The Nightmare before Christmas
Tim Burton creates another
fantastical world of dark imagery and isolated characters, and
douses this world of the macabre within a wonderfully upbeat and
original musical menagerie by Danny Elfman. This Academy
Award-nominated stop-motion film is geared towards children, but
could thoroughly be enjoyed by adults with youthful &
darkened imaginations as well. This film annually visits the
inside of my VCR, and should be dubbed as one of the most
original and classic Halloween stories ever told.
PLOT:
Jack Skellington, is the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town. Every
year, he demonstrates his delicious capacity to deliver scares
and frights to the entire town's grotesque population, but this
year, he has run bored with his annual routine. He sets out to
find something different, and does in the town of Christmas. The
lights, the joy, the happiness of this town burn the dimmed light
within Jack's head, and lead him to attempt a Christmas parade of
his own in Halloween Town. The consequences of this blending of
the holidays leads to various misinterpretations, excitement,
harmonies and hilarity.
CRITIQUE:
Wonderfully dark and moody children's Halloween tale that gently
stirs all of the required elements of humour, musical charisma,
children's imagination and amazing special effects in a
successful simmering pot of entertainment. This film is filled
with many wonderful images and sounds from the wildly imaginative
mind of Tim Burton, the man behind the original BATMAN (8/10) and
EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (8.5/10). The story is as original as any one
that I've ever seen for Halloween, and moves along at an excited
pace through its short running time of only 76 minutes.
The special effects are stunningly coordinated and surpass any
Disney animated films that I have ever seen. After a few minutes
of staring at these characters in awing disbelief, I completely
fell under their spell and in love with the personas. The musical
numbers are easy to understand and hummingly addictive (The album
was nominated for a Grammy for Best Musical Album for Children),
while the dark and moody atmosphere created in Halloween Town
(Dali and Gaudi would be proud!), is equated only by the cheery
and charming ambience of Christmas Town.
There are elements of other Halloween tales intertwined in this
masterpiece, along with a little GRINCH WHO STOLE CHRISTMAS, but
overall, this story is truly original, and gave me a truer
appreciation of both seasons involved. Of course, Halloween has
always been my favourite holiday of the year by a long shot, but
don't let that bias sway your vote. This film should capture
anyone's dormant imagination, with its wild visuals, upbeat
musical renditions, sharp and exact imagery, and creative story.
See this one with your kids, if you have any...if you don't, rent
some for the weekend, it's worth it!
Little Known Facts about this film and its stars: Tim Burton
began drawing at an early age, going on to attend the California
Institute of the Arts, studying animation after being awarded a
fellowship from Disney, for whom he went on to work. Some of his
trademarks include films with a Gothic feel to them, plots that
often focus around a misunderstood outcast, the frequent use of
composer Danny Elfman, the featuring of dead or dismembered dogs,
and the fact that he often likes to open his films with a quiet
nighttime snowfall. Music composer Danny Elfman has been involved
with most of Tim Burton's directorial projects (except ED WOOD
(6.5/10). He also provides the singing voice for Jack Skellington
in this movie. Furthermore, Danny is the uncle-in-law of TV's
"Dharma & Greg" star Jenna Elfman. His mom is
Blossom Elfman, an author of children's books. He is also a
member of the music band Oingo Boingo (nowadays known simply as
Boingo), and wrote the score for 1994's BLACK BEAUTY for his two
daughters from a collapsed marriage. Danny's brother Richard
Elfman directed the cult-classic sci-fi musical FORBIDDEN ZONE.
Danny Elfman played Satan in that very film. Director Henry
Selick followed this effort with another stop-action feature
titled JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH, which was also produced by Tim
Burton.
Review Date: October 24, 1998
Director: Henry Selick
Writer: Caroline Thompson (based on a story and characters by
Tim Burton)
Producers: Tim Burton and Denise DiNovi
Actors: Danny Elfman as Jack Skellingston (singing voice) and
Barrel (voice)
Chris Sarandon as Jack Skellingston (speaking voice)
Catherine O'Hara as Sally and Shock (voice)
William Hickey as Dr Finklestein (voice)
Paul Reubens as Lock (voice)
Genre: Comedy/Musical
Year of Release: 1993
Movie Reviews by Berge Garabedian