Though this is probably the umpteenth time I have watched Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, I still sing along and lose myself in the story of how the Pumpking King of Halloween Town decides he wants to do Christmas his own way. With a fantastic, twisting plot from start to finish (though with perhaps a slightly predictable ending) and a vivid artistic design, it’s easy to see why this film has made over $70 million.
One of the greatest aspects of the film comes from the mastermind that is Danny Elfman. The majority of us will be familiar with Elfman’s brilliance, whether we realise it or not, and the score for Nightmare is no exception. From overture to reprise, no song falls below the mark.
The film is a collaboration between many artists and sculptors over three gruelling years, where one minute of stop-motion footage took seven days to shoot. Michael McDowell’s adaptation of Burton’s original poem makes you feel for the characters, notably Jack and Sally, and though the film is only seventy three minutes long, Chris Sarandon’s character develops and unfolds right until the credits roll.
Nightmare is a perfect light hearted build up to Christmas, a feel good love story featuring good intentions and the consequences of obsession and greed. For many, the best scene in the movie features an ultra-violet looking Oogey Boogey, a gambling villain with a penchant for jazz, torturing Sandy Claws in his Vegas themed lair. He is Mr Oogey Boogey and, if you watch Nightmare this Christmas,
you ain’t going nowhere!
