Film Addict's October Film Choice

I have two films that I watch at particular times of year because it gets me in the mood for a particular holiday.  In December last year, I reviewed Elf for Christmas because it's my Christmas film from my university days so I've decided to share my Halloween film for October obviously.  It may say Christmas in the title but Halloween is involved and I love it so Film Addict's October Film Choice is The Nightmare Before Christmas.  This is also a Christmas film for me but it felt more appropriate for October instead of December this time around.  I am pondering on whether I should do a film review on Christmas Day but I haven't decided yet.

The Nightmare Before Christmas is Tim Burton's stop motion musical fantasy focussed on Halloweentown and its residents; voices include Chris Sarandon (The Princess Bride), Danny Elfman (Corpse Bride), Catherine O'Hara (Home Alone), William Hickey (Christmas Vacation), Glenn Shadix (Planet of the Apes), Ken Page (Dreamgirls), and Ed Ivory (Nine Months). 

Rating: 7

Recommended To: Anyone; animation fans

Favourite Characters: Zero - so cute

Favourite Part: Jack Skellington: Eureka! This year, Christmas will be - OURS!

Good Points: Animation technique; music; pure Tim Burton

Bad Points: Secondary characters don't really stand out; the romantic subplot

The Nightmare Before Christmas opens with the residents of Halloween Town returning from another successful Halloween; every year, along with the mayor (Shadix), Jack Skellington (speaking voice Sarandon and singing voice Elfman), the Pumpkin King leads the town as they organise their annual Halloween celebration.  Unfortunately, Jack has gotten tired of it all, year after year, so wanders off alone into the woods and stumbles upon doors to other Holiday Worlds and falls into the one for Christmas Town where he discovers this new holiday and gets inspiration.  At the same time, Sally (O'Hara) has run away from her maker Dr. Finklestein (Hickey) again as she wants more than he can offer and she has started to fall for Jack.  With Jack deciding that he wants to take over Christmas, giving Santa Claus (Ivory) a break, and putting a spooky spin on all of its festivities but someone else in town as another plan in mind while Jack and co. are distracted.

As you may have guessed if you have read any of my other film reviews, animation, no matter what kind, fascinates me because it takes a lot of time and dedication and therefore, I always assume that they care about making a great final product because one wrong move can mess up any type of animation, whether it is digital or stop-motion and this is why I love this film; it's interesting to watch how these puppets move.  In the past, I have been inspired by Burton's work, especially The Nightmare Before Christmas, and used Lego© (I didn't have puppets) to make my own stop motion film which took a long time to complete and while fun, I didn't like the final product, but I did get to learn how to do stop-motion animation and The Nightmare Before Christmas was the reason behind it.

It wouldn't a Tim Burton film without music from Danny Elfman in my opinion; every Burton film I love has Elfman as a composer.  I find his music to be fun and catchy and I think that is what makes the songs from The Nightmare Before Christmas so popular and iconic with many people covering the songs over the years.  What is great  about the music for this film is how it all melded together, especially Jack and Sally's songs, implying that they are destined to be together though it isn't clear until they sing together in the end; it's a key feature of Elfman's music, that the two protagonists' songs complement one another and it is wonderful to hear.

When I think of Tim Burton, I think of The Nightmare Before Christmas because it's Burton in his true element; it's spooky with cheerful tones, dark with touches of colour, and the design of every character is typical of Burton - dark and spooky (like the background) but with a charm about them that makes them endearing.  They may be weird and wacky but they are completely wonderful and entertaining, everything you want for a kids' film.

Zero is adorable, Jack's little ghost dog; he is such a simple thing, this little companion for Jack as he goes about making his dream of taking over Christmas a reality.  I find him so sweet and he is a great addition to the film as he is by far the cutest thing in Halloween Town.  He stands out as well in comparison to everyone else in The Nightmare Before Christmas because he's a ghost is slightly transparent which is another thing I liked about him as he was a little bit different, animated over the top of the original stop-motion.

While the main characters are meant to be the focal point of the film, the secondary characters are supposed to be there to add something to the film; however, the secondary characters in The Nightmare Before Christmas don't really bring anything to the fil, and don't start out against each other despite their varied appearances, providing only numbers to sing in a group.  I wish we could have gotten to know some of the secondary characters, even if it meant the film was longer, because they could've brought more to the town, such as the general goings-on which could have brought more humour to the film.  In the end, the townsfolk of Halloween Town seemed forgotten and pointless in a way and a lot more could have been done in the end.

I find the romantic subplot between Jack and Sally to be unnecessary for this film because it doesn't really bring anything to the film other than some songs and maybe Sally's motivation to stop Jack and his plan - though she has a vision implying Jack's Christmas will go horribly wrong without any reason, it just seems to be her gift.  If you were to take this away, I think the film would be just as good without a forced romantic plot which children aren't bothered, I know I wasn't at eight.

Jack Skellington: Eureka! This year, Christmas will be - OURS!

Don't know why but whenever I watch The Nightmare Before Christmas, I yell this line along with Jack; it's probably because I've seen The Nightmare Before Christmas going on 50 times. It's my favourite line because it just sums up the film for me as Jack tries to take over Christmas which you instantly know is going to be a bad idea but it also leads me to think about what would Christmas be like if it were spooky and Halloween was festive. Obviously we see how Christmas would be if it were spooky but I like to ponder on the festive Halloween and I like to imagine it every so often. It's such a simple line but I love it all the same.

On top of being a film addict, I am a Burton fan and have been since I was in school and have seen nearly every film he's directed/produced/written. The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my favourite Tim Burton films because I find stop motion animation fascinating and while incredibly difficult, can be very rewarding in the end; I have loved The Nightmare Before Christmas since I was a kid/teenager and nearly every year I carve a pumpkin of Jack Skellington, whether snarly or happy. I love the animation - the amount of time and care going into the stop-motion animation - and the music because they are memorable and the film is just pure Tim Burton. If the secondary characters had been used more and the romantic subplot forgotten then I think my rating would be higher despite my love for it in the past because I felt I should be honest.

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