Review of The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) by Allan C — 14 Feb 2015

I can say I loved this film when it first came out in theaters, back when it was a commercial flop, but it's fun to have seen this film get the strong mainsteam following that it deserves. It's also nice that this film has replace "Frozen" as my daughters' favorite film for repeated viewings.

Henry Selick directed the film, but it's clearly a Tim Burton in terms of visual design and story. And as wonderfully original and subversive the story and visual style are, I really do think it's Danny Elfman's songs and music for the film that make this a classic.

There are some great moments throughout the film (Locke, Shock and Barrel trick-or-treating, or the Halloweentown Christmas presents being delivered) but the most memorable parts all involve the songs, from the giddy joy of "What's This?" to the melancholy of "Jack's Lament" to the dark humor of "Making Christmas" or the "Town Meeting Song" the film is just filled with wildly memorable songs.

But after repeated viewing with my kids, I think the "Oogie Boogie Song" is now my favorite. And there's a great voice cast that includes SCTV alumni Catherine O'Hara, William Hickey, Glenn Shadix, Paul Reubens, Greg Proops, Ken Page as Oogie Boogie.

And Danny Elfman singing the songs for Chris Sarandon who did Jack's dialogue. Overall this is simly a classic and is probably the best animated film to have come out of Disney (even though it was originally released under Disney's Touchstone brand, being too dark to be released under the Disney brand, but was later embraced by Disney upon it's rerelease when he opened with the Disney logo).