Corpse Bride

Wow. When The Nightmare Before Christmas is the "normal" cousin, that's one weird family. Both that work of genius and this film bear a familial resemblance, though the younger relative is not quite the achiever that the elder cousin is. This one has a lot of the same visual inventiveness, the same mix of jokes and drama, and is mostly entertaining throughout. The only real problems here are a certain unevenness in the musical numbers; with this outing soundtrack master Danny Elfman tries to broaden the range of song styles, which only creates a certain choppiness rather than a smooth, unified score. Mostly, that's a quibble; there's more than enough good stuff here to make this flick a fun time.

The Tale of Despereaux

A beautifully made movie, with plenty of visual and directorial artistry. It seems to diverge quite a bit from the book--it's been forever since I read the original--but in this case that may not be a bad thing. Like all animation today, this one suffers from "familiar voice syndrome," but not as much as other animated movies. (There's no Chris Rock doing a jive-turkey routine here.) And there's enough quirky, individualistic charm to overcome any flaws. All in all, a satisfying viewing experience.