Bonus Points: DVD Reviews
Not-Quite-White Wedding
Tuesday, January 31, 2006; 12:00 AM
"Tim Burton's Corpse Bride" (Rated PG; List Price: $28.98)
Release Date: Jan. 31
Family entertainment has not always been synonymous with the dark and quirky work of filmmaker Tim Burton. But that may be changing.
  Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter provide voices for the two main characters in "Tim Burton's Corpse Bride," now available on DVD. (AP)
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After directing last year's entertaining "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," Burton delivered again just two months later with the release of "Corpse Bride," a macabre but sweet-hearted stop-motion animated fairy tale. While much of "Chocolate Factory" was bright colors and candy swirls, "Corpse Bride" is dominated by midnight blues and dancing skeletons. Though the movie's look and themes may frighten very young viewers, most will find this story of a young man's accidental betrothal to a rather "stiff" bride a refreshing change from the usual digitally animated, pop culture-riffing cartoons that pass for acceptable family fare. (Yes, "Chicken Little," I'm looking at you.)
It's too bad, then, that this DVD isn't filled with more engaging bonus features. The extras are dominated by short featurettes -- about Burton, the voice talent (which includes Johnny Depp, Emily Watson and Helena Bonham Carter) and Danny Elfman's music -- that play like standard, dull, promotional material. A couple of the supplemental segments, thankfully, reveal some details about the painstaking process of stop-motion animation but not nearly enough to satisfy. This is particularly disappointing given the spirited and informative extras that came with "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."
The movie may be about a corpse bride. But its features certainly deserved more life.
Best Bonus Points: You can skip almost every extra here, but take a few minutes to check out "The Animators: The Breath of Life" and "Making Puppets Tick." The latter shows the intricacy involved in creating the "Corpse Bride" puppets, whose tiny facial expressions are modified thanks to interior mechanisms and help from human hands. Look ma, no computers!
Also New on DVD This Week: "In Her Shoes."
