Review of The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) by Campbell P — 27 Oct 2015
Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas is one of the greatest films in cinema history. It's such a groundbreaking and genre defying movie that appeals to kids and adults alike. In this Halloween tale we follow Jack Skellington, the pumpkin king.
He's the leader of the Halloweentown and puts on a wonderful show every Halloween, but this year he feels caught in a loop and doesn't want to be king anymore. He wants change. It's not until he wanders into the forest with his dog Zero that he stumbles upon the land of Christmas Town.
... This movie deserves a ton of credit purely on its animation. This is probably still the best stop motion animation I've ever seen. It goes into incredible detail to the smallest rat running across the path to the large menacing Oogie Boogie.
There's so much passion that's put into the art of the sets that were built to scale. There's always the creepy dark tone that goes throughout every set, even Christmas Town. There's so many memorable characters to name but the standouts are by far Jack, Sally, and Oogie Boogie.
The characters of Jack and Sally are very similar in terms of how they wish to function. They both want to go along as normal civilians in their town and fit in but can't have it due to their reputations holding them back.
Oogie Boogie is just hideous and freaky and what more could you want from a villain? He's sinister, weird, and even funny. The songs can't go without mention because every single one was phenomenal.
This film created some of the best songs to ever come out of an original musical. The score by Danny Elfman is fantastic and eerie as well and without him, this film wouldn't have the fun dark tone it did.
It's nearly impossible to not fall for these characters through what they're singing and through their dialogue. I feel really awful for them and they just want to fit in but in a way, Jack and Sally are misfits to society.
Their romance makes all the more sense by putting this into factor. The Nightmare Before Christmas set an extremely high bar for not only creepy movies, but musicals, future stop motion animators, and film makers in general.
This is an all around phenomenal film that touches my heart every time I watch it. A.
This review of The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) was written by Campbell P on 27 Oct 2015.
The Nightmare Before Christmas has generally received very positive reviews.
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