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Nightmare Before Christmas, The
The pumpkin-headed Jack Skellington and the inhabitants of Halloween Town hijack Christmas in this luridly entertaining stop-motion animation musical from the gothic mind of Tim Burton
CGI may have invaded the world of animation to an unbelievable degree, but there are still certain things the clean-lined world of computer graphics can't do. For a masterclass in how much character, life and style can be extracted from the simplest components, all you have to do is look at The Nightmare Before Christmas, which would never have reached such lush, demented heights if it had been rendered in digital images. The first major Hollywood feature to be completely animated through stop-motion, this 1993 gem still stands up as an example of gothic weirdness gone wild, based on a story by Tim Burton, and tapping straight into the colourful, dream-like style that he had already utilised so memorably in 1988's Beetlejuice. It's the tale of the ghoulishly charming Jack Skellington (voiced by Chris Sarandon, and sung by composer Danny Elfman), the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, whose inhabitants exist purely to make Halloween the most memorable time of the year. Jack is beginning to tire of the constant cycle of Halloween after Halloween. Searching for something more, he ends up discovering a series of gateways to the mysterious places where other holidays come from. Choosing one particular door, he ends up in the bright, friendly world of Christmas Town, and is immediately so smitten with the idea of Christmas that he determines to take it over, and run the holiday in the same way as Halloween. Soon, the portly Santa Claus has been abducted by the impish trio Lock, Shock and Barrel and handed over to the menacing Oogie-Boogie, while Jack is spreading his own decidedly Halloween-flavoured version of Christmas cheer from a flying sleigh drawn by skeletal reindeer. The collision between the two holidays makes for some fantastic comedy, and it's the balance between arch, gothic humour and a curiously warm-hearted sweetness that makes the film so much fun. It's a non-stop riot of gloriously creepy invention, with every caricatured character bringing another level of gleeful insanity to the mix, and the confident handling from director Henry Selick meaning there's barely a single image in the film that isn't a pleasure to look at. Added to this, the 2006 release of the film has not only been digitally remastered to a sparkling quality, but it's also been presented in 3-D for the first time, a choice that pushes the film to an even more visually breathtaking level. Stop-motion is ideally suited to 3-D, and the result is a beautifully twisted fable that even the recent Tim Burton animation Corpse Bride has struggled to equal. Another advantage comes from the fact that Selick's film was produced before the craze for big-name stars in animated movies hit fever pitch, meaning that there are no intrusive early-1990s celebrities trying to make their presences felt. Instead, lesser known actors like The Princess Bride's Chris Sarandon and Catherine O'Hara (now better known for her roles in Christopher Guest's mockumentaries such as A Mighty Wind) do a fantastic job bringing the characters to life in this beautifully demented seasonal treat. It's a shame, then, that if you look beyond the glorious animation and the quirky humour, The Nightmare Before Christmas is a little on the thin side. It's very obvious the film is based on a very short story, and even at 76 minutes it feels stretched, especially thanks to the movie stopping every five minutes so characters can burst into song. Regular Burton collaborator Danny Elfman has provided some rich and witty lyrics, but the tunes themselves aren't particularly memorable, and the stop-start nature of the pacing means the musical interludes eventually become a little wearing. But while it may be a little overlong, you still won't regret spending a little more time with these twisted characters. Verdict Now even more gloriously ghoulish in 3-D, this hugely entertaining horror fable for all the family might suffer from pacing problems, but it's also a true original that still stands out from today's CGI-heavy crowd. |
