Review of The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) by Noah Abraham G — 12 Jul 2013

When I first saw this movie, I thought it was decent, just horribly overrated. I liked it a bit more the second time, but didn't think it was anything special. The third time, the same thing.

This movie has grown on me.

Chris Sarandon voices Jack Skellington, a skeleton (obviously) who is the "King of the Pumpkin Patch", a hero in Halloween Town, the denizens of which exist for the sole purpose of scaring people one day a year. Even though he is well-loved by everyone (especially rag doll Sally (Catherine O'Hara)), Jack feels unsatisfied.

He winds up in a grove in the middle of the woods, where he finds himself sucked into a magical world called "Christmas Land." Overwhelmed, Jack returns home to spread the message of Christmas in an effort to bring it to Halloween Town, but there's one problem: how does he explain it to his friends? Jack is at a loss, until he comes up with a (very flawed) solution- he'll just do Christmas on his own.

The plot is very simple, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's a fun watch, really, and the story's engaging as you wonder where it could go next.

The quality of characters is all over the place, with some being great, while others (such as minions Lock, Shock and Barrel) being completely horrendous and annoying.

The film has an antagonist in the form of Oogie Boogie (Ken Page), the famous boogeyman, feared by even the residents of Halloween Town. He's a decent villain, and he has a tremendously fun song, but he feels really tacked on, like he was just created for a villainous force to contrast Jack against. Still, he's better than his aforementioned minions.

Similarly there is Sally, who isn't half as interesting as her character should be. Created by the diminutive Dr. Finklestein (a delightfully hammy William Hickey) as a daughter surrogate/lover(?). There's potential in that story, but I feel it never goes anywhere.

There are some great characters, though. Glenn Shadix is a treat as the Mayor, a politician who (literally) puts on a brave face, despite being a bit of an ineffectual coward. Ed Ivory makes a good Santa Claus, a bit of a hardass with a heart of gold. Jack's red-nosed ghost dog, Zero, is also quite funny.

The real wonder, however, is Jack. What a tremendous character. Completely original in both writing and design, and brought to life with two great performances (Danny Elfman provides his singing voice), Jack is one of my favorite movie characters of all time.

Speaking of singing, the music is also quite good. "This is Halloween" is really overrated (I honestly hated it when I first saw it), but it's still clever and a good way to introduce the film. The best songs are the ones Jack has to himself, with "What's This?" being a great example, as Jack tries to process the wonders of Christmas.

And while we're on the subject of wonders, let's just admire the animation for a little bit. It's really tremendous, imaginative and beautiful, even when it's ugly.

Is the film perfect? No, of course not. As I've said, Oogie's three minions are AWFUL. They're annoying, their motives honestly pretty lame, and they have one of the worst songs in film history.

Still, aside from that pretty glaring flaw that keeps this movie from being perfection, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is a movie that needs to be seen at least twice. And then twice more. And then more and more and more and more.