuals and the figure of Santa Claus (who he mistakenly calls "Sandy Claws"), that he decided that he should take over Christmas for the year!  This then leads to Santa Claus being kidnapped by Oogie Boogie and Christmas nearly put into disaster!

Can Jack fix all of this before it's too late?

Seriously, this is probably my most favorite film made by Tim Burton (well technically, it was produced by Tim Burton and the poem was written by him, but Henry Selick directed the film).  I just loved the cute yet nightmarish visuals in this movie as they gave the movie a creative vibe and I really loved seeing the different kinds of characters that pop up in Halloween Town, with my favorite creatures being the Clown with the Tearaway Face and the Vampires!  I also loved the characters themselves as they were all interesting and amusing to look at.  Probably my most favorite character in this entire movie was none other than Jack Skellington himself as he was a truly charming and charismatic character!  I just loved the way that Jack went about trying something different for a change and it was cute seeing him lit up with enthusiasm as he tried to become the new Santa Claus.  I also loved the character of Sally the Rag Doll as she truly cares about Jack and would do anything to prevent Jack from ruining Christmas!  The visuals were amazing as all the characters look truly nightmarish (especially the werewolf and the witches) and yet, their personalities are so likable that you cannot help but actually care for these characters.  Probably the best part of this movie were the songs themselves as they truly capture the true essence of this film, with my favorite songs being "What's This?" "This is Halloween" and "Sally's Song."

The only problem with this film is that the reason why this movie was rated PG was because of the scary imagery.  So, there may be some images, like the various monsters that show up in this film, that might scare smaller children for the most part.  Also, there is not enough back stories with any of these characters to really get to know their true motives and their existence, so some people might be a bit confused about where some of the motives of the characters came from, like in the case of Oogie Boogie where we don't know much about his character other than he despises Jack Skellington.

Overall, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is a fantastic animated film that you can see either during Christmas or Halloween ( a two in one deal, how cool is that)?  and it will forever be remembered as a classic film that Tim Burton and stop motion fans will love for many years!

 

[MOVIE REVIEW] Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night (1987)

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Title: Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night

Starring:  Edward Asner,  James Earl Jones, Don Knotts, and Scott Grimes

Genre: Horror / Fantasy / Fairy Tale /  Remake 

Company:  Filmation Associates

Directed by: Hal Sutherland

Year: 1987

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: Rated G

Buy on:  N/A

This movie is basically a sequel to the original “Pinocchio” and the movie starts off with Gepetto giving Pinocchio a jewel box to take to the Mayor. As Pinocchio goes to town to deliver the jewel box, he meets up with Igor and Scalawag, two con artists who eventually convince Pinocchio to give them the jewel box, which ends up getting Pinocchio into trouble with Gepetto.  Pinocchio was so upset about disappointing his father that he decided to run away and get the jewel box back.  It was then that Pinocchio ended up getting into all kinds of strange and frightening situations such as meeting the frightening Puppetino at the circus and eventually meeting up with the Emperor of the Night!

Now, when I heard that Filmation was making a sequel to the famous Italian classic "Pinocchio," I was quite surprised and satisfied with the results!  I loved the fact that there was a sequel to "Pinocchio" to begin with since I did wonder what Pinocchio's adventures would be like after he was transformed into a real boy and we managed to get one in this movie!  I honestly like the dark and edgy feel of this film as it really grabbed my interest and some scenes (like the infamous puppet transformation scene) had really stayed with me ever since I was little!  The voice acting was fantastic in this film as all the voice actors really gave everything they got for this film.  Probably my favorite voice acting was from James Earl Jones as the Emperor of the Night as he made the character extremely scary and mysterious and I was really interested in the character!  The animation is surprisingly better than what we usually get with Filmation as the characters move much fluidly and the action sequences were quite well done!

The only problem with this film was that it seemed like the plot was a rehash of the original Pinocchio story as we still get a storyline about Pinocchio trying to figure out what is right and wrong, having a conscience who would guide him and having two con artists scam him and get him into more trouble.  The only thing that was actually different in this story was the Emperor of the Night as he proved to be scarier than the previous villains in "Pinocchio."

Overall, "Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night" is a great film for anyone who is a huge fan of Filmation's works and who wants to see how the story of "Pinocchio" would continue.