THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993)

By: Steve Biodrowski
Date: Sunday, June 10, 2001

Tim Burton's skewered sensibility finds excellent expression through the masterful stop-motion of director Henry Selick. The songs and score by Danny Elfman are wonderful; the characters are engaging; the visuals are enthralling. Amidst all the weirdness of Halloweentown, the film still strikes a wonderful sentimental chord, emerging as a wonderful Christmas movie even more than a wonderful Halloween movie. Even the muted romance between Jack Skellington and Sally is poignant, and Jack's reawakening to the joys of being the King of Halloween is envigorating.

As a sort of special Halloween gifts to all us fans, Walt Disney Pictures tends to put the film back in a few theatres for a limited re-release just in time for the Halloween weekend. (Of course, the film is really more a Christmas movie than a Halloween movie, but it is mostly set in Halloween Town). A technical marvel of special effects, the film is also magical and beguiling in a way that few films ever are. Credit is due to all the wonderful talent assembled by Burton: especially stop-motion director Selick, composer Elfman, and screenwriter Caroline Thompson. Their combined efforts make this one of the greatest fantasies every committed to celluloid. Despite availability on VHS, laserdisc, and DVD, this is a film well worth seeing on the big screen again. In fact, why not turn it into a Rocky Horror-type experience and start singing the lyrics out loud along with the rest of the audience?

One of the great things about this movie is that it's not afraid to be creepy, yet at the same time it has a warm and lovable feeling about it, although sometimes that seems to be more apparent to younger viewers. Let's face it: any film that has parents saying it's too scary for their children, while the children themselves love it, has something going for it. Another interesting point is that, in a curious way, the film is a companion piece to Jurassic Park, in that both are about the limits of intellect: Jurassic's John Hammond mistakenly thinks he and his staff can plan for every exigency and control the consequences, whereas Jack Skellington thinks he can know Christmas without really understanding it. In trying to analyze this alien (to him) holiday, Jack misses its spirit (or gestalt, if you prefer a less metaphysical term) and, unable to find it, mistakenly concludes that it doesn't exist. Jack's attempt to reinvent the yuletide season is somewhat less disastrous than Hammond's attempt to recreate the Jurassic Period, but he nonetheless learns his lesson, and by the end, has found a renewed vigor for returning to what he knows best: being the Pumpkin King of Halloween.


All this may be a bit too intellectual for a film that truly is just a joy to watch. So just sit back and have a good time. And please, bring your kids. Don't they deserve to see something better than those awful movies like Stuart Little that you take them to?