Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas Still Watched 34 Years Later

Tim Burton, American film director 1993 Fantasy/Musical recommended for seven and up The Nightmare Before Christmas takes place in Halloween town where Jack Skellington, the pumpkin king grows tired of his same routine. He ventures into the woods and finds a circle of doors with one standing out most. Sucked in and Skellington discovers a Christmas wonderland in which he decides to recreate, but in his Halloween ways.

Though this is in fact a Halloween movie. Since released there has been constant debate, but that may be because people don’t completely understand. Burton chose Christmas because that is really the only other holiday people go all out for. Halloween and Christmas are close in comparison, one has treats and the other has presents. It was still Halloween since it had a dark twist to it.

Originally Burton wrote The Nightmare Before Christmas as a poem based on Rudolph the Red nose Reindeer, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and poem a Visit From St. Nicholas. Undecided from 1982 to 1990 Burton was unsure of what he wanted to do with the project, but no matter what he kept coming back to it. Finally in 1991 they started production, Burton wrote the story and characters, but could not direct due to a previous commitment so he approached Henry Selick, American Director.

It took 3 years to complete this stop motion picture considering they needed 24 pictures for 1 second of film. You can clearly tell how hard they worked on this being that everything is so precise. Down to the cobble of the street was so detailed and clean. There are people who say there are wires visible in certain places , but when rewatching there is definitely nothing there. So focused on making Skellington’s reflection look perfect in a doorknob that there is no doubt the director would let a wire be seen on film. The whole production is very creative. It is unbelievable how they were able to come up with all these different looks of characters and their costumes. They even added a Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck to a child’s pajamas to follow Disney Easter egg traditions.

In the beginning Skellington goes up to the musicians and flips a coin. As he does one of the members replies, “Nice work, Bone Daddy” in a very creepy voice that is uncomfortable. For being a children’s movie that shouldn’t be part of it, it was unnecessary to add and a little inappropriate. Also, when Jack enters the North Pole he sings “ What’s this?” yet he seems to know what most of the things are like snowballs, Christmas trees, and so on.

Then later on he reads books on Christmas though still calls Santa Claus, “Sandy Claws.” Aside from that if Jack had to go through a door to get there then why didn’t Jack have to go through a door to get to the town? If all the holidays go to the same town how do they get there if they are from different dimensions? Another unanswered question is where Lock, Shock, and Barrel’s parents are? These kids are henchmen for Oogie Boogie, but there is no clues as to why and how?

Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas is played every Halloween and will never stop. This movie is definitely one viewers can’t live without! For sure 4 out of 5 pumpkins.