FILLERWEEN- THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993)

Hello and welcome to the final week of FILLERWEEN: Where movies go after they die, celebrating the movies associated with Halloween. This week I’ve decided to have a movie review per day leading up to October 31st, not only to celebrate one of my favorite holidays, but because if I don’t, I’ll be marooned in a Halloween-themed purgatory being tortured for all eternity… It’s a long story. Anywho, when looking up film’s people love to rewatch this time of the month, I decided to look back at one of my favorite Disney movies growing up, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. And why shouldn’t I? I have a long history with it, being born three years after it was released to theaters, watching it on VHS promos, rediscovering it time and time over the years, and finally owning a copy to myself. So seeing how I grew up rewatching it time and time again, how does it hold up?

Overview:
In the town of Halloween town, the monstrous inhabitants celebrate All Hallow’s Eve like they do every year, singing, dancing, talking about how much it’s a great holiday, simple stuff. That is except for one inhabitant of the town: Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King. He’s grown tired of the holiday, and like many Disney princesses of the 1990s, wants something ‘more’. Well his dream comes true when walking deep into the forest he comes across an odd sight: a ring of trees, each containing a door on them. What’s even stranger is that the doors are shaped to represent different holidays.

Jarvisrama99: “So if Leif Erikson Day was an official holiday, would Leif Erikson Town be nothing but looting and plundering vikings?... Now I know why it’s not an official holiday.”

Jack, won over by a door with a tree covered in decorations (clearly representing Pot Day), finds himself in Christmas Town, a town that, like his own, celebrates their holiday year round. Won over by this, he brings back the concept to his friends back in Halloween Town, with most of the citizens not being won over by it. It doesn’t help that Jack is soon left frustrated on why they can’t celebrate Christmas… Only for Jack to take measures into his own hands: him and the townsfolk taking over the holiday themselves. And everyone seems on board with it, making a Halloween-fied Christmas. However, it appears this isn’t a bright decision, as Jack’s friend Sally sees this as a bad omen. Jack shrugs it off, unaware that he’s about to wreck the holidays…

Okay, everyone knows the plot of this film. It’s pretty straight forward: two holidays meet by mistake, hijinks ensue. But the reason for the film being unique is that it’s the only one of it’s kind. Think about it, has there ever been another film where two holidays bump into one another? And the oddest bit is how the film focuses on one holiday, instead of jumping back and forth to both worlds. Christmas Town only appears twice, that’s it. But for some weird reason, it works. It’s like an added charm to the film.

Yet while I have grown up to look at it with dignity, I do admit I have grown to not be fond of it. The characters aren’t really well written, the story is simple, you know that the main character, who is blinded by warnings throughout the film, will open his eyes, learn his mistakes, and correct them, it’s been done before and done since.

Even the songs kind of have changed my feelings for the movie. While ‘This Is Halloween’ is still a great opener, the other’s feel like they’re there to pad out the movie’s running time. Sally’s song is meant to show she is worrying about Jack. Kidnapping Santa Claus is fun at first, but kind of begins to loose me at the end. Oogie Boogie’s song feels a bit too over the top. Which is a shame, seeing how this is Danny Elfman doing the music, and I love his work in many of Tim Burton’s movies.

Jarvisrama99: “Which he DID NOT direct for this movie. It was Henry Selick, and I’m sick of him getting no credit after all these years. Why not call the film ‘Burton and Selick’s Nightmare Before Christmas’? That sounds catchy!”

So, exactly why do I still rewatch this movie time and time again. Well, the look. Honestly, this is one of the most gorgeous movies to ever exist. The design, the colors, the characters’ appearances, this is the movie’s biggest selling point. Had it not been for the appearance, I doubt it would have been as successful as it was. And, honestly, it was the movie that got people to making more stop motion films. Sure, there were some after the heyday of Rankin/Bass, but this saw the medium return to mainstream audiences.

Cast:
I would say that everyone did a great job on the movie, though I’m sorry to say their character’s all felt pretty bland. Sure, they’re memorable and you will have a hard time quoting their characters time and time again, but they weren’t written to be different and unique to other movies, they were meant to be something to get the story going. Though I do have to give praise to Danny Elfman as Jack’s singing voice. I had a hard time noticing Jack had two different voices, but it definitely worked.

Production:
Spectacular. The sets, the character designs, the use of colors, just a display of love, effort, and hours upon hours being stuck in a building with no fresh air for what seemed like eternity to give us a gorgeous movie.

Final Conclusion:
Look, while I have grown out of rewatching it more and more when I was little, it still is a good movie. Sure, it isn’t anywhere different with characters, and while the story does have the idea of two holidays meeting, it isn’t anything special despite that pretty awesome concept. But the film is still fun to rewatch during this month (well, what’s left),and I do recommend checking it out if you never have or haven’t in years. It’s a fun experience from one of my favorite movie makers... Tim Burton, not Selick. Look, Coraline was great, but after seeing Monkeybone, he should stay with stop motion, NOT with a mixture of live action. Or Brendan Fraiser.

Final Rating: 3.5/5

BTW, Disney was reluctant to release this film due to it’s odd style, so it was first released under the Touchstone Pictures banner. But after the film grew to have a bigger fanbase (and shittons of money making), Disney put it’s title on later releases. It’s like they’re covering up how they weren’t on board with this movie…

Now please give a warm welcome to the founder of THE HITLIST, Mr. Will Chilton!

(audience applause is played with Will entering off stage)

Will Chilton: "Hey everyone, my name is Chilton, and it's an honor to be joining Kane for this review. I've actually been struggling to describe "The Nightmare Before Christmas". So I watched the film and read Kane's part of the review, and I realized something...

I honestly think he said everything that can be said about it. And it would be redundant to repeat everything. So instead of a full review, I'll just give a brief opinion on it.

"The Nightmare Before Christmas" is a stellar movie. It has a unique story, likable characters, innovative animation for its time, and good musical numbers. I will say that compared to more modern stop-motion films, the movements are a little stiff and jerky, but in a way, it fits the mood well. And if that's the only real complaint I can come up with, then the film's doing something right.

I'm sorry that I wasn't able to do a real collaboration with Kane, but I hope you all enjoyed this short blog anyway. I'm Chilton, and you can catch me and a ton of other awesome people at www.manic-expression.com. Thanks for reading."

Jarvisrama99: "And thank you Will for being tonight's guest star."

(Jarvis and Will sit silently, unsure what to do next)

Will: "So, now what?"

Jarvisrama99: "Well, I guess wait for the review to cut to bla--..."

THE END