Burton-esque

I just got home from watching Tim Burton's Corpse Bride and I have to say that I enjoyed it. I didn't enjoy it as much as I did The Nightmare Before Christmas, nor was it as charming a movie, but it moves along nicely and has a good dollop of Burton's trademark humour and gothic flair - enough to keep me interested, anyway. I was also amused by how many Burton alumni were involved with the film, from screenwriter John August to most of the voice cast. Kudos should be given to Burton for keeping Christopher Lee in interesting roles, though. After seeing Lee in Episode III again today, it was refreshing to see him playing something other than Dooku, and his character in CB was a hoot. Great design, great vocal performance and just nicely done, overall.

While I'm still on the topic of Burton, I should probably mention that I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory a few weeks ago when I was in Calgary. We took my daughter there for an Irish dance competition and figured we'd catch a movie at the Imax while we were there since we have yet to manage one here in the wastelands of Saskatchewan (well, one that will play commercial films, anyway). Although I've heard some scathing reviews of the movie I will go out on a limb and say that I liked a lot of things about it. It wasn't a perfect movie, not even by Burtonian standards, but there was something about the quirkiness of the story and Depp's performance that kept me watching. Not all of the set pieces or gags hit the mark, but I do think the tone of the film was correct and just about anything looks astonishing in Imax so I walked away pleased by the experience but I doubt I'll be renting or buying the forthcoming DVD anytime soon.

As for the aforementioned Episode III, I promised to say something about it today so here goes:

Nice video transfer, great sound mix, not bad documentaries, mediocre audio commentary and if any of the three movies deserved or needed some of the deleted scenes added back into the film, this one was it. Unfortunately, George has, for some reason, decided to take a hands-off approach to alternate or deleted scenes, which baffles me somewhat. Both episode I and II had additional footage added so I don't understand why III didn't get any love. Still, the whole saga is now on DVD, I have it, I do enjoy it (believe it or not) and I have no regrets.


I'll catch y'all tomorrow!

mike