In late October of 1993, a little more than 30 years ago, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas hit theaters worldwide. It made the childhood of not just the generation of its time, but also of children born in later years. Jack Skellington became one of the most recognizable animated characters, and the movie is still talked about to this day.
What is unique about this movie is that at the same time, it is a Halloween and a Christmas movie. Some people debate over it being just one of the two, but in the end, it is one of the few examples of a “double holiday movie.” The story follows Jack, a skeleton who lives in Halloween Town, but one day finds out that other holidays exist and becomes so fascinated with Christmas Town that he wants to be Santa Claus. Because of its unique plot, it cannot be limited to a single season and is a film that covers both Halloween and Christmas spirit. The fact that it can be watched either in October or December increases its rewatchability value, contributing to its timeless essence.
Unlike what many people think, the movie was not directed by Tim Burton. Burton came up with the story, character designs, and co-produced the film. The director is Henry Selick, who also directed Coraline. Both Selick and Burton are famous for their stop-motion animated films. Stop-motion is a type of movie making technique that is based around using real props and taking pictures of them in different positions. Put together and with added computer effects, those pictures come to life as a video. For The Nightmare Before Christmas, moveable dolls for each character were made and they could even have their faces changed to show different expressions. Backgrounds were also made to be the scenery throughout the film. Even Jack’s pet ghost-dog, Zero, was a doll. The effects to make him look “ghostly” were added later in the editing process.
Music is a key aspect of any film. It can completely change the tone of a scene, being able to give it a funny or tragic context. The Nightmare Before Christmas’s soundtrack was made by none other than Danny Elfman, who also composed soundtracks for Sam Raimi’s Spiderman trilogy, Tim Burton’s Batman and the Netflix series Wednesday. The most famous song from the movie is “This is Halloween” with its extremely recognizable chorus and catchy tune. Something that many fans do not know about the movie is that Elfman himself sings all of Jack’s songs. In the casting process, no actor could sing the songs like their composer; Chris Sarandon was chosen to voice the skeleton because of his voice similarity to that of Elfman.
With the winter holiday season finally here, there is no better time to watch (or rewatch) Jack Skellington’s journey into Christmas Town to become Santa Claus. It may be a children’s movie, but like Coraline, the plot is much deeper than it seems and people from all ages can take something away from it. The Nightmare Before Christmas became one of the most recognizable films for a reason and no person is too old to watch it, so be sure to celebrate the movie’s 30th anniversary no matter if you are a fan who watches it every Christmas or if it will be your first watch!
