The Nightmare Before Christmas (2-Disc Collector's Edition + Digital Copy)
After the sugary sweetness of Emmet Otter, I think it is appropriate to go for something a bit more sour, and a bit more sinister - the visually inventive, stylishly produced, and devilishly clever Nightmare Before Christmas. Produced by Tim Burton, directed by Henry Selick, and featuring music and songs by Danny Elfman, The Nightmare Before Christmas was a modest hit when it was first released, but has since become regarded as a bonafide holiday classic.
Jack the Pumpkin King is tired of presiding over Halloween. Every year, it's the same old thing - goblins and skeletons and corpses. It gets sooooo old. In short, Jack has lost his faith. After wondering through the woods one night, he comes across Christmastown, and lo and behold, he sees a new way of doing things - there's snow, there's smiles, there are heads still attached to their bodies! Enamored by Christmas, Jack decides to make it his own, kidnapping Santa Claus and ordering his army of witches and ghouls to make toys for children around the Earth. Naturally, he learns the error of his ways. But along the way, we are treated to all sorts of material that is genuinely disturbing - little demon children plotting the best way to kill Santa Claus, skeleton reindeer (of course, the lead reindeer has a shiny red nose), and a horrific sleigh ride on Christmas night. Yet despite how subversive the film is, I am impressed at how the spirit of Christmas still comes through loud and clear, with all its purity intact. It's a delicate balance, but Burton and Co. pull it off.
Everybody brought their 'A' Game to the film, particularly the voice cast and Danny Elfman. He not only wrote a powerful score and several memorable and amusing songs ("Kidnap the Sandy Claws" and "Poor Jack" being highlights), but he also provided the singing voice for Jack.
The film also has one of the best entrances I have ever seen in either a horror or holiday movie. SPOILER: During the opening song, "This is Halloween," the townsfolk of Halloween-town celebrate while a scarecrow lights himself on fire and dives into the town fountain. And in a closeup, we see for the first time, Jack the Pumpkin King, rising from the fountain, enveloped in steam, his shiny skull gleaming in the moonlight, his skeletal face smug in evil triumph. It was an awe-inspiring moment for me, and one heckuva entrance. SPOILER ENDS.
I would not recommend the film for young children. It is perhaps a bit too dark for them. But don't wait too long. As unlikely as it may seem, Jack the Pumpkin King is rapidly becoming a season staple and his adventure should be seen by everyone.
BEST LINE: I don't want to ruin the context of the line, but when Jack howls to the moon, "I AM the Pumpkin King!!!!!" it is impossible not to feel the weight of his faith reborn. Great line, and great line delivery.
MVP: This is a tough call. Should I give it Burton? This was his vision, after all. Or to Selick, who directed that vision? Or Elfman, who so ably provided a dark and comical musical landscape for the vision to inhabit? No. None of them. I have to give the MVP to the team of stop motion animators. Because they actually brought the vision to life. Over three years of painstaking and downright painful work, the stop motion animators made all the characters live and breath, literally millimeter by millimeter. The result is impressive and this hardworking army of workers deserves to be recognized!
OSCAR NOMINATIONS: Best Visual Effects (it lost to Jurassic Park)
TRIVIA: Nightmare Before Christmas is not the first appearance of Jack. He can actually be seen clearly on top of one of Beetlejuice's hats in Beetlejuice (1988) and even showed up in one of Burton's earliest projects, Vincent (1982).
I saw this movie in the theatre, and I remember thinking that it was NOT for children. My son was so into Scooby Doo, spooky stories, and Halloween that I sat with him and watched it anyway, prepared to distract and remove if he seemed at all perturbed. He LOVED it. We usually watch it at Halloween, though.=) Good pick!
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