Post by Rob W. Case on Oct 30, 2023 20:29:48 GMT -6
Tim Burton’s 1993 stop-motion animated classic The Nightmare Before Christmas is enjoying its 30th anniversary this year (in 2023). At the time of this writing, a special 30th anniversary release is being shown in movie theaters across the country. Since late August, the film has also been released in the 4K-UHD format, and it is also going to be aired again soon on The Disney Channel. It is also widely available on multiple streaming services as well. On top of that, since this is the 30th anniversary of the initial release of the film in theaters, an array of new decorations, costumes, collectibles, and merchandise are out featuring Jack Skellington, Jack's ghost dog Zero, Sally the ragdoll, the Oogie Boogie, as well as other memorable characters from the film.
What’s so special about The Nightmare Before Christmas? Well, the movie was ahead of its time and unique on so many levels. And much like immortal classic, The Wizard of Oz, The Nightmare Before Christmas experienced a weak box office debut in the beginning of its release, but as time moved forward, the film caught on, and people experienced the story, the music, the humor, and the fun. The Nightmare Before Christmas became more and more popular over the years, and in that popularity, re-releases of the film became more and more profitable, which in turn has made collectibles for the movie all the more in-demand.
The Story:
Every holiday has its own world, its own separate realm. And on the day of any particular holiday, its doors are opened, and the world of that holiday is unleashed into our world. Our story begins on the night of Halloween, where we catch a glimpse of the spirit of that world.
Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon), also known as “The Pumpkin King” of Halloween Town, has just returned after bagging another successful Halloween season. While the ghouls, monsters, ghosts, etc. try planning for the next Halloween, Jack is bored by the same old thing, so he yearns for something new. Thinking deeply, Jack wanders outside the realm of his town, and he discovers doors within the trees that are gateways to other holidays. When he sees the door to Christmas, Jack opens it up and falls into a world of colorful lights, decorations, sights of things like snow, smells of things like Christmas pies, elves making presents and wrapping them, and an abundance of other things that captivate him….
Meanwhile in Halloween Town, a search party has been sent out to find Jack, since he has been missing for longer than usual. Enamored by what he discovered, Jack returns to Halloween Town to share with its residents his discoveries of Christmas Town.
After sharing what he has discovered, he tells them that its ruler is a big red man named “Sandy Claws” (Ed Ivory).
Trying to understand Christmas, experimenting to recreate the colors and sights that he saw, and not being able to replicate it, he brings the idea to Halloween Town to take over Christmas this year, kidnap “Sandy Claws”, and basically do Christmas. So, Jack’s trick-or-treat gang makes this happen, Jack dresses in red, and with his ghost-dog zero taking the lead of the reindeer, the creatures of Halloween town take over Christmas, but since they only know how to scare and prank people, their outlandish behavior and strange gifts provokes a worldwide search for Santa Clause and try to stop “the imposter shamelessly impersonating Santa Clause”. And so, they use military means to shoot down the sleigh. When Jack realizes that he’s caused more trouble than joy, he tries to rectify it, but since Santa ended up in the custody of the Oogie Boogie (Ken Page), Jack’s old-time rival in Halloween Town, Jack has to enter the Oogie Boogie’s lair and try to rescue Santa and Sally, who is captured by the Oogie Boogie in an unsuccessful attempt to rescue Santa.
Amidst the theme of this story, the ragdoll Sally (Catherine O’ Hara), who lives in the confines of her overprotective “brainy” creator Dr. Finkelstein, looks upon Jack with admiration and awe. In other words, since she is creative and adventure seeking, she finds that she has feelings for Jack (and attracted by his creativity and sense of adventure in his pursuits), and as such, seeks a future with him.
My Take:
This is a movie that I originally saw at my friend’s house after it was released on VHS, and I found that I loved the songs and the story. I later saw the movie in theaters in 2006 when it was first released in Disney Digital 3-D, which was a conversion that I found very impressive. Going back to the story; in my opinion, there is a “cute” humor aspect that is mixed with the creative aspect which I would have to say is very much like “The Munsters” or “The Addams Family”. There is heart to the movie, and while the characters have the best intentions, they don’t necessarily translate well in the execution of what they set out to do. The film is also shorter than most films, so the story moves along very fast, but it is interesting, imaginative, creative, and fun. The music is also very good and memorable, as Danny Elfman (a composer whose music I have always been a big fan of) not only wrote and composed the film’s musical score, which is of a more classical musical nature, but he also wrote the lyrics. What’s also interesting is that Danny Elfman is Jack Skellington’s singing voice in this movie. What also captivates me is that there is a “search for meaning and purpose” aspect working in this film. Jack is searching for more than the status quo, and even though he pursues something that he doesn’t understand, he has to discover that he is not exactly cut out to master what he pursues, discovering the hard way the purpose and meaning in what he’s best cut out for. To put it another way, it’s almost like a “grass is greener on the other side” lesson before he finds out otherwise.
Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas was released by Touchstone Pictures, which is a division of Walt Disney Pictures, that handled projects targeted more for adults. The reason why this film landed in the lap of the Touchstone Pictures division rather than the Walt Disney Pictures division in its original release is because Disney thought that the movie and its story might be too scary for little kids, but older kids and adults would enjoy it more.
The Nightmare Before Christmas Originated as a Poem:
The story, which would later become a cult classic, originated as a poem by Tim Burton. After Tim Burton’s work with Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Batman, and Edward Scissorhands earned Burton a higher stature in the movie industry, Disney decided to adapt it to film (of which he tried to sell at an earlier time, but did not land a deal). This is the original poem, read by actor Christopher Lee.
The movie is rated PG and runs 1 hour and 16 minutes.
To view a trailer for the film, please click on the “Play” button below.
The Original 1993 Teaser Trailer:
The 1993 main trailer:
Later Home Video trailer:
“The Nightmare Before Christmas” is available on VHS, Laser-disc, DVD, Blu-Ray, 4K-UHD, and is available on a number of streaming services, which can be found HERE.
What’s so special about The Nightmare Before Christmas? Well, the movie was ahead of its time and unique on so many levels. And much like immortal classic, The Wizard of Oz, The Nightmare Before Christmas experienced a weak box office debut in the beginning of its release, but as time moved forward, the film caught on, and people experienced the story, the music, the humor, and the fun. The Nightmare Before Christmas became more and more popular over the years, and in that popularity, re-releases of the film became more and more profitable, which in turn has made collectibles for the movie all the more in-demand.
The Story:
Every holiday has its own world, its own separate realm. And on the day of any particular holiday, its doors are opened, and the world of that holiday is unleashed into our world. Our story begins on the night of Halloween, where we catch a glimpse of the spirit of that world.
Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon), also known as “The Pumpkin King” of Halloween Town, has just returned after bagging another successful Halloween season. While the ghouls, monsters, ghosts, etc. try planning for the next Halloween, Jack is bored by the same old thing, so he yearns for something new. Thinking deeply, Jack wanders outside the realm of his town, and he discovers doors within the trees that are gateways to other holidays. When he sees the door to Christmas, Jack opens it up and falls into a world of colorful lights, decorations, sights of things like snow, smells of things like Christmas pies, elves making presents and wrapping them, and an abundance of other things that captivate him….
Meanwhile in Halloween Town, a search party has been sent out to find Jack, since he has been missing for longer than usual. Enamored by what he discovered, Jack returns to Halloween Town to share with its residents his discoveries of Christmas Town.
After sharing what he has discovered, he tells them that its ruler is a big red man named “Sandy Claws” (Ed Ivory).
Trying to understand Christmas, experimenting to recreate the colors and sights that he saw, and not being able to replicate it, he brings the idea to Halloween Town to take over Christmas this year, kidnap “Sandy Claws”, and basically do Christmas. So, Jack’s trick-or-treat gang makes this happen, Jack dresses in red, and with his ghost-dog zero taking the lead of the reindeer, the creatures of Halloween town take over Christmas, but since they only know how to scare and prank people, their outlandish behavior and strange gifts provokes a worldwide search for Santa Clause and try to stop “the imposter shamelessly impersonating Santa Clause”. And so, they use military means to shoot down the sleigh. When Jack realizes that he’s caused more trouble than joy, he tries to rectify it, but since Santa ended up in the custody of the Oogie Boogie (Ken Page), Jack’s old-time rival in Halloween Town, Jack has to enter the Oogie Boogie’s lair and try to rescue Santa and Sally, who is captured by the Oogie Boogie in an unsuccessful attempt to rescue Santa.
Amidst the theme of this story, the ragdoll Sally (Catherine O’ Hara), who lives in the confines of her overprotective “brainy” creator Dr. Finkelstein, looks upon Jack with admiration and awe. In other words, since she is creative and adventure seeking, she finds that she has feelings for Jack (and attracted by his creativity and sense of adventure in his pursuits), and as such, seeks a future with him.
My Take:
This is a movie that I originally saw at my friend’s house after it was released on VHS, and I found that I loved the songs and the story. I later saw the movie in theaters in 2006 when it was first released in Disney Digital 3-D, which was a conversion that I found very impressive. Going back to the story; in my opinion, there is a “cute” humor aspect that is mixed with the creative aspect which I would have to say is very much like “The Munsters” or “The Addams Family”. There is heart to the movie, and while the characters have the best intentions, they don’t necessarily translate well in the execution of what they set out to do. The film is also shorter than most films, so the story moves along very fast, but it is interesting, imaginative, creative, and fun. The music is also very good and memorable, as Danny Elfman (a composer whose music I have always been a big fan of) not only wrote and composed the film’s musical score, which is of a more classical musical nature, but he also wrote the lyrics. What’s also interesting is that Danny Elfman is Jack Skellington’s singing voice in this movie. What also captivates me is that there is a “search for meaning and purpose” aspect working in this film. Jack is searching for more than the status quo, and even though he pursues something that he doesn’t understand, he has to discover that he is not exactly cut out to master what he pursues, discovering the hard way the purpose and meaning in what he’s best cut out for. To put it another way, it’s almost like a “grass is greener on the other side” lesson before he finds out otherwise.
Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas was released by Touchstone Pictures, which is a division of Walt Disney Pictures, that handled projects targeted more for adults. The reason why this film landed in the lap of the Touchstone Pictures division rather than the Walt Disney Pictures division in its original release is because Disney thought that the movie and its story might be too scary for little kids, but older kids and adults would enjoy it more.
The Nightmare Before Christmas Originated as a Poem:
The story, which would later become a cult classic, originated as a poem by Tim Burton. After Tim Burton’s work with Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Batman, and Edward Scissorhands earned Burton a higher stature in the movie industry, Disney decided to adapt it to film (of which he tried to sell at an earlier time, but did not land a deal). This is the original poem, read by actor Christopher Lee.
The movie is rated PG and runs 1 hour and 16 minutes.
To view a trailer for the film, please click on the “Play” button below.
The Original 1993 Teaser Trailer:
The 1993 main trailer:
Later Home Video trailer:
“The Nightmare Before Christmas” is available on VHS, Laser-disc, DVD, Blu-Ray, 4K-UHD, and is available on a number of streaming services, which can be found HERE.