it's the holiday classic The Nightmare
Before Christmas boy talk about a film
that only did okay at the box office but
just exploded in cult merchandise every
year around Halloween you see this stuff
advertised and now every year around
Christmas you see it advertised as well
somewhere the appreciation of this film
just went through the roof and now
everybody loves to draw the characters
they love to sing the song that's so
iconic but once again I almost feel like
that can backfire and build it up too
much for audiences that might be
expecting something else in a sense
that's kind of what I went through when
I first saw it and I saw when it first
came out he was advertised on TV Tim
Burton's name was plastered all over it
and it came out around the same time
that movies like Aladdin Lion King and
so many other anime groundbreakers came
out so with that said I thought there
would probably be a few more adult jokes
thrown in there you know like what they
do with Ravel Liam's improvising and so
on but that's not the kind of movie it
is it's more a warped version of those
stop-motion Christmas specials that you
see every year except I got to an hour
and a half it seems all the holidays are
given their own land
Halloween town Christmas town all that
kind of stuff the leader of Halloween
Jack Skellington is finally getting
tired of his holiday and wants to try
something new
thus he accidentally stumbles across the
Christmas holiday and decides he wants
to take it for his own showing the
people of Halloween what he's discovered
and even kidnapping Santa Claus himself
Jack decides he's gonna transform a
Merry Christmas into a scary Christmas
instead of bringing treats and toys he's
gonna bring creeps and scares ultimately
resulting in a disaster as catastrophe
the movie has a lot going for it first
of all the story is wonderful it's so
simple and set up and yet allows for so
much creativity it's bizarrely very easy
to explain and even easier to grasp the
visuals of course being a Tim Burton
production are gonna be wonderful and
not only that the music's gonna be
spectacular this is the first time in
years Danny Elfman has been allowed to
write songs again
man do they knock it out of the park you
know these songs this is Halloween
what's this what's this making Christmas
the list goes on
Elfman himself does the singing voice of
Jack and he adds so much character to it
this whole film is practically his movie
but what people might be turned off by
especially those who have had a hype dub
is that it is maybe a little too simple
at least for what people might be
expecting the movie doesn't have a lot
of inside jokes are super clever writing
it's sort of very bare bone because of
this it doesn't allow for a ton of
character or a ton of surprises but
that's not really the focus it's
supposed to operate more like a very
basic fairy tale like a book you read to
your little kid in fact help it was
originally a book and in rhyme to some
might have a problem with this and it's
understandable
they could have updated it a little bit
more they could have made the characters
a bit more interesting but for a lot of
people the simplicity is what draws them
to it it's a timeless story that can be
told to anyone and anyone can grasp it
very quickly it's similar to something
like the boy who cried wolf you don't
need to know the boy's backstory you
don't need to know his character you
just need to know the very simple layout
now is that good for an hour-and-a-half
movie somewhat debate no me personally I
think there's enough creativity with the
songs the atmospheres the designs and
even the very basic characteristics that
I think it works okay I'd be lying if I
said this was one of my absolute
favorites in Burton films I mean it's
good and I really liked it and I can
hear those songs over and over but it's
not something I really watch because the
characters are so deep or the emotions
are so rich oh it's something like
Batman or Edward Scissorhands for that
Nightmare Before Christmas is just a
very simple yet still very clever and
creative kids story and like I said the
simplicity is what helps it sell and
what helps it stay around for so long I
think that's one of the reasons it
wasn't a monster hit when it came out
but people still seem to talk about it
and buy merchandise from it all the time
they appreciate the basicness of it in
the same way they appreciate the
basicness of Santa Claus and can
immediately connect it to the holiday or
in this case two holidays
I say I appreciate it more than I like
it but I do still enjoy putting it on
every once in a while the songs the
imagery the creativity and just a little
too strong for me to resist it's a
simple film that knew just how much to
deliver and how much to let you take
away from it and it doesn't look like
it'll be leaving anytime soon