Corpse Bride vs. Wallace & Gromit

Battle of the claymation movies:
Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride vs. Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Ware-Rabbit
This fall two movies, which use a combination of stop motion animation, and digital photography and editing have been released. Comparing Corpse Bride and Wallace and Gromit isn’t a matter of comparing apples to oranges. Its more like trying to compare a colorful bowl of salad to a bowl of Cream of Wheat. No matter how much sugar, cinnamon, or fruit you add to it, its still as bland as it was before.
To realize this all the viewer has to is look at the characters and their environment. While Wallace and Gromit live in a town where they are well respected members of society, due to the success of their Anti-Pesto security company which uses humane methods to capture troublesome rabbits.
In the movie Corpse Bride, Victor resides in a city that is a sharp contrast to the world of the cheese loving inventor and his dog. Its drab and full of characters that look like they could have been in an episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, which, was a popular British TV show during the 1970s, and was known for it creative animation sequences.

The plots in both films are fairly simple. In The Curse of the Ware-Rabbit puts a new twists on the ware-wolf story when Wallace’s mind alteration machine goes crazy, and causes him to change into a vegetable devouring monster, and one the of the rabbits into him.

In Corpse Bride Victor is forced to marry a girl, but forgets his vows. So he decides to practice them while walking in the woods, and ends up being pulled down into the underworld by the Corpse Bride. The underworld is a more lively place then where he lives, but Victor longs to return to his home. It seems like in every movie, or book that involves one or more characters being transported to another time, place, etc. They just want to go home. Its all been done before.

Music plays an important role in both films. While watching Corpse Bride I hoped that some of the songs would be as funny as the songs in other Burton films such as The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. However, with the exception of one song they were more of the annoying Disney variety. Which made me wonder why Disney didn’t distribute this film.

There’s no singing in The Curse of the Ware-Rabbit, which made it more enjoyable. In the scenes where there isn’t any dialogue the music guides the viewer through them while changing at the appropriate times.

Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Ware-Rabbit clearly wins this battle with its vibrant characters, and the fact that it appeals to both children and grownups. Fans of the short films, Chicken Run, and British comedy will love it. Corpse Bride, on the other hand will probably be too scary for some young children. If you like clay animation then you should definitely check out both of these movies, and decide for yourself which one is better.

I give Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Ware-Rabbit an 8 out of 10, and Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride a 6 out of 10.

How the rating system works:
10-9=A
8-7= B
6-5= C
4-3= D
2-0= F

This year so far (scores out of 10):
Robots 8
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith 7
Cinderella Man 7
Batman Begins 8
War of the Worlds 7
Four Brothers 8