The colorless land of the living has just become paved with a bright red carpet and is illuminated by Oscar gold for director Tim Burton.

Naturally, that's because the film genius' stop-motion opus, "Corpse Bride," is one of this year's Academy Award nominees for Best Animated Feature. And while Burton plans on attending the ceremony March 5, he regrets to inform that the film's stars, Victor Van Dort and the Corpse Bride, won't have a seat at the ceremony.

"No puppets allowed -- only pawns," Burton told me, laughing, during a recent @ The Movies interview.

It's only appropriate that Burton treat his puppet stars like royalty. After all, he is clearly humbled by the recognition of the Academy after toiling 10 years on the project. And holding steadfast with what some consider as a dying art form in the burgeoning age of computer-animated films is not an easy thing to do.

So, when you consider that a film like "Corpse Bride" was literally put together frame-by-frame, it's no wonder that he's excited for his co-director, Mike Johnson, and team of stop-motion animators for getting the nomination, and hopes the nomination inspires more artists to get into the field.

"That's why it took so long between 'Nightmare' and this film -- finding the right group of people and getting the right group of animators together," Burton said. "A lot of the people that did stop-motion went off into the computer field. They're getting more and more rare, so it was really nice that there was some recognition of this type of medium because it throws it a lifeline a little bit and makes it more possible for a few more stop-motion projects."

Featuring the voices of Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, "Corpse Bride" is a macabre romance in which a nervous groom, Victor (Depp), gets caught up in a love triangle between his bride-to-be (Emily Watson) and a Corpse Bride (Bonham), who lives in the netherworld. The film's narrative bounces back and forth between two worlds, Burton-style: the black and white and dull "Land of the Living," and the vividly colorful and fun "Land of the Dead."

The interesting thing about "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is that it wasn't a hit out of the gate. But not being a runaway hit right away with audiences was hardly a curse for Burton . In fact, the film's eventual classic status was the blessing that essentially made "Corpse Bride" an easier sell.

"The thing about both this and 'Nightmare' was that they weren't large-budgeted films to begin with, so that always makes it a bit easier to get done," Burton explained. "'Nightmare' was semi-well received when it came out. It did OK, but is a movie that has gotten more of a life as it has gone on.

"So, what really wasn't necessarily a major success sort of had the perception of being successful a few years later, which I think made it a little easier for 'Corpse Bride.' It did have an impact -- and I'll take what I can get," Burton added with a laugh.

Burton is often described by moviegoers and critics as "quirky," and given the exteriors of his characters, there's no arguing that -- given the look of, for example, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood or most recently, Willy Wonka.

But while their looks are unique, he's not indifferent to what his characters, and ultimately, all human beings , feel inside: the feeling of isolation and loneliness, the longing for acceptance and in the case of "Corpse Bride," the yearning for love. It's just that the difference in "Corpse Bride," the love in question comes from a character that's alive and another that's dead.

Essentially, "Corpse Bride" epitomizes why Burton's films are so unique: Its atmosphere is fantastical in nature, yet doesn't feel the need to be rifling off eye-popping effects every waking second to keep our attention. The great thing is, it still does entertain and it also has the ability to hit us on an emotional level.

"One of the things that we felt that we wanted to do different than most animated films was to give it a different pace -- a slightly slower pace and try to make it more romantic -- and give as much real feeling of emotional weight as we could in the characters," Burton told me. "That was a goal we had and I think the stop-motion medium supports that as we tried to make it a bit more emotional."

As a huge admirer of animated films, I told Burton that I'm always looking for the defining character attribute that brings each character to life. In the case of "Corpse Bride," it was no doubt the character's eyes -- "the windows to the soul" -- because you really do get the feeling that they have souls.

"It's incredible that these characters are taking these inanimate object and breathing life into them," Burton enthused. "It's like Pinocchio or Frankenstein in that way, what they're able to do. With these puppets, one of the things that we kept doing was putting in close-ups like you would in a regular movie. We tried to have some shots with characters just looking at one another. It's something you don't think about doing for an animated film, it's more for a live-action one."

Then again, having the eyes being the windows to the soul did prove to be challenging for some of the characters in "Corpse Bride," being that they were skeletons with empty eye-sockets.

"That was the hardest sell on 'Nightmare,' trying to convince people that your lead animated character doesn't have any eyes at all," Burton mused.

The character, of course, was Jack Skellington, which Burton's longtime composer, Danny Elfman, provided the singing voice for. At least with "Corpse Bride," Elfman's skeletal song and danceman, Bonejangles, had one eye to play with.

"We had to give him a little bit of character, so we gave him one eye that he could pass back and forth," Burton quipped.

The wonderful thing about Burton's work is that, in addition to Elfman, he's created a solid company of players that we've come to depend on as viewers to always fulfill the filmmaker's unique visions.

Chief among them is Depp, who teams with Burton for the fifth time with "Corpse Bride." He previously teamed with the director on "Edward Scissorhands," "Ed Wood," "Sleepy Hollow" and just a couple months prior to "Corpse Bride," "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

"I really do enjoy working with him and in this case for me I was really lucky because there was some cross-over. Johnny would be doing Willy Wonka during the day and walk over (to the studio at night) and do 'Corpse Bride,'" Burton said.

Depp's value clearly comes from his desire to be an actor rather than a celebrity. His turn as Victor wasn't about having them recognize that it was Johnny Depp's voice; it was more about disappearing into the character.

"He always does disappear -- that's the thing about him. I felt so lucky with this cast," Burton said, humbly. "Really, when I read the names of the cast in 'Corpse Bride,' I'd go, 'I just can't believe it,' because they're all such great people and voices. Everybody, Johnny included, just came in and just hit it. It was really great."

That also includes Burton's longtime girlfriend, Helena Bonham Carter, who makes her fourth appearance as one of his troupe members with "Corpse Bride," following "Planet of the Apes," "Big Fish" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

Burton maintains it wasn't hard to ask the woman he loves if she'd like to play a dead, decaying corpse.

"She likes all of that (macabre stuff)," Burton said. "Plus, what's great for actors (on animated films), is that you don't have to go into makeup and wardrobe for hours, you just go in and perform. I think it's nice for some of them, not having to get all made up and stuff."

"Corpse Bride" also marks the return of such stalwarts as Albert Finney, who starred in "Big Fish," and Michael Gough, who starred as Alfred in Burton's two "Batman" films as well as "Sleepy Hollow." Also back in the fold is Christopher Lee, who starred in "Sleepy Hollow" and had a pivotal role in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

But for Burton, getting people like Lee is not only about getting great actors that he knows can nail the parts in his films, it's about working with the actors that he's so deeply respected for years on end.

"He's incredible -- Christopher is like a walking encyclopedia," Burton beamed. "He's just such an amazing man. For me, I was just lucky to have me these people that have had such a major impact on me. Watching Christopher Lee and Vincent Price and all these other people, and then being able to meet them and work with them a little bit is just incredible."

In fact, Burton credits the part of the root of his passion behind "Corpse Bride" to "Vincent," his classic stop-motion animated short that he did 24 years ago -- a few years before his career as a feature filmmaker took off.

"That was a dream for me because for me, because, I wrote this thing and sent it to him and had no idea how he was going to respond," Burton fondly recalled.

"There was a certain amount of risk involved when you're contacting somebody whose had a great impact on you, because A, if they don't return your call and B, if maybe they're not a nice person," Burton said with a chuckle. "But he was so supportive and really helped in getting it made. When he said 'Yes,' that sealed it."

Appropriately, it was another film icon that made the experience of "Corpse Bride" the other bookend of sorts, for Burton -- Ray Harryhausen, the legendary stop-motion creator of such classics as "Jason and the Argonauts," "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad" and "Clash of the Titans." Burton, in fact, paid tribute to the filmmaker by branding Victor's piano a "Harryhausen."

"He came and visited the set, and in fact, Johnny and Helena and I went over to his house and met him," Burton said. "He's incredible. I'm just sad that he hasn't done more work since 'Clash of the Titans.' The guy is still an amazing artist."

With the recognition of the stop-motion genre this year at the Oscars, it will be interesting to see who grasps onto that lifeline that Burton described. But if the next generation of the Burton family gives any indication, it appears the future of the art form is in, well, good hands.

"I have a 2-year-old, and it's interesting to see what they watch," Burton observed. "You have to sit there and watch the stuff you wouldn't ordinarily watch with children's programming. It goes into the categories of computer stuff and some old stop-motion things. There's a difference between them, and he does seem to gravitate more towards the stop-motion because I think it feels more weirdly real somehow. On a crude level, it's interesting how he gravitates towards these things."

Sounds a lot like the boy fascinated with stop-motion, who grew up anticipating the Rankin-Bass television classic "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" every year.

"It's hard to describe to anybody, but the fact is, there's something very strong and primal about it," Burton said. "If you are a fan of it, it kind of stays with you forever."