Comments on: Does Corpse Bride have a happy ending?

By: Jordan P.

Jordan P. — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:20:57 +0000

I think Victor and Victoria should have been married, then Emily and Bonejangles, the singing skeleton, should have gotten together… Not a Happy Ending….

By: Ra'anan

Ra'anan — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 19:43:44 +0000

Corpse Bride was going nicely until the very end when she turned into blue butterflies under a bluish moon. She’d waited her whole life & death for a husband, but instead she dissolved into butterflies! That was about as upsetting as Spielberg’s ending to Kubrick’s dark and cold (and unfinished) A.I. (Artificial Intelligence). That haunting pain of a deep, BASIC, unfulfilled desire deeply disturbed my sensibilities. Now, what happens when the mortal Victor dies? Will he be reunited w/the corpse bride? My goodness, I cried for the CORPSE BRIDE, she never got MARRIED! I couldn’t believe it was ending like that! She never fully experienced love! Are couples allowed in purgatory, but not heaven???? If man & wife are two parts of the same soul, then WHAT happened to those people who never wed? Are they alone for eternity? Somehow, laughing it up at the purgatory bar is not a very good compensation for love. What about a young woman who NEVER even fell in love, was always alone and dies that way? My GOODNESS, why can’t you have a HAPPY ENDING FOR THE KIDS (& ME, TOO!!!)??? Instead of giving people angst, why not a deep, warm (non-Kubrick) inside? Why couldn’t WARM, LOVING light absorb the non-bride “bride?” I give you permission to freely use my ideas to remake Corpse Bride in happy ending way (just make sure she gets married this time)!

By: Anthony Burns

Anthony Burns — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 14:55:04 +0000

Would also like to agree with some of the above posters, that a happier ending (i.e. one that somehow contrived to pair off both Emily and Victoria) would have been unsatisfyingly convenient. I suppose if the Johnny Depp character had been a bit more like Captain Jack Sparrow he could have had a brief fling with both ladies and then run off to sea, but I’m not sure that would have been any happier (and it certainly would not have made the censors happy). The ending as it stands has two great virtues: 1) It is true to the original folktale. 2) It is open to interpretation / religious preference (Emily might have gone to heaven, been reincarnated, or just had her life force returned to nature, however you prefer it).

By: Anthony Burns

Anthony Burns — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 14:50:03 +0000

I like the idea of “A kind of goofy Purgatory”. And I note that within the inexact cosmology of the film we also get some notion of Heaven (Emily’s transformation) and Hell (At any rate, it doesn’t look as though Barkis is in for a very merry afterlife). Strange with all of those concepts that many fundamentalist Christians still gave it a negative press. And you’d think they’d have appreciated the ending more than most (Emily’s willing sacrifice being the ultimate gesture of her love, and so forth). However, if “The Passion of the Christ” is a good example of what happens when you try to make a film to please the fundamentalists, it’s probably best to leave well alone…

By: aijia

aijia — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 03:19:01 +0000

the bride does have a happy ending….. emily stutters saying he vows, and stops victor from drinking the posion. emily points to victoria who runs to hug victor. after victor fightin barkus, barkus drinks the posion. he dies and the bride says “you set me free.” and hands vicor the wedding ring. she runs up to the door\winndow. she tosses the boke’ and is caught by a woman. the maggot leers her, and terrified, she tosses it to victor. the bride smiles and bursts into moths and butterflie to the moon, dessending to a long-awaited heaven.

By: Madison P. Smith

Madison P. Smith — Sun, 28 May 2006 13:45:25 +0000

I have been waiting a life time for a movie like this to come along. In my opinion, I think the corpse bride(Emily)sertainly does have a happy ending. The reason why I think this is because she let Victor Vandort go to his true love,Victoria Everglot. Now how does this give her a happy ending? Well, first of all she was set free by Victor and that was what she wanted in the first place.So, she set him "free" by leting him go to his first true love. So they each got a fair trade and also, it feels very good on the soul when you make someone else feel better. Now that is what I call a happy ending! Also, this movie gave me a sorrow feeling on the inside because the corpse bride had to come out of the picture, but it also gave me a warm feeling because Victor and Victoria were together at last! So basicly, my feelings were mixed. And in everyone's life there is a movie that they will never stop loving and this so happens to be the one. Thankyou for this.

P.S. I thought Danny Elfman did a wonderful job on the music,and the rest of the cast and crew, well lets just say you took my breath away! I hope they keep up the good work! And if I were them,I would give the movie 4 stars! No other movie like it,

                              Madison P. Smith

By: Madison P. Smith

Madison P. Smith — Sat, 27 May 2006 23:09:06 +0000

I have been waiting a life time for a movie like this to come along. In my opinion, I certainly think that the corpse bride(Emily) does have a happy ending. The reason why I think this is because, she wanted to marry Victor Vandort, but then, it turns out she dosen’t marry him. BUT,when she saw Victoria Everglot, she relized that Victor and Victoria love each other so she set Victor “free” out of her reach. Now how does this give her a happy ending? Well, see, she let Victor have his one true, first love and she was set free by Victor, so they each got exactly what they were looking for in the first place. Plus, it also feels good when someone else is happy and so that makes you feel good on the inside. Now that is what I call a happy ending! By the way, I think Victor and Victoria make a good couple! Also, to tell you the truth, at the end my body kind of cried inside and shed tears of happiness because Victor and Victoria finally are together, and sadness because the corpse bride has to come out of the picture,but not completely, because she is really still there! But I felt also good about that part because because she gets what she wants:to be set free! And like always, their is a movie you can never stop liking till the day you die, and for me,this so happens to be the one. I love this movie, it makes me cry, Thankyou for this gift that I shall never forget. P.S. Danny Elfman did a fantastic job on the music, and the rest of the cast and crew, well lets just say you to were breath taking! Keep up the good work, and if it were me, I would give this movie 4 stars!- Madison P. Smith

By: Ricardo

Ricardo — Fri, 19 May 2006 08:37:59 +0000

I think it would had been nice show to children that they can resolve their problems in other ways than they're used to, and also that love is a very complicated thing and one can fall in love very quickly and not just with one person, in our western civilization we have a lot of tabus about it, it's time to show children love is a complicated thing and it's different for each person and case, and more importantly one should not keep silence and do nothing if you can resolve things in a way where everybody is happy even if it it's not "normal".

Do not think I didn't like the ending, it was very original and emotional, but I would have liked, for the first time, an ending where everybody is happy even against what it's normal in our society, teaching tolerance and the complexity of love.

Also, what happens at the end with the corpse bride doesn't seem what she needed or something good, I looks like she just dissapeared, ceasing her existence while she could have been eternally happy with Victor ( and Victoria if you agree ), but if John says even they don't know about what exactly happens to her or the alterlife in the universe of the movie, my opinions are just vague ideas.

P.D. Since you ( John ) said that Victoria's marriage to Barkis, and victoria stoping Victor from drinking the Wine of Ages, are late adittions to the story, It would be very nice to know what was going to be the ending of the movie before those adittions.

Thank you for this great movie.

By: Gertrude

Gertrude — Wed, 03 May 2006 06:55:52 +0000

I liked how the Corpse Bride dissolved into butterflies in the end. I loved how she evolves as a character through her own decisions and not because someone landed them on her. I couldn’t come at the music in the movie though! There are heaps of great kids movies where spiders don’t sing!

By: esteban

esteban — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 17:42:44 +0000

I thought it was another opportunity in one of Burtons films where the character should have gone with both (like in Planet of the Apes) Why settle for one? He could have had the best of both worlds. And in the end its never realy all that important who the guy ultimately chooses, it could just as easily be either. So when in doubt, I say choose both, I’m sure Claude Chabrol would agree.

By: Emil

Emil — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 16:07:36 +0000

I add this to my last comment. And that The Corpse Bride does not go away from every one. I cind of cried inside when she did. :P