Have you ever wondered what it would be like to combine the holidays of Christmas and Halloween? If so, Tim Burton answered it in 1993 with his release of "The Nightmare Before Christmas". The film opens in Halloweentown with shots of ghosts, skeletons, vampires, and witches. Jack Skellington is the pumpkin king and a highly respected citizen. He is lonely and sad, though, because he wants something more than scares and frights. When walking through a forest, he comes across a door that takes him to Christmasland and he instantly knows; this is what he has been looking for. What he decides to do is this: replace Santa this Christmas and put his own spin on things. To do it his own way. This movie, inspired by Tim Burton's poem, is enchanting to look at and the animation is unbelievable. However, don't be expecting a lot of Christmas cheer in this holiday story because it is lacking in that aspect. Also, being a Christian, I found the lack of any mention of the birth of Christ disappointing. However, Christmas is portrayed as something special, so much so that Jack can't even explain it to his friends. And that in itself shows that Christmas is not a regular holiday like any other. Jack's intentions also are good, for he wants to give and make people joyful. Though it is not perfect, I still think it is quite a good movie, primarily because of its creativeness and originality, both of which are qualities that always appeal to me. I also highly recommend reading the original poem or even better, listening to Christopher Lee read it with the animation and art from the movie. You can watch it on Blu-ray or DVD and I actually enjoyed it even more than the movie. I also found it on YouTube (I will provide the link below). The poem itself is available in a beautifully animated storybook that I will be sure to purchase.
8/10
Tim Burton's Original Poem read by Christopher Lee:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbPCwc_Cdz0
IMDb Link
Netflix Link
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