Though directed by Henry Selick, Tim Burton is usually accredited for the haunting film The Nightmare Before Christmas. This is no surprise. The Nightmare Before Christmas has everything typical of Burton’s stop-animation style. The scary and demented characters though the film is aimed at a younger audience, the out-of-the-ordinary world, Burton’s style only starts with this film.
The story opens on Halloween Town, a town that has lived up to its name all these years by… celebrating Halloween. While wandering in the woods the main character, Jack Skellington (Danny Elfman and Chris Sarandon), comes across a portal to Christmas Town. Jack loves Christmas Town and the feeling of Christmas so much that he tries every measure to bring Christmas to Halloween Town. His attempts to kidnap Santa from Christmas Town fail and only end up putting characters in danger. Jack never actually brings Christmas to Halloween Town, but dazzles Halloween Town with some things he could take from Christmas Town—like snow. Everything is set right in the end and Jack ends up with Sally (Catherine O’Hara), a girl he has fallen in love with while trying to bring Christmas spirit to Halloween Town.
A big theme of this movie has to deal with wanting something to be what it is not. Halloween Town is, clearly, meant for Halloween and not Christmas. Though Christmas Town may be happy and wonderful, and Halloween Town dark and evil, Halloween Town cannot just switch to Christmas. This is obviously made apparent when Jack fails to bring Christmas to Halloween Town. But Jack is able to improve Halloween Town’s spirits by bringing certain aspects of Christmas Town to it, which means that something may be improved not by transforming it completely but by giving it new features so to speak.
This song shows Jack’s desire for something new and better. Though he is the Pumpkin King, he desires something he has not yet known.
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7 comments:
Though this was not one of my favorite films, the work that was put into it was incredible. The expressions that they were able to give the characters really gave them a lot of personality. Even though it wasn't technically directed by Tim Burton (he produced it, but didn't direct it) I still felt that it seemed like one of his films with a dark overtone and heavy use of the surreal. I feel I would have liked the film better if I felt it served a purpose, like either the world the characters lived in changed in some way or that the film critiqued modern society. Did anyone feel like the film had a larger purpose?
I agree with Johanna, this was not one of my favorite films. While it did have the Tim Burton feel to it, I think I would have enjoyed it more if he had actually directed it himself because I would have felt more Burton aspects in the film. I don't really think the film had a larger purpose. To me, it just seemed alot like another fun animated movie for kids too like, nothing that made you think.
Despite how much it pains me to say so, I agree with Johanna. Even though I love the music, the story and characters seemed pointless. After saving (and ruining) christmas, it seems the only thing that is different is that he is in love with Sally. He goes back to his old holloween-loving self.
I like the point that Drew brought up about the music in the film. I really enjoyed it and people often overlook it I think. But, I think I like the movie better because of its pointless characters and story. I think if they would have added a greater meaning to the story, I would have been sort of annoyed with having a big message in an animated film. I usually like animated films to be sort of pointless. Even if it is a Tim Burton film.
I'm not sure if Nightmare should have had a deeper message or not. Without one, it seems a bit pointless, but it allows the viewer to focus more on the images and the songs rather than the content. If it had one, I feel the power of those visuals would have been diminished, but, especially if it were contraversial (WALL-E), the movie would have gotten more press and made more money at the box office.
What Burton elements are obviously missing? And I'm not sure we can say the movie didn't have a purpose at all. I think Jack was unsatisfied with the world he was living in because he was taking it for granted and then realised, when his plan to bring Christmas to Halloween Town failed, that the way Halloween Town was before was how it is meant to be. Also, something could be said about true love will find itself. Sally and Jack managed to get together even though Dr. Finklestein locked her up and all that. So, we really can't say this movie is pointless. Plus, I think it would motivate a lot of kids to strive for what they want because both Jack and Sally work to get what they want. (Even though bringing Christmas to Halloween Town might not be the best thing for everyone...)
I'm not saying that I think the film should have some overarching moral lesson, I just think that all the characters were a little two dimensional and after one grasped the initial premise of the movie everything just seemed to fall into place as one would expect. There were no unsuspected twists or a surprise ending (except possibly the hilarity of the oogie boogie man). Thus I think that if the movie went on for longer it would have lost the audience's attention. I think that this is what makes this film different from all of Tim Burton's other movies. In his other films there was always something that hooked the viewer's attention and made them need to see how the movie ended, while The Nightmare Before Christmas just seemed like an amusing story with a very simple and straightforward plot.
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