Corpse Bride (2005) 4K Review | Road Rash Reviews

5 star restoration of a classic Tim Burton film.

Corpse Bride is a 2005 stop motion dark fantasy animation from the fertile (and mildly terrifying) mind of Tim Burton (Big Eyes, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street).

Celebrating the 20^th Anniversary of the stop-motion-animated fantasy musical film Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, the 2005 film will be available for purchase on 4K UHD, 4K & Blu-ray Steelbook, 4K & Blu-ray Collector’s Edition, and Digital for the first time on September 22nd 2025.

“Marriage is a partnership, a little tit for tat, you’d think a lifetime watching us, might have taught her that.”

Victor Van Dort (Johnny Depp – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) is a nervous young man whose fish merchant parents Nell (Tracey Ullman – Bullets Over Broadway, Into the Woods) and William (Paul Whitehouse – Mortdecai, The Death of Stalin) have arranged for him to marry. His bride-to-be is Victoria Everglot (Gosford Park, Red Dragon), daughter of Lord Finis (Albert Finney – Big Fish, Scrooge) and Lady Maudeline (Joanna Lumley – Paddington 2, The Wolf of Wall Street). Although they own a large mansion, they are in fact destitute and both sets of parents mistakenly believe that the marriage will solve their money problems.

Victor and Victoria meet for the first time at the wedding rehearsal, which is something of a disaster, as Victor cannot get his vows right. It is also crashed by the mysterious and slightly sinister Lord Barkis (Richard E. Grant – Withnail and I, The Spine of Night) whose motives are unknown. Pastor Galswells (Christopher Lee – Season of the Witch, The Wicker Man) sends Victor on his way with strict instructions to practice his vows.

He heads into the woods to do just that and picks entirely the wrong time and place to nail them, as when he finishes and places the ring on what he thinks is a tree root, a corpse in full bridal attire rises out of the ground and says “I do”. He faints and awakens in the underworld, a place with more colour, music and song than the land of the living, to find he now has a Corpse Bride (Helena Bonham Carter – Fight Club, The King’s Speech). Can he find a way out of this predicament in time for his wedding to Victoria?

“I’ve got a dwarf and I’m not afraid to use him. I want some questions, now!”

The Corpse Bride is a brilliant film, Tim Burton at his finest. Based on a traditional 17th Century Jewish folktale, it is both haunting and uplifting in equal measure. It is a gothic comedy of errors, which boasts an incredible cast of voice actors who do a great job of bringing these unfortunate characters to life. It’s laugh out loud funny in places thanks to it’s sharp and witty script.

There are some very well written little dittys and memorable songs and a great score from Danny Elfman (Men In Black, The Nightmare Before Christmas) as well as an excellent story, engaging right to the very end. It looks glorious in 4K and with tons of special features, some of them new, this release is well worth adding to your collection.

“Isn’t the view beautiful. It takes my breath away. Well, it would if I had any.”