Corpse Heaven

Last updated on: September 16, 2005 at 12:36 pm by Peter T. Chattaway

Corpse Heaven 2005-09-16T12:36:00-07:00 Peter T. Chattaway

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Two films open today, one in wide release and the other in limited, and both concern romances between a man who is living and a woman who, um, isn’t, exactly. (In one film, she’s a ghost; in the other, a corpse.) That’s about all Just Like Heaven and Corpse Bride have in common, apart from one other thing: I like ’em both.

There is little I can say about Just Like Heaven that hasn’t already been said as well as it can be by my colleague Steve Greydanus. All I would add is that Donal Logue gets the funniest line — you’ll know it when you hear it — and I really, really like the music. I was a huge fan of the Cure’s ‘Just Like Heaven’ in my late teens and early 20s, and hearing it again — next to songs by the Cars and others — brought back happy memories. Plus I rather liked Rolfe Kent’s score, which seemed a bit John Barry-ish in places. You can listen to a short Real Audio clip of it here — the contrast between the high and low strings, the distinct use of flutes and horns, and a few of the chord changes especially come to mind (though bits of it, especially in the second half, would be a tad perky for Barry, I think). Basically, it’s a nice cream puff of a movie, overall.

Meanwhile, Corpse Bride is quite possibly the best film Tim Burton has made since Ed Wood (1994), if only because it is the least uneven. While the film is made in stop-motion animation, many of the voices are culled from recent Burton films like Charlie and Chocolate Factory (2005) and Big Fish (2003; my review), and I especially love the way Christopher Lee growls all his lines as the town’s dour, authoritarian, and corpsophobic local minister.

(The minister’s a bit of a religious stereotype, I suppose, but I can live with that. Interestingly, he is addressed as “pastor”, and never “father” or some such word, yet the church he lives in seems to be a mix of Catholic rose windows and Orthodox onion domes — which kind of fits, actually, since the film is based on a Russian fable yet all the characters speak in British accents and talk about eating “crumpets” and that sort of thing, so there’s a definite mix of east and west on that level. But for all I know, I may just be revealing how little I know about cultural architectural forms.)

I loved the homages to Ray Harryhausen, Peter Lorre, and the original Disney Silly Symphony The Skeleton Dance (1929). And I loved the scenes where Victor bonds with the women over their shared interest in the piano. (For those scenes alone, I wished my sister Michelle, who is studying music at UVic, had been in the theatre with us.) And I liked the music in general, period.

I also appreciated the story’s fable-like nature, in which Victor (Johnny Depp) and his Corpse Bride (Helena Bonham Carter) prove themselves virtuous in some way or other; Victor’s fiancée Victoria (Emily Watson) might do this too, but I can’t think of a specific example right now. Anyway, there’s a nice recurring theme of self-sacrifice, and it is also interesting to see how Victor doesn’t choose either of the women that he is attached to — his engagement to Victoria is the work of his nouveau riche parents and her bankrupt “old money” parents, and his “marriage” to the Corpse Bride is a complete accident — but Victor does choose to commit himself to each of these partners, at different points, once he accepts that he is already committed to them for reasons that had nothing originally to do with his intentions. In a way, it’s a nice illustration of the principle that we should love the one we are married to, rather than — as our post-Romantic culture would have it — that we should marry the one we have feelings for.

I am also intrigued by the film’s conclusion. Leaving aside the villain who is dealt with in a manner that skirts the line between “justice” and “revenge”, there is something about the resolution of a certain character’s arc that points in a direction the rest of the film hadn’t been necessarily going. For the most part, this film suggests that the dead are just like the living, only they reside beneath the earth instead of above it; it’s not that different from how the ancient Hebrews and Greeks imagined She’ol or Hades. But the final moments in the film are a little more, dare I say it, transcendent; they point up, instead of down, which is a good thing. Then again, they also suggest a dissolution of personality, rather than a restoration of personality to wholeness, which is not so good; perhaps this is unfair, but the sequence in question reminded me of Philip Pullman’s ‘His Dark Materials‘.

I’ll let that ambiguity be, though, at least until I see the film a second time; there is certainly enough here to make a second trip worth the effort. And I really want an audio file of Christopher Lee bellowing the words, “Young man — LEARN YOUR VOWS!”

UPDATE: I must also pay tribute to the spiders who stitch Victor’s suit, a la the mice and birds who made the dress for Cinderella (1950) way back when, and all while singing something that sounded like Gilbert & Sullivan. And I also got a kick out of the scene in which Victoria tells her parents that she saw Victor and his Corpse Bride in her bedroom, and her stern mother (Joanna Lumley), completely oblivious to the spooky implications of what Victoria has just said, replies, “There was a man in your room?”

Uncategorized

Previous Post

September 14, 2005

Newsbites: Penguins! Mormons! Passion!

Next Post

September 17, 2005 Newsbites: Potter! Manderlay! Rossellini!

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Anglican Planet Articles BC Christian News BC Report Bible Movies Bible Review Blog Books & Culture Campus Times CBC Radio Christianity Today ChristianWeek Essays Faith Today Festival Cinemas Guide Film Journals Georgia Straight Interviews MB Herald National Catholic Register Salvationist Today's Christian Two Chairs Ubyssey Uncategorized Vancouver Courier Vancouver Sun

Select a Month August 2025 April 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 May 2024 February 2024 December 2023 May 2023 March 2023 November 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 September 2019 July 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 April 2012 January 2012 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 November 2003 October 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 March 2002 January 2002 December 2001 November 2001 September 2001 August 2001 July 2001 June 2001 April 2001 March 2001 February 2001 December 2000 November 2000 October 2000 September 2000 August 2000 July 2000 June 2000 May 2000 April 2000 March 2000 January 2000 October 1999 August 1999 May 1999 April 1999 February 1999 January 1999 December 1998 November 1998 October 1998 August 1998 July 1998 June 1998 April 1998 March 1998 January 1998 November 1997 September 1997 July 1997 June 1997 April 1997 March 1997 February 1997 January 1997 December 1996 October 1996 September 1996 June 1996 March 1996 February 1996 January 1996 April 1995 November 1994 September 1994 September 1991

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

To which country was Joseph taken as a slave?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Egypt Canaan Midian Babylon