What happens when Christmas and Halloween collide? Is the ensuing product more jolly or scary, or is it a perfect blend of both? In this very special edition of Fright Fest we take a look back at a childhood favorite of mine: Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas.
First thing's first: it's time to give credit where credit is due. While Tim Burton has his name plastered on the title of this film, he did not direct it. He was the one of the producers and writers (he is creditied with story and characters), so he was definitely involved with this film but the great Henry Selick directed it, so just as much credit for this films success should go to him as well. Selick has gone on to prove that he's got the shine when it comes to stop-motion animation, directing other fantastic films in this category including Coraline, Monkeybone, and James and The Giant Peach all of which share a certain darkness that elevates them beyond your typical kiddie fare (in fact, Monkeybone is a legitimate film for adults. Certainly not meant for kids).
The story of Nightmare Before Christmas is that of Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon and Danny Elfman), the king of Halloween Town. He excels at making Halloween scary and fun, but has lately grown tired of doing the same old thing over and over and over again. When he inadvertently stumbles into Christmas Land, he immediately falls in love with the jolly holiday and decides that this year he's going to take over Christmas and re-shape it into his own well-meaning but still warped vision. Naturally, things go very wrong and it's up to Jack and rag doll Sally (Catherine O'Hara) to rescue Santa (Edward Ivory) from the evil clutches of Oogie Boogie (Ken Page).
The film is done with stop-motion animation, one of my absolute favorite art forms, and the effects sampled here are still superb and impressive today. The whole film has a beautiful, dark and twisted look to it and the citizens of Halloween Town are creepy creations that are still very much lovable. The settings found within the film are also extremely memorable (such as the pumpkin patch, Oogie's lair, Jack's house, and Christmas Land).
Jack Skellington is the misguided hero of the story, and he is still one of the best screen characters today. He is voiced by the great Chris Sarandon, with Danny Elfman taking over for vocals. Both do a phenomenal job here, and if you didn't know the singing and speaking voices for Jack were done by different people, I'd dare say that you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. They both blend together surprisingly well. The other super notable character here is that of Oogie Boogie as voiced and sung by Ken Page. Oogie is one of the great screen villains, although he isn't in the film a whole lot. While he is certainly quite evil, he is still a very fun character. Sally is also pretty memorable and is performed with ease by Catharine O'Hara.
I always used to find The Nightmare Before Christmas a bit weird, but now that I'm older and have re-watched it I find that I love the film even more than I used to. The stop-motion animation and character design are superb, the songs are fantastic, the story is unique, and I LOVE the ideas the filmmakers had for what a combination of the Halloween and Christmas holidays would be like. The film is creepy, jolly fun. I'm surprised to say that this film actually gets better the older you are. Even today, I can still say that I haven't seen another film quite like Nightmare Before Christmas (although Burton has tried to replicate the look and feel of this film many times with only middling results, Corpse Bride anyone?)
In an age where we consistently get the same old thing over and over again, it's not hard to feel like Jack Skellington does at the beginning of this film. Luckily, Nightmare Before Christmas remains as one of the more unique and different films you can sample today which is one of the reasons why it is still such a breath of fresh air today. It's not a Halloween film and it's not a Christmas film, it's actually both. If anything, I would say the best time to watch this little beauty is a few days-weeks after Halloween has ended but before Thanksgiving has begun. It's been 20 years since Nightmare Before Christmas was first released, but even today it hasn't aged one bit. It's just as magical and unique as it ever was, thank God.
5 STARS
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