The Nightmare Before Christmas 1993

[8.1/10] Some of my favorite movies are the ones that blend the fantastical with the relatable. Few of us can claim to know what it feels like to be the “king” of a particular holiday that you’ve grown tired of, or the experience of commandeering someone else’s holiday to get you out of your rut. But most of us, sadly, know what it’s like to burn out on something, and just as many of us know what it’s like to throw ourselves, a little overzealously and even recklessly, into some new hobby and pursuit that we think will solve all those problems.

It’s that mix that makes A Nightmare Before Christmas so resonant more than a quarter-century after its release. The premise is brilliant, giving us the horrors of Halloweentown, the mirth of Christmastown, and the bonkers mash-up of the two that means the move can justifiably be screened anytime between the first day of October and the new year. There’s a base level inventiveness to the existence of these holiday realms, and the “cross the streams” madness that happens when one holiday bleeds into another.

At the same time, though, Jack’s predicament is strangely relatable. While the rampant adulation he receives for his Halloween horrors isn’t as common, the sense of having done something, even something you’re good at, that it’s lost all excitement and meaning to you, is one many folks have experienced.

The clever cinch for the film is that the audience hasn’t experienced this before, so even as Jack is lamenting the doldrums of yet another All Hallow’s Eve as the “same old thing,” the viewers are seeing this intricately constructed, grotesque-but-strangely-cuddly world that seems filled with excitement and has character out the wazoo.

Honestly, Nightmare could get by without its engrossing premise and well-observed emotional throughline based only on its aesthetic. The character designs are brilliant, with impossibly gangly or squat features for the residents of Halloweentown and Christmastown, with particular creative shown for the various ghouls and monsters who populate the spooky little berg. What’s more, there’s great animation at play, from Oogie Boogie’s near-liquid dance moves, to Sally]s pull-apart tack, to Jack’s spindly gestures.

Beyond the characters, the film is a preteen wannabe goth’s dream. (Not that I’d know anything about that of course.) The very setting and atmosphere of Halloweentown is off-kilter enough to feel dangerous while also feeling warm and welcoming enough to feel accessible, a trademark of producer Tim Burton’s films laudably carried over by director Henry Sellick. The moments on Moonlight Hill in particular are iconic for a reason, with many lovely tableaus to catch the eye throughout the picture.

The same goes for the songs. While they tie into the broader themes of the film more explicitly than the aesthetic choices, they’re still worth the price of admission alone. The anthem-y joys of “This Is Halloween”, Jack’s musical lament, and Oogie Boogie’s gothic jazz-filled villain number are all seasonally-appropriate earworms (no pun intended) that lure the listener in. The score sets the perfect spooky tone for the movie, with rhythms and lyrical cadences that are just a little off, not only giving the tunes a certain distinctiveness, but adding the visceral sense of something off-kilter happening in all of this.

That sense emerges from Jack’s choices and affect here. It’s piercing to hear him sulk and sing about how the holiday just doesn’t feel the same anymore, much in the same way that Charlie Brown laments his inability to experience the spirit of the season in his Xmas special. You sense Jack’s exhaustion, his dwindling enthusiasm, his resignation to the sense that he’s achieved all he can in this field, however much he might excel at it, which is stifling in its way.

But then he discovers something wondrous and, more importantly, different. The “What’s This?” sequence is rightfully iconic, not just because of it’s bright music and the impressive animation of a skeleton man wandering through a yuletide enclave, but because it perfectly captures that invigorating energy of discovering something new that enchants you and excites you again. Here is a new challenge, a new world for Jack to conquer, something far away from “the same routine.”

And yet, he doesn’t understand it. Enter Sally, played with ethereal aplomb by the great Cahterine O’Hara. She is the naysayer and, as Santa himself acknowledges, the only one who makes any sense around here. There's hints at a sad, Frankenstein’s Monster-like backstory to her and her creator, Dr. Finkelstein, with an undertone of rebellious teenagerhood or worse. Dreaming of a better and more fulfilling life with Jack, she senses (and envisions) something terribly wrong about all this, and is the only one to say so, though she goes entirely unheeded, a commentary in and of itself.

One of the most interesting things you pick up in Nightmare as an adult is that part of what’s wrong with Jack’s attempt to do Xmas here, and partly what Sally seems to pick up on, is that he doesn’t understand it. Some of the most compelling parts of the film see the Pumpkin King trying to scientifically breakdown what makes the holiday season so merry, to use his inquisitive temperament and mechanical tools to discern something ineffable that, naturally, still eludes him. I’m not the overly sentimental type, but it’s a strong choice to make the joy and mirth of the season something that cannot be reasoned out, but rather innately understood and felt.

Despite those setbacks, Jack decides to do it anyway! And therein lie the wrinkles and complications of an otherwise straightforward (if slanted) narrative. There’s different interpretations of his faltering interpretations of Xmas, filtered through his scary and miscalibrated holiday lens.

Part of me wants to believe that there’s no grand message to it, and it’s just part and parcel (no pun intended) with the sheer crossover joy of seeing a Halloween and Xmas mashed up like this. Seeing Jack sneak and smile, almost Grinch-style, through rooftops and chimneys, is a delight in and of itself. Others interpret the story as a caution against cultural appropriation, the way enthusiasm isn’t a substitute for understanding, and certainly not an excuse to commandeer rituals and traditions from another community for yourself. Less commendably, there’s a subtle “stay in your lane” lesson here that could be read to discourage folks from exploring and trying things outside of their usual talents or comfort zones.

And yet, as much as Nightmare cements that Jack Skellington is a lousy substitute for Santa Claus and this was a bad idea, it also affirms the exercise as a rejuvenating one for him. His soliloquy in the cemetery seems to say that however failed the results, the attempt was worth it to relight the spark within Jack, that he has stories to tell and ideas for next year and an appreciation for his usual Halloween haunts that could only be borne by the change of pace.

So as in almost all Disney movies (even ones released through another arm and only claimed by the studio after the fact), all’s well that ends well. A once again bold and confident Jack defeats Oogie Boogie in his blacklight den of vice. Santa Claus brings snow to the haunted city for the first time. He sees and appreciates Sally for the first time as the two share an iconic embrace on the site of his former lament, as her dreams come true and he realizes there’s something else that can brighten his days between Halloweens.

It’s hard to say how much of what has made The Nightmare Before Christmas a perennial holiday classic is simply its exquisite texture. The look and feel of these different lands, the create designs of the creatures who float or scurry through them, and the memorably tunes all elevate the film in craft alone.

But I’d like to think there’s a deeper emotional core that keeps the young and young-at-heart coming back year after year. We may never haunt our way through life or takeover a holiday from a competing figurehead. But we all suffer under the yoke of the overfamiliar, and we’re all capable of going too far when something new and different excites us beyond our understanding.

That spirit animates these characters and their world as much as the stop motion virtuosos who do such a tremendous job at the same task, and has, ironically, helped Jack and his creators spread untold holiday spirit in a way that connects with real people from the nights of trick-or-treating all the way through Christmas Day.

THE WACPINE OF ‘THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS’

WRITING: 5
ATMOSPHERE: 6
CHARACTERS: 7
PRODUCTION: 9
INTRIGUE: 5
NOVELTY: 7
ENJOYMENT: 5

The Good:

The opening song is the best Halloween song ever. It's as much a Halloween staple as Jingle Bells is a Christmas staple.

The old-school stop-motion animation is fluent and surprisingly detailed and seems to fit this type of Halloween/family horror/musical story very well.

It's amazing how the visuals are stylistically gothic and somehow colourful despite the emphasis on black, grey and other dark colours.

There's something inherently likeable and soothing about Chris Sarandon's voice. He sounds so calm and nice when speaking. Danny Elfman provides the vocals, and they match Sarandon’s voice pretty well.

Much of the reason this film works so well, is because all of the songs are well-written and performed, even though most of them aren’t particularly memorable. Danny Elfman's score is the strongest part of the film apart from the animation.

The Bad:

The Doctor Finkelstein / Sally subplot is not very interesting and doesn’t seem to go anywhere.

None of the characters apart from Jack interested me. The Boogey Man comes close, though, but he doesn't appear all that much.

While the story has many hilarious elements, the characterizations and overall plot don’t sweep me off my feet. The plot lacks a bigger depth or strong hooks to keep audiences interested. The problem is that's it's almost too adult to excite children, but not adult enough to interest grown-ups. So it falls somewhere in between.

The Ugly:

The question is: is this a Halloween-influenced Christmas movie or a Christmas-influenced Halloween movie?

WACPINE RATING: 6.29 / 10 = 3 stars