October 2025 "Movie Spotlight: The Corpse Bride" by Jackie Zamora

The movie, Corpse Bride, is about a man named Victor who is to marry a woman named Victoria because her family comes from old money. The day they meet, they think to themselves that their marriage could possibly work out since they like each other. They soon begin their wedding rehearsals. During rehearsal, Victor keeps messing up his wedding vows. The priest sends him out, telling Victor that he isn’t ready to be married.

     Victor disappointedly walks into the woods practicing his vows, and as he’s reciting his vows, he slips the ring on a branch, except the branch becomes an arm, and the ring ends up on a dead woman’s finger. The dead woman, Emily, rises from the ground, gushing and calling Victor her husband. She takes Victor to the Land of the Dead. In the time Victor spends with Emily, he learns about her murder committed by her fiancé years before. Her fiancé tricked her into running away, and then murdered her and stole the family jewels and money she had taken with her.

     Emily surprises Victor by reuniting him with Scraps, his beloved dog who passed away. After a while, Victor becomes desperate to go back to Victoria, so he tricks Emily into going back to the Land of the Living, saying that he wants her to meet his parents. Emily takes Victor to meet the ruler of the Land of the Dead, who allows for their temporary passage to the Land of the Living. Victor immediately goes to see Victoria and tells her desperately that he wants to marry her as soon as possible. Before they get the chance to kiss, Emily discovers them and drags Victor back to the Land of the Dead. She feels betrayed and hurt by him. When everyone assumes that Victor left, Victoria tries to explain his situation, but no one believes her.

     Victoria’s parents decide to force her into marrying Lord Barkis Bittern, a man assumed to be wealthy who had unexpectedly shown up to her rehearsal earlier on. After fixing things with Emily, Victor comes to find out that Victoria was to marry Barkis. Victor becomes upset, so he makes the choice to properly marry Emily. He overhears the elder tell Emily that because Victor is still alive while she’s dead, her marriage to him is nullified. He makes this choice knowing that he will have to repeat his wedding vows with her in the Land of the Living and drink a poison, so he can join Emily in death.

     The dead get ready for the ceremony and head “upstairs,” referring to the Land of the Living. The people of the town are startled by them until they realize that it's their loved ones who have passed on and become happy at the temporary reunion. The chaos makes Brakis panic, and he exposes himself, telling everyone he was poor and his intentions were only to marry Victoria for her wealth, which leads her to reject him. Victoria watches Victor and Emily’s wedding, when Victor recites his vows and readies to drink the poison, Emily stops him. She realizes she is denying Victoria a chance of living happily in love with Victor. When Emily reunites Victor and Victoria, Barkis shows up and kidnaps Victoria. Emily recognizes Barkis as her ex-fiancé who murdered her. Victor fights with Barkis to protect Victoria, and Emily steps in to save Victor’s life. Knowing that he is defeated, Barkis mockingly toasts to Emily for dying before she could get married and drinks from the poison, which makes Victoria a widow. The dead, not usually able to interfere with the living, can now take revenge on him for his crimes. Emily is now free and sets Victor free and returns his ring, allowing him to marry Victoria. She steps into the night and turns into beautiful blue butterflies that fly into the sky. Victor and Victoria watch as they hug each other, knowing Emily has found her peace.

Author’s note:

          I like this movie because I see it as an unusual romance, as well as it having that light creepy

vibe. I’ve also always liked Tim Burton’s style, so I wasn’t surprised that I loved this movie.