A beloved Johnny Depp movie from more than two decades ago is getting another (well deserved) moment in the spotlight, just in time for Halloween.
Corpse Bride, the 2005 stop-motion fantasy starring Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, is currently charting among Netflix’s most-watched movies worldwide, according to FlixPatrol’s Oct. 15 rankings. The movie has also earned a spot among Netflix’s Top 10 Kids Movies.
The timing isn’t exactly surprising. Corpse Bride has long been an easy choice for October movie marathons, combining Tim Burton’s unmistakable gothic style with a surprisingly sweet story about love, death, and an unexpected marriage.
And 21 years after its debut, the movie’s reputation hasn’t faded.
Johnny Depp Voices One of Tim Burton’s Most Memorable Characters
Depp voices Victor Van Dort, a nervous young man who is preparing to marry Victoria Everglot (Emily Watson).
During a rehearsal for the wedding, Victor accidentally finds himself married to Emily (Bonham Carter), a mysterious corpse bride who emerges from the underworld believing that Victor has made a genuine marriage proposal.
Victor is eventually pulled into the world of the dead, leaving Victoria behind in the land of the living.
The movie’s premise gives Burton plenty of room to build the strange, macabre world that has become synonymous with his work. It also reunites Depp and Bonham Carter, who appeared together in several Burton projects throughout their careers.
The voice cast also includes Christopher Lee, Albert Finney, Richard E. Grant, Joanna Lumley and Michael Gough.
‘Corpse Bride’ Is One of Tim Burton’s Best Movies
Corpse Bride wasn’t just a Halloween-friendly movie when it arrived in theaters in 2005. It has also held up remarkably well with critics.
Rotten Tomatoes currently gives the film an 85% critics score and a 77% audience score. The site’s ranking of Burton’s movies places Corpse Bride at No. 7, behind films including Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands and Frankenweenie.
The critical consensus describes the film as “whimsically macabre,” visually imaginative and emotionally bittersweet — a pretty good summary of why it has remained part of Burton’s enduring filmography.
Its stop-motion animation is also a major part of its appeal. Rather than relying on traditional computer animation, Burton and co-director Mike Johnson created a deliberately handmade-looking world filled with skeletal characters, gloomy landscapes and elaborate sets.
That aesthetic has helped Corpse Bride remain distinctive even as animation has changed considerably since the movie’s release.
‘Corpse Bride’ Is a Perfect Tim Burton Movie for Halloween
There’s arguably no better time of year to revisit Corpse Bride than October. It is, after all, one of the director’s best Halloween movies.
It isn’t necessarily Burton’s scariest movie, but that’s part of what makes it work for a Halloween watch. Corpse Bride has ghosts, skeletons, and an entire underworld, but it also has romance, humor, music, whimsy, and an emotional story underneath all the gothic imagery.
