It’s that time of year again, and for this reviewof “not-so-Christmas” cheer. I have come down to talk about my favorite Christmas movie of all time Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas”.


That’s right, Tim Burton has done a Christmas movie before he sunk lower than hell into the dark abyss of The Planet of the Apes and what a wonderful Christmas movie it is.

Okay okay… this isn’t one of those Christmas movies where everything is so happy and bright and Santa is jolly and bouncing his fat @$$ around like John candy. It’s a story about the king of Halloween. Jack-O-Lantern.

That’s right… in the world of The Nightmare Before Christmas, you are plunged into the world of Halloween. Let’s first explain the concept a bit better.

Tim Burton’s usage of Anthropomorphic ideas, turning ideas and holidays into actual human representations… the holidays are divided in a numerous circle of divine trees. Each tree represents a holiday. Easter, Valentine’s, St. Patrick’s. Christmas and Halloween. The greatest connection is that two holidays that seem so opposite from each other are also the two most enjoyed throughout the entire year. The beautiful and spooky Halloween and Christmas sit side by side in this forest of the divine.

The story starts you with a song as gruesome as ever. A spooky musical is what Tim Burton tries to present to you in The Nightmare before Christmas. The entire movie is done in claymation, a very time consuming practice in animation that cannot be done by the impatient. The surrounds present on the first scenes is greatly detailed, the surroundings of “Halloween town” is just great, and something to look into if you like the Gothic stuff.

What Time Burton tries to do is make a Gothic Christmas movie. A dark and spooky movie about the holiday at the end of the year. The detail in much of these claymations characters and surroundings are just astounding. If you think the clay is only for a fit few such as Gumby, just checking out the artwork used in The Nightmare Before Christmas will prove you wrong.

What the plot is for this excellent Gothic Christmas Carol? Jack-O-Lantern, the king of Halloween has just done another successful holiday of spooking and scaring. The bony skeleton zombie has filed his group of vampires, boogie men and mummies for the task doing a great job. But of course, our little friend is not at all happy. He is depressed with his job, for it is the job that he has done every other year over and over.

Jack deals with a such of depression that shows the lacking of variety. The mindless droning of cubicle heaven such as a workplace. However, when he approaches the divine forest of holidays, he finds Christmas on a tree which he explores. After being amazed by the holiday, he proceeds to try to take Santa’s place as the leader of Christmas and do Christmas his own… HALLOWEEN way.

Through this is mostly a kids movie, the movie can be described as of one of the most well played movies I’ve seen. Not just for children, but for adults also. The thing is, the music especially is done orchestral fashion, and is fun to listen to. Soundtracks in musicals are essential, and usually musicals of Christmas movies are just pathetic… but not this one that swings you a bit of that Christmas cheer with a bit of Gothic instrumentals and spooky Christmas hymns. Think about a sing-a-long for kids in the ways of the Goth. Goodness, Marilyn Manson for kids!

The animation (along with the artwork) is VERY good, the fluent animation is just spectacular, especially for a claymation movie. Jack, and other characters like him do many sophisticated things in the movie that sometimes make you wonder: “How they do that?”

But even with all that, the art style, the animation, the soundtrack… cannot be done well without the essential plot and character development. As you can see the changing and emotions of Jack and characters behind him, such as his lovely zombie girlfriend develop during the movie. Sometimes they are not described in words, instead they are described in actions and voice acting. This is a very GREAT part of The Nightmare Before Christmas because of the essential imagery and plot development involved in this movie. The original concept to boot, this movie is probably the best Christmas movie there ever was.

The problem is though, even so I mention over and over again about Children that can watch it, small children may become scared of the movie. It is about Halloween and Christmas after all. The used humor in the movie along with the appreciation of music and artwork is like the others, Gothic and dark. There will be one memorable part where a kid receives a Christmas present from the Halloween version of Santa, only to find a severed head in it.

You cannot find Christmas movies like this unless you go past PG-13.

I recommend people with an open mind to check out this hilarious, Gothic, and very artsy movie. The best Christmas movie out, and you’re missing out on it. The scariest and most heart warming and fun Christmas movie ever! So check it out!



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8