After 20 years, Johnny Depp’s most underrated film was remembered again (but in Russia they have been crazy about it for a long time)

Twenty years after its release, the animated film Corpse Bride, directed by Tim Burton, is back in the spotlight. According to the FlixPatrol service, the film entered the top ten most viewed films on the HBO Max platform in mid-October 2025. The unexpected return of the 2005 film confirms that the story of dark romance and plasticine heroes still remains close to viewers years later. In Russia, however, the film was loved long ago: on Kinopoisk it scores a very high 7.9 out of 10.

Several reasons are given for this surge of interest in old film. Firstly, Johnny Depp, who voiced the main character, is again actively discussed in the public space – this was made possible by his high-profile divorce and lawsuits with Amber Heard. Secondly, the cartoon recalls the unique method of creation, where each frame is made by hand and the technique of stop-motion animation is contrasted with modern mass production technologies.

Stop-motion animation technology requires a huge investment of time and effort: the movement of each figure is recorded twenty-four times for every second of the film.

So it takes several years to make a full-length film, and filming requires entire teams to produce parts and sets for each scene.

The speed and cost-effectiveness of computer graphics have displaced this approach, making modern projects of this scale rare.

Burton and Depp’s work is not limited to this cartoon: they have many memorable thematic films behind them. They began their collaboration with Edward Scissorhands, where Depp had the opportunity to showcase himself in a new capacity to a wide audience. Then there was “Ed Wood”, “Sleepy Hollow”, the stylized horror musical “Swinney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street”, as well as the colorful “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and some other films.

Depp himself once shared his impressions of his family’s reception of Corpse Bride, highlighting the film’s impact on children.

“It was a wonderful experience. Lily-Rose was ready for this and really loved the cartoon. And my three-year-old son usually cannot sit still for a long time, but while he watched, he sat on my lap, was completely immersed in what was happening, laughed, repeated the phrases of the characters and admired the music,” the actor recalled.

The stop-motion technique, personally chosen by Burton, became iconic for Corpse Bride: the director combined art direction with deep attention to animation details. This approach became the hallmark of an entire period in the history of animated film and subsequently influenced the rise of its own cult researchers.

For those who want to get acquainted with other works of this creative couple, here are the results of the box office receipts and reviews of some films:

• “Ed Wood” – $5.8 million
• “Corpse Bride” – $117 million
• “Edward Scissorhands” – $86 million
• “Alice in Wonderland” – $1.02 billion
• Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of Fleet Street – $153 million
• Sleepy Hollow – $206 million
• “Alice Through the Looking Glass” – $299 million
• “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” – $474 million
• “Dark Shadows” – $245 million

Today, as modern technologies take up more and more space in filmmaking, interest in ‘handmade’ animation and Tim Burton’s recognizable style is causing old works to regain popularity. At a time when viewers are surrounded by sharp digital images, watching such projects brings with it a special admiration for the craftsmanship and attention to detail.