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| Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D |
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  (8/10)
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Runtime: 76 |
| Public Rating: 8.04 (27 votes) |
Director: Henry Selick |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Animation/Fantasy/Musical/Family |
Year: 1993 |
| Writer(s): Caroline Thompson, Michael McDowell (adaptation), Tim Burton (story) |
| Distributor: Disney Pictures |
| Reviewed by: Mel Valentin |
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The Nightmare Before Christmas, a stop action animated musical/fantasy based on ideas and characters from Tim Burton (Corpse Bride, Big Fish, Batman Returns, Batman, Beetlejuice) is an object lesson in how a modest hit can, thanks to video, merchandising, and time become first a cult hit, then a mainstream, holiday classic, albeit a skewed one. Thirteen years after its original release gets a digital makeover, thanks to Industrial Light & Magic and Disney Studios and the latest technology that can convert 2D celluloid into 3D (thus the new, unwieldy title, Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas in Disney Digital 3-D). And yes, the new technology works, adding an overabundance of eye candy to delight old and new, young and old, fans alike.
Halloweentown, the home of a fantastical community comprised of goblins, hobgoblins, witches, devils, vampires, mummies, ghosts, and other assorted ghouls, is dedicated to the Halloween holiday, devoting the other 364 days of the year to devising all sorts of mischief. Halloween done and gone, the Mayor (voiced by Glenn Shadix) congratulates the residents for another successful holiday. Halloweentown’s de facto leader, Jack Skellington/ Pumpkin King (Chris Sarandon), finds himself uninspired and listless. He’s lost his love for the holiday and spends his time moping in his mansion. The shy, reticent Sally (Catherine O'Hara), stitched together by Dr. Finkelstein (William Hickey), a jealous, obsessive, possessive mad scientist, longs for a romantic relationship with Jack, but Jack is sadly oblivious to Sally’s charms or her interest.
Alone with his dog Zero, a ghost-dog with a red, glowing nose, Jack comes across a circle of trees. Each tree contains a door to a different town. Each town is dedicated to a specific holiday. Curious, Jack wanders into Christmastown, where he discovers primary-colored joys and merriment. Back in Halloweentown, Jack struggles in explaining Christmastown and its leader, Sandy Claws (Edward Ivory), to the other residents. When he tries to explain gift giving, the residents can only see opportunities for ghoulish pranks. Frustrated but undaunted, Jack ultimately decides that he can do Christmas better than Sandy Claws. To that end, he orders Halloweentown into frenzied action to prepare for the holiday. He also orders three mischievous mites, Lock, Shock, and Barrel, to kidnap Sandy Claws and bring him back to Halloweentown. Lock, Shock, and Barrel, however, have other plans and those plans involve the imprisoned Oogie Boogie (Ken Page), a maliciously minded ghoul in a burlap sack who lives outside Halloweentown.
Although Tim Burton’s name is officially part of the title, The Nightmare Before Christmas was actually directed by Henry Selick (Monkeybone, James and the Giant Peach, the forthcoming Coraline). Burton, of course, integral to the success of The Nightmare Before Christmas, providing the story and characters that Selick, in collaboration with writer Michael McDowell (“adaptation” credit), and Caroline Thompson (screenwriting credit), crafted into The Nightmare Before Christmas. In a film that’s mostly sung (rather than spoken), Danny Elfman’s contributions to the score, songs, and lyrics (and Jack’s singing voice) were also key to the commercial and critical success The Nightmare Before Christmas received in 1993, and, of course, continues to enjoy 13 years later.
Outside of limitations inherent in stop-motion animation (e.g., character expressiveness), at least as it existed in the early 1990s, only purists unhappy with Disney tampering unnecessarily with a classic film will object to the new 3D version. If moviegoers felt the 1993 version provided them with an immersive experience, then the newly 3D version will make that experience a fuller one. But The Nightmare Before Christmas wasn’t and obviously still isn’t flawless. It falls short in one important aspect: Jack’s nemesis, Oogie Boogie. Besides coming in late and having a minimal impact on the film, as a character, Oogie Boogie seems to play into racial stereotypes. Selick and Burton have admitted to basing Oogie Boogie on Cab Calloway, an African-American entertainer, but his broad mannerisms and vocal inflections borrow unnecessarily from racial stereotypes.
Minor objections aside, The Nightmare Before Christmas was and continues to be more than the sum of its technological parts. Technology alone, then or now, isn’t why the majority of moviegoers and home viewers come back to The Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s for the wildly inventive character designs, the off-kilter, expressionistic sets, Danny Elfman’s songs and lyrics, as catchy today as they were in 1993 (with one or two minor exceptions), and, of course, Jack’s emotional journey, from self-imposed isolation to a renewed connection to his community and finally returning Sally’s love. Thematically, that might sound pat and familiar, but with unconventional characters and yes, stop motion animation that sells the characters as more than mere automatons (they, like us, have inner lives), The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D or 2D remains a delight, well deserving of its “classic” status.
© Mel Valentin, 20th October, 2006
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