Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (2005) 2 stars out of 4. Featuring the vocal talents of Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Emily Watson, Albert Finney, Joanne Lumley, Tracey Ullman, Paul Whitehouse and Christopher Lee. Music and songs by Danny Elfman. Screenplay by John August and Caroline Thompson and Pamela Pattler. Directed by Mike Johnson and Tim Burton. Rated PG. Running time: Approx.: 75 mins.

        Walt Disney and Charles Addams collide in Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, a stop-motion animated Victorian fantasy that is spooky, comedic, touching and a bit plodding.

        Burton's second foray into feature-length, stop-motion animation lacks the panache and verve of his Nightmare Before Christmas.

        Corpse Bride breaks a cardinal rule of animation — give your characters some life, even the dead ones.

        Though loaded with vocal talent — Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Emily Watson, Albert Finney, Tracey Ullman and Christopher Lee — the movie just plods at a snail's pace — which is quite a trick since the feature only runs about 75 minutes.

        Burton has created some chilly sequences, especially the one where Victor (Depp), being unable to properly recite his wedding vows at a rehearsal, flees into the forest in shame, only to betroth himself to a dead bride after accidentally placing a wedding ring on her finger while practicing his vows.

        The scenes in the Land of the Dead are moderately funny, but become repetitious as most deal with skeletons and dead people dropping body parts — it's only funny the first two or three times.

        Bonham Carter (Mrs. Burton in real life) brings a poignancy to her vocalization of the Corpse Bride.

        Hers is the best performance in the film.

        Depp stammers a lot as the shy, insecure Victor, while Watson doesn't bring much to his intended bride, Victoria.

        The main problem with the film is that Burton and his team of writers — John August, Caroline Thompson and Pamela Pettler — try too hard to cram as much as they can into the film, but merely create rudimentary characterizations for their principal players.

        They seem to want to make some profound statement about love and loss, but it gets buried in the clutter of all their so-called funny business.

        Tim Burton's Corpse Bride needed another script go-round before going into production.

        Perhaps it was because Burton was working on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the same time that he could not devote more time to this project.

        Corpse Bride is interesting and a change of pace, but it could have been better. As it is, it seems a rush job, a blueprint that needed more details added.

        Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Ind. He can be reached by e-mail at bbloom@journalandcourier.com or at bob@bloomink.com. Bloom's reviews also can be found at the Journal and Courier Web site: www.jconline.com
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