Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride 4K Collector’s Edition and Blu-ray are available in stores now from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.
Synopsis
Tim Burton presents a hair-raising legend based on a 19th-century Russian folktale, in which a young man mistakenly weds a corpse while on a two-day trek to the village of his real bride-to-be. It is up to the groom’s flesh-and-blood fiancée, who has been pining for the arrival of her intended, to face her wraith-like rival and make peace with her by promising to live her dreams for her and by vowing to remember her always. Only then are the living bride and groom free to proceed with their own wedding ceremony in the warmhearted fable Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride.
Review
Tim Burton might be synonymous with 1993’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, a merchandising juggernaut for Disney over two-decades after its release. But in 2005 the legendary auteur release the drastically underrated cult-hit stop-motion animation Corpse Bride. Now the film is celebrating its 20th birthday with a lovingly created 4K remaster and Collector’s Edition box set which die-hard fans will be ecstatic to get their hands on.
The film itself has never looked better, arriving for the first time on 4K UHD presented in its original 1:85:1 aspect ratio. The new transfer makes strong use of Warner Bros.’ dual-layer disc with a presentation that plays with a substantially higher bit-rate than its Blu-ray predecessor. The new encoding presents a significant upgrade which is visible throughout the 77 minute runtime. Fine detail has been honed and sharpened throughout, shining a spotlight on the craftsmanship of the production team. Costume detailing is much more pronounced as are smaller details in the facial expressions and hair of the already beautiful puppets.
What is abundantly clearly is how the use of colour has been improved dramatically. The film has always separated the monochrome world of the living with the more dynamic, vibrant underworld. But now the colours in both have been dialled up to impressively vivid levels. The world of the living takes on more of an inky blue hue which matches the artwork in the original poster and on the new Collector’s Edition packaging. Whilst the greens and, pinks and reds of the underworld amp up the playfulness where Tim Burton loves to explore his gothic storytelling.
The 4K re-release of the film arrives with a Dolby Atmos-TrueHD audio track which fills the room with a lively soundtrack. Whilst the film itself features a number of songs it isn’t a classic musical. Those musical moment sound their best on this new format with all the sounds of the orchestra discernible within the mix. Vocals are strongly defined in the centre of the channel as the music swell around the outside. Dialogue scenes put the emphasis on Burton’s classic dialogue whilst crowd scenes feels packed with life across all channels.
Bonus features on the new 4K release include:
- NEW! Digging Up the Past: The Minds Behind Corpse Bride (8:26) – A short piece featuring new interviews with producer Allison Abbate, screenwriter John August, and co-director Mike Johnson. The trio discuss reuniting for the first time in years and their feelings of re-watching the film. It features some anecdotal comments on production and bringing the film to audiences in 4K for the first time.
- NEW! ‘Til Death Do Us Art: A Corpse Bride Reflection (6:18) – The same trio return for another short featurette. This time diving deeper in to production on the film and its use of new technology to create a more intimate piece.
- Inside the Two Worlds of the Corpse Bride
- Making Puppets Tick
- The Animators: The Breath of Life
- The Corpse Bride Pre-Production Galleries
- Tim Burton: Dark vs. Light
- Voices from the Underworld
- The Voices Behind the Voice
The Collector’s Edition itself arrives in a beautiful package featuring new artwork which feels inspired by classic imagery from The Nightmare Before Christmas. The tough outer casing holds the film’s Steelbook edition, itself encased within a translucent plastic slip cover which reproduces the film moment from the film as the Bride transforms. In inner artwork of the Steelbook shows off the core cast of the film with another vibrant piece of new artwork befitting the film’s dynamic underworld setting.
Next to the Steelbook is a chunky card envelope which holds a treasure-trove of memorabilia from the film. The two double-sided posters are ripe for framing. It’s great to see the classic poster included alongside the new 20th anniversary poster. The real winner however is the landscape artwork featuring the film’s cast. It shows off the clash of colours between the two worlds. But on the flip side is something equally beautiful, Burton’s original sketches of all of the film’s incredible characters.
A small sticker and zine show off more of the incredible cast and Burton’s artwork. They sit neatly alongside the crown jewel of the package. The art cards. 12 of them in total with a mix of Burton’s sketch work and the film’s original storyboards. Again they’re perfect for framing and offer a neat glimpse in to the development of an underrated classic.
Verdict
Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride arrives on 4K with a stunning new presentation that excels in both picture and sound. The Collector’s Edition packaging will delight longtime fans, though it misses an opportunity for new retrospective features exploring the film’s two-decade impact on cinema.
⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
