The Nightmare Before Christmas

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Starring Chris Sarandon, Danny Elfman, Catherine O'Hara, William Hickey

Directed by Henry Selick

The Story:
There is a different world for every holiday, and the citizens of Halloween Town are finishing their preparations for their big Halloween night.  The Pumpkin King, Jack Skellington (voiced by Chris Sarandon, singing voice by Danny Elfman) is always the leader of the night, but lately he's been feeling rather bored by the repetitiveness of the holiday.

Then in the woods he finds different doors to different holidays, and ends up in Christmas Town, and is enamored with how joyful and uplifting it is.  He returns to Halloween Town in hopes of bringing Christmas there, but the townspeople don't seem to grasp the concept.  So he sets out to kidnap Santa (Ed Ivory) and bring Christmas to Halloween Town, as well as take Santa's place in Christmas Town.

The Synopsis:
A film far before it's time, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is not your typical animated movie.  It was created by stop-action animation, where every character and setting is painstakingly created into a three dimensional format (instead of the standard two dimensional drawn animations), and animators have to meticulously move each character in a way that looks realistic, even if it's in a fantasy world.  It's easily the toughest form of film to make, as it took over three years to make a 76 minute film, using over 100 people who had to use up to twelve stop-motion moves for one second of film.  The result is a glorious, unmeasured, endearing holiday film that - although not for the youngest of children - is still a cherished family classic.  It was even nominated for an Oscar for Best Visual Effects (one of the first animated films ever to receive it), but lost to "Jurassic Park," which is still debatable whether or not the best film won.

It's been a common misconception that the film was directed by the great Tim Burton, but that's actually not the case.  While he did conceive of the idea (while working for Disney Animation as well as seeing a merchandise display in a store being changed from Halloween to Christmas), he was too involved in "Batman Returns" to direct it.  He passed the directing baton to Henry Selick, who is a master of the stop-motion artform (he also directed another mistakenly labeled Tim Burton film, "Coraline").  The vision was entirely from Burton's own unique mind, and the result is a visual masterpiece that stimulates the imagination as well as provides an entertaining journey through Christmas and Halloween in a way very few people would ever think of.

The animations are beautifully rendered and created, with Halloween Town having hues of grey and black, the characters all looking deformed and malicious (although they're all rather harmless), and having their homes appear as crumbling decayed ruins or a warped version of classic horror Gothic styling.  Christmas Town, on the other hand, is a land of pure white snow, festive decorative lights, laughing normal children, and warm fires and loving families.  The differences are striking and add to the beautiful motif of both worlds.

Jack Skellington is, for all intents and purposes, a monster.  He is a pure skeleton with no eyes, looms high above pretty much everyone in town, and contorts his face into grotesque ways.  Yet, his heart is pure and he is an endearing character, and he's created in a way that showcases a youthful naivety when it comes to Christmas.  His intentions are pure: he wants to spread the joy and happiness he felt in Christmas Town to the people of Halloween Town, but he just can't seem to get his point across.  So he plans to control Christmas by kidnapping Santa Claus and taking on his role, having his Halloween Town people make presents for the children of Christmas Town and spread the joy to all.  Of course, his plans go irrevocably wrong and mayhem ensues, but at least he explored the idea with pure intentions.  Chris Sarandon voices Jack when he speaks, and frequent Burton collaborator Danny Elfman voices him when he sings, and Elfman also wrote the ten songs for the film.

Besides the main story, there's a humorous side story involving Sally (voiced by "Home Alone" mother Catherine O'Hara), a Frankenstein Monster-like creature who keeps trying to poison her mad scientist creator (played gleefully by William Hickey).  Sally has a crush on Jack, and when Jack tells her his plan, she's against it because she had a premonition it wouldn't work out.  It's a fun love story between two very unappealing characters, but it works well because both are so pure in heart in an impure world.

The songs used in the film are downright contagious, and it's no wonder due to Danny Elfman's iconic songwriting abilities (even receiving a nomination at the Golden Globes for Best Original Score, losing out to "Heaven & Earth").  They're catchy and exciting, fun and funny.  My particular favorites are "This is Halloween" and "What's This," but all the songs are truly enjoyable, and serves as a vocal beauty to the visual beauty we behold for 76 minutes.

On top of its timeless nature (surprisingly, the film is twenty-four years old!), there's the time-honored debate of whether or not "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is actually a Halloween film or a Christmas film.  While there's staunch supporters on each side (more staunch than most Republicans or Democrats), I take the neutral approach and say it's the perfect movie for both holidays (which so happen to be my two favorite holidays).  You can pick a side if you wish, as long as you allow yourself to enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime masterpiece.

The Summary:
One of the most endearing aspects of film is being able to be teleported to another world.  "The Nightmare Before Christmas" not only takes is to a different world, but two worlds, and both are visual masterpieces with a touching story and catchy musical numbers.

The Score: A+