The Nightmare Before Christmas

Movie, 1993, PG

Premise - Jack Skellington, the man of Halloweentown - the Pumpkin King! - has a life of frightening children and causing despair. But that life makes him feel even deader inside than he already is, and he can't help but feeling that he would be better suited with another identity. When he discovers the existence of Christmastown, he wants nothing more than to take over for Santa Claus and be the man of Christmas for a change!


Review - HAPPY HALLOWEEEEEN!! This is how I celebrated for the weekend. This was my first time ever seeing this movie, though of course I was familiar with the imagery and the "This is Halloween!" opening number. I have enjoyed the Tim Burton films I have seen, though I guess I never had any particular draw towards watching more. That may change after this film. I absolutely adored it. Stunningly beautiful visuals, fantastic and memorable music (Danny Elfmann, yay!), and such creative storytelling. My parents definitely would not have raised me on this film because it probably seemed too creepy, but I wish this had been a part of my childhood. It's incredible how successfully each of the characters were designed to be "Halloween-ish" but not too frightening for general audiences. It's also a mark of the talent of the animators that every character was made to be scary and undead, but you can still tell who the villains and heroes are because the villains are somehow made to be even more grotesque. Nobody is creepier than Dr. Finkelstein.

I knew it was a Halloween film, and I knew it had Christmas in the title, but I didn't realize how much of a Halloween-Christmas hybrid film this would be! It's perfect for both occasions, and definitely already has me excited for the Christmas season to come next. It's such a funny concept, a skeleton running around as a Santa Claus imposter, with undead, Frankenstein-reindeer driving his sleigh. But what's funniest is how endearing and well-intentioned Jack Skellington is. He really was just trying his absolute best to get into the Christmas spirit, and was blinded by his own optimism. Poor Jack... he tries to give children presents, and they just scream at him. I consider this to be Jack's mid-life crisis.

The romantic subplot was a bit unnecessary... and the message of the film was questionable. At the beginning of the film, it seemed to be a redemption story of how a man could turn his life around and be a good person, even if he was raised to be evil. By the end of the film, Jack realizes that he and Christmas are not meant to be, and he is taught to embrace himself as the scary Pumpkin King, using the talents he knows best. So... I guess the message of the film is "love who you are" but what if you also want to be someone better and not fall stagnant into the environment you were raised in? I do suppose there was a bit more Halloween-Christmas crossover between the two worlds at the end of the film, so Jack did manage to introduce some Christmas spirit while remaining his scary self. (92/100)

Quote - "Sandy Claws" oh my goodness. I had a cat named Sandy for about a decade. Every Christmas we would call him Sandy Claws, but I hadn't even seen this movie! I just thought it was a good cat name.

What to watch for - The visuals were absolutely stunning. It's labeled on wikipedia as a mix of stop motion and animation, so I'm not sure which parts/movements are which, but it's incredible how well the animation aged. For a movie made before I was born, I feel like it easily surpasses a lot of the animation we still see today.

If you liked this movie, I'd recommend Over the Garden Wall!

Directed by Henry Selick
Distributed by Buena Vista Pictures, though it was made by Tim Burton through Disney. Disney thought the film would be too dark for kids, but it has now been reissued as a Disney film.