# Nightmare Before Christmas, The (1993)

### reviewed by
Berge Garabedian

    THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
    RATING:  8.5 / 10 --> Really great movie

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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:         1993Visit JoBlo's Movie Emporium
    http://surf.to/joblo(c) 1998 Berge Garabedian

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