The Nightmare Before Christmas
Even the most exciting holidays can feel routine over time. The Nightmare Before Christmas is a stop-motion animated movie about the lanky and popular Jack Skellington (voiced by Chris Sarandon, with singing by Danny Elfman), who becomes bored with constantly outdoing himself every Halloween in the aptly named Halloween Town. When Jack passes through a door in the woods which takes him to Christmas Town, he tries to emulate the spirit of Christmas in his own realm with the best intentions, only to end up with several unfortunate misfires.
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The Nightmare Before Christmas occupies a rare place as a holiday movie--appropriate for both Halloween and Christmas. The film is so charming, that it has also become a classic for all ages. The music by Danny Elfman is reminiscent of a Broadway musical, ripe with wit and cleverness, with a predominance of word play and morbid humor, similar to the The Addams Family. A popular misconception about The Nightmare Before Christmas--also like The Addams Family--is that it was directed by Tim Burton, loaded with many of his kind of delightfully creepy yet charming motifs. In truth, The Nightmare Before Christmas was based on characters created by Tim Burton--who also co-produces--but was directed by Henry Selick, whose other stop motion animated films include Coraline and James and the Giant Peach. The animation in The Nightmare Before Christmas is so sophisticated, that audiences might assume it to be computer generated or enhanced. The detailed craftsmanship, the thrilling music, and the charming tale are the formula for the magical alchemy that makes the film an endearing favorite. One challenges that The Nightmare Before Christmas handles with the agility of its nimble protagonist is how it deals with the creepy, crawly residents of Halloween Town without ever making them too creepy or sinister for children, but without reducing them to goofy puppets. Even Oogie Boogie (voiced by Ken Page), the menacing antagonist who lurks beneath the swamp and holds Santa Claus hostage, is depicted as a bit farcical. He spends his time fixing games of chance, and has a knowingly sarcastic and sassy voice like that of Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors. The denizens of the town are mostly derived from classic movie monsters--werewolves, vampires, mummies, and so on. Sally (voiced by Catherine O'Hara) is a scarecrow-like ragdoll stuffed with leaves who secretly harbors a crush on Jack, and who envisions Jack's plan for Christmas turning out horribly wrong. Sally is the voice of reason in A Nightmare Before Christmas, although her warnings often fall on deaf ears, since the overly enthusiastic Jack has the rest of the town under his well-intentioned thrall. She is depicted as a positive figure and a friend to Jack. Unlike so many others in the town, she isn't starstruck by his showmanship, but buy his passion to do good, and she is truly interested in seeing him succeed.
Jack is a genius and he has a longing in his heart which keeps him up at nights. On the other hand, it is ironic that he discovers the "holiday hub" that leads to Christmas Town (and other places) in the woods--it could be said that Jack fails to "see the forest for the trees" when it comes to how he executes his endeavor. He is so concerned with "solving" what makes Christmas so special--by dissecting teddy bears and squashing holly berries beneath a microscope--that he ignores what elicits the feelings of mirth and merriment in Christmas Town on his visit. Jack tries to educate his fellow citizens of Halloween Town on what he's witnessed, but lacks the context to identify what makes it special to them. (His best efforts to "give them what they want" is to describe Santa Claus as a giant with muscular arms and refers to him as "Sandy Claws".) Jack's efforts to step outside his comfort zone are important to his mental well-being; he is intelligent and curious, and he needs to diversify his interests to avoid becoming depressed and bored so easily. But Jack is also somewhat arrogant to try to impose this new experience onto all of Halloween Town--everyone falls in line with his enthusiasm, because of his track record for delivering entertaining events every year. How often in The Nightmare Before Christmas does Sally try to help Jack see the fault in his approach to merge Christmas and Halloween into a proverbial Frankenstein's monster of a holiday, only for him to reply with some off-handed remark that shows that he wasn't really listening? As smart and clever as Jack may be, his hubris is what turns his mission to "improve" Christmas into a cataclysmic failure, terrifying children with gifts like shrunken heads and Christmas tree-eating boa constrictors. Sally's tries to help Jack understand that he should stop being something he is not--and this is really just a continuation of his constant need to outdo his prior successes, to prove to himself that he still matters. Jack Skellington--the acclaimed "Pumpkin King"--is an entertainer, a superstar of the town. And what Jack ultimately has to learn is the most important lesson of an entertainer: know your audience.
Recommended for: Fans of a gorgeous animated film combined with the theatricality of a musical and the morbidly cute, "goth" aesthetics of works like The Addams Family. The Nightmare Before Christmas is a well-loved family film, and is a go-to movie for many audiences on Christmas or Halloween.
Jack is a genius and he has a longing in his heart which keeps him up at nights. On the other hand, it is ironic that he discovers the "holiday hub" that leads to Christmas Town (and other places) in the woods--it could be said that Jack fails to "see the forest for the trees" when it comes to how he executes his endeavor. He is so concerned with "solving" what makes Christmas so special--by dissecting teddy bears and squashing holly berries beneath a microscope--that he ignores what elicits the feelings of mirth and merriment in Christmas Town on his visit. Jack tries to educate his fellow citizens of Halloween Town on what he's witnessed, but lacks the context to identify what makes it special to them. (His best efforts to "give them what they want" is to describe Santa Claus as a giant with muscular arms and refers to him as "Sandy Claws".) Jack's efforts to step outside his comfort zone are important to his mental well-being; he is intelligent and curious, and he needs to diversify his interests to avoid becoming depressed and bored so easily. But Jack is also somewhat arrogant to try to impose this new experience onto all of Halloween Town--everyone falls in line with his enthusiasm, because of his track record for delivering entertaining events every year. How often in The Nightmare Before Christmas does Sally try to help Jack see the fault in his approach to merge Christmas and Halloween into a proverbial Frankenstein's monster of a holiday, only for him to reply with some off-handed remark that shows that he wasn't really listening? As smart and clever as Jack may be, his hubris is what turns his mission to "improve" Christmas into a cataclysmic failure, terrifying children with gifts like shrunken heads and Christmas tree-eating boa constrictors. Sally's tries to help Jack understand that he should stop being something he is not--and this is really just a continuation of his constant need to outdo his prior successes, to prove to himself that he still matters. Jack Skellington--the acclaimed "Pumpkin King"--is an entertainer, a superstar of the town. And what Jack ultimately has to learn is the most important lesson of an entertainer: know your audience.
Recommended for: Fans of a gorgeous animated film combined with the theatricality of a musical and the morbidly cute, "goth" aesthetics of works like The Addams Family. The Nightmare Before Christmas is a well-loved family film, and is a go-to movie for many audiences on Christmas or Halloween.