Well, Halloween has
come and gone, once again. However, our thirst for the holiday hasn’t been
quite drained yet and filled with the spirit of Christmas yet. I mean, aside
from Thanksgiving being in between, there’s a necessary ritual that is needed
to be had when it comes to the transition from the dark and spooky to the jolly
and festive. And we all know that little transition is a film called, “The
Nightmare Before Christmas.”
Now, you might be
wondering “why am I talking about a film that practically everyone has talked
about?” Well, simply because it is a film worth talking about, if you ask me. I
mean, it’s pretty much cemented as a film classic, with the amount of praise
and exposure that rivals up there with “Frozen” and “The Lion King,” despite
not being that much of a box office juggernaut; and this film predates those
movies. Hell, I’d honestly say this was the Disney film that I watched the most
as a kid, and after revisiting it again as an adult in theaters, I wanted to
see if it still holds up. And yes, I am going to call it a Disney film, because
Touchstone is a part of Disney, so it counts. Plus, they’ve embraced the film
as one of their own, so even they’ve accepted it.
But where to start?
It all began in the early 80’s, when a young ambitious film maker by the name
of Tim Burton was working at Disney, and had written a three page poem, which
he had thought about adapting into a 30-minute tv special. However, Burton
ended up being fired, while the film rights stuck with Disney. It wasn’t until
Burton had become such a big name draw to audiences that Disney was reluctant
to give him a chance to make his project come to life. However, due to being
swamped with work on shooting “Batman Returns” and doing preproduction on “Ed
Wood,” the director’s position was given to Henry Selick, who Burton consulted
with on the idea in the past. Soon after, Danny Elfman was brought on board to
write the music, Michael McDowell was hired to flesh out the story, with Joe
Ranft as his supervisor, Carline Thompson was brought about to write the script,
and Denise Di Novi was tasked with being co-producer with Burton. After all the
work, in 1993, the world was introduced to the majesty that was “The Nightmare
Before Christmas,” the film that first comes to mind when people bring up Tim
Burton.
The plot is as
follows: Jack Skellington is the master of horror and leader of Halloween Town.
However, after doing the holiday for so many long and tedious years, he’s
become severely bored with it, and pines for something new. He comes across
Christmas Town, and overjoyed by it, tries to share it with everybody, but they
don’t understand exactly what makes it so wonderful. Of course, we all know the
scenario that unfolds, so I’ll spare you the rest.
The one aspect about Tim Burton is
that he’s developed a style and look to his films, that people can easily
identify from one single frame. It’s heavily influenced by the German
expressionist films of the early 20th century, like “The Cabinet of
Dr. Caligari,” where you have warped, twisted, and jagged scenery, something
that gives it a very otherworldly feel to it. And combined with Henry Selick’s
stop-motion skills, it further adds to that, especially with it being one of
the two key things that people remember about “Nightmare” the most. Each of the
characters and sets have a distinct and unique look to them, from an undead
jazz band in the streets, to crippled scientist with a hinged cranium in his
tower-dome lab. As an adult, I was also quick to notice little bits that
weren’t exactly stop-motion, like the fog rising from the well and bugs falling
into the pit of lava.
The cast that they assembled for it
really does a solid job. While it may feature onscreen actors, especially ones
who collaborated with Burton before and after, they manage to really let the
character take control of the voice, as opposed to just letting the audience
imagine an actor in a recording booth. They further emphasis their skills when
it comes to the music. Danny Elfman has stood his ground as being one of Tim
Burton’s longest frequent collaborators, and when it comes to “The Nightmare
Before Christmas,” I’d easily say it’s his magnum opus. Every tune from “This
is Halloween” to “Kidnap the Sandy Claws” all have such catchy melodies and
lyrics, that I’ve still got memorized to this day. It’s one of those types of
musicals where you could simply listen to the songs alone, and you’d
practically see the movie. Elfman truly made the film into his own, especially
when taking over the singing voice of Jack Skellington. Sure, it was because
Chris Sarandon wasn’t able to get lessons before recording, but even so.
The one aspect that people criticize
about it, is that it’s very simple. And to their credit…they are right. It is a
very simple story with not much deeper meaning behind it, other than what you
really see. Hell, the film is only 72 minutes, so it is a fairly easy sit. But
at the same time, I feel like that’s probably why everyone else loves it. It
was intended to be like a fairy tale from the very beginning, and sometimes
simplicity can be a good thing, if done right. And as far as I’m concerned, the
film does it right.
After over twenty years, it’s still loved by fans to this day,
developing as both a holiday classic and gaining one of the strongest cult
followings that Disney has ever developed, and even they have embraced it. From
re-releases in theaters, to 3D conversions, decorating Disneyland in its style during
Halloween and Christmas, and even leading to future stop-motions films to
follow in its footsteps, like “Coraline,” “Corpse Bride,” and “ParaNorman.” It’s
left one incredible impact on cinema, and it’s most likely going to stay that
way.
Rating:
10/10
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