The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of those things you always see in 'Alternative' clothing stores. I'm not sure when but at some point in it's existence it took on a life of it's own and became an entity. Since then you can get bags in the shape of Jack Skellington's face, dioramas, alarm clocks, mugs, posters, nighties even dog tags cause you would't want to got to war with proclaiming your love for Tim Burton's seminal/influential animated feature. But if we forget about all those cute scene kids and sit down to watch the film that inspired the mayhem, turns out it's still a pretty cool and Christmassy feature.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Christmas Story
We open with the classic Christmas jingle "This is Halloween" Jack is the Pumpkin King and has been for many a year in the stop motion holiday district o Halloween Town. He is the best Halloween party planner in the world and everybody loves him, many with a disturbingly stalker-like enthusiasm. However he is getting pretty bored of all the horror and wants to find a new fun Holiday to plan. After a night long amble in the neighbouring woods Jack stumbles upon a circle of trees with doors carved into the bark in an interesting array of shapes. He is most attracted to the shape of an evergreen covered in decorations and lights. After being practically dragged inside by a breath of fresh air he witnesses the majesty and wonder of Christmas Town and decides to bring Christmas to Halloween...if that makes sense. Having seen the wonder with his own eyes he assumes it will be easy but instead of just transposing all the elements he decides to conduct experiments so he can truly understand what it all means. Even though it's set in a place called Halloween Town, The Nightmare Before Christmas is probably one of the most truly Christmassy films of all. It's all about embracing tenants alien to your own and having a crap load of fun. Of course a Halloween Town Christmas is slightly different to your usual stuffed turkey variety but that's the wonder of Christmas, everyone has there own traditions and habits. 5/5
The Voice of Christmas
There are three up for consideration. Sally tells everyone she knows bad things are bound to happen and she saves Santa but never really sits Jack down to teach him a lesson. Santa is usually the ideal Voice of Christmas but here he does so little we would just be inferring knowledge. Jack tries so hard and he has all the best intentions in attempting to steal Christmas but it doesn't lead to good things. In the real world all of the horrific gifts aren't received well. Turns out kids don't want giant tree-eating snakes. But he thought he was doing well that's the important thing. 4/5
The Annoying Kid At Christmas
Shock, Lock and Barrel are the only characters in this film that I think can be classified as kids, the rest are either just small or elves. Luckily for us though they are annoying. They kidnap Santa and send him off to be eaten by Oogie Boogie. That's more horrific than it is annoying but in the world of Halloween Town that's probably just considered a nuisance. They do sing a good song though and Lock is played by Paul Reubens so they aren't all bad. 2/5
The Christmas Miracle
Santa manages to save Christmas within one minute of being set free. Santa really is super awesome. 5/5
The Christmas Message
Don't be down about your good qualities embrace them and love them sometimes it's best to leave it to the professionals. 3/5
Additional Points
-The way he makes Christmas is essentially by putting lights on everything +0.25
-The Mayor is the best portrait of bipolar disorder +0.25
-It all looks awesome +0.5
-Even though a good portion of the music is somewhat over-played it's still really good +1
Overall Festivity Rating 21/25
Tomorrow TV Specials Coz You Have To Watch TV Around The Holiday Season.
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