In honor of Halloween, I took my son to see a 3D showing of the 1993 holiday classic The Nightmare Before Christmas. This film is the definition of Tim Burton. It brings the creepy and the kooky to almost a cuteness like. The songs are catchy and fun and filled with horror and humor for all ages. The film has Christmas magic. For those who hold Christmas in their hearts year round. And the film has Halloween mayhem for those that have a year round dark side.
The music will sound very similar to most Tim Burton films. As it was composed by none other than the ever whimsically thrilling Danny Elfman. Elfman brought us scores for Tim Burton fan favorites including Edward Scissorhands, Corpse Bride, Alice in Wonderland, Batman, and Sleepy Hollow. He has also done the scores for the first Mission: Impossible film, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, the Fifty Shades trilogy, and other noteworthy titles. (COMMENT: Yes, I consider the Fifty Shades trilogy noteworthy…if anything for the soundtracks, but that’s for another review). Elfman brings a creepy, mysterious, yet whimsical vibe to his music. It’s almost as though through music, he’s suggesting cautious fun.
The cast includes some Burton favorites namely Catherine O’Hara, Paul Reubens, Chris Sarandon, and William Hickey (COMMENT: Uncle Lewis from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation). Tim Burton, Danny Elfman, and familiar actors. Don’t count those tallies up and say “just another one of his films just yet. The twist to all of this is Tim Burton wrote the story and produced the film. However he did not direct. (COMMENT: Whoa!! Wait a minute! The most well-known Tim Burton film was not directed by him?! Is this some Mandella Effect stuff?!) The director was the master of stop motion capture animation, Henry Selick. Selick should be known for Nightmare, but he’s more known for films he did after this one such as James and the Giant Peach, and Coraline.
But Tim Burton’s story is about the king of Halloweentown who feels as though there’s something missing. Then one Halloween night, upon a midnight stroll he stumbles across Christmastown. He’s immediately enamored with the idea of Christmas…the joy it brings, the warmth of emotion during a cold season, and every little detail of the decorations and traditions. He then decides to give Santa the year off for Christmas, and allow Halloweentown to deliver Christmas to the world. So the Halloween hijinks invade the Christmas spirit.
The cute and morbid characters of both Halloweentown and Christmastown are relatable personalities to literally everybody. The children of Halloweentown are little monsters (COMMENT: No. Not Fred Savage and Howie Mandell.) There’s mummies, black lagoon creatures, vampires, werewolves, witches, deformed carnies, etc. The children of Christmastown are elves. (COMMENT: If you consider that a spoiler, you need your head examined.) The children of both towns are innocent, loving, and don’t have a mean bone in their bodies. The adults of both places are bringing their young up in wholesome ways in accordance with their cultures. It’s family friendly all around.
As I said before, Henry Selik is the master of stop motion animation. Particularly from the 90s. And this is no different, to be honest, when everybody thinks stop motion animation, this is usually the film that everybody thinks of. Stop motion animation is the concept of taking still objects, and changing their positions ever so slightly and taking still pictures every time. Think of this concept as one giant flipbook! (COMMENT: for the Gen Z’ers that read this, a flipbook was something we millennials and older learned to make in art class in like 1st grade.) So when you think about how long it takes to film something that is about an hour and 20 minutes long, in any given day you can probably only get about 2 minutes of actual filming done. And that is if you’re not interrupted.
Perfectly executed animation, fantastic music score, original story, brilliantly executed script. Take this and add in the mayhem of Halloween and the magic of Christmas, you have the perfect film for everyone to enjoy. I urge everybody to give it a shot, if they have not already. And I urge everybody who’s already a fan of this film to watch it again. And then when you’re done with Halloween, watch it again. Because we’ve got Christmas coming up. That is my positively unapologetic take on the 1993 classic, The Nightmare Before Christmas.