A Review
The one and only "The Nightmare Before Christmas" has come back into theaters this week for its 30th anniversary! It always surprises me when I meet someone who has never seen this one of a kind creation. It's like having never seen a single Star Wars or Indian Jones film. It's so embedded throughout pop culture that it seems almost impossible to be missed. Getting to relive this seminal stop-motion classic got me reflecting on how and why it has amassed such a following. What is it about this macabre yet playful homage to the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials that has earned it such a loving place in the hearts of movie fandom?
I'm convinced it could be simply a love for craft and artistry. "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is one most visually intriguing feature films ever made with numerous details, designs, and mixings of different animation effects. It has been rewatched again and again for 3 decades because it has taken that long to appreciate them all.
It could also be the film's completely unique personality. It never becomes a parody of the annual specials we remember from childhood. If anything, the Halloween Town of "Nightmare" feels like it could honestly coexist with the Christmas worlds of "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "The Year Without a Santa Clause." It does however take familiar parts and rearranges them in a way that feels subversive. It's an anti-Rudolf in some sense. Rudolf saves Christmas while Jack Skellington ruins it. Sure he means well, but how many stories can you think of are about protagonists finding their place and purpose in the world by causing the problems in the film rather than fixing them? It's this unconventional direction for the story that gives "The Nightmare Before Christmas" something of a transgressive nature.
Final question (As if i really need to ask)... Does it still hold up after 30 years? My answer is a resounding yes!!! The plotting is still tighter than a drum. The songs, still infectiously memorable. And, as I already made quite clear, the production as a whole just screams creativity. Every frame oozes imagination, curiosity, and pathos. It's a true treasure, good for either Halloween or Christmas, or if you're just looking to be enchanted and inspired.