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The Nightmare Before Christmas: A Classic that Still Stands Tall

By Carrie Stemke · August 11, 2014

I’m pretty picky when it comes to musicals. They’re definitely one of the film genres that I’d say I’m less into as compared to others. However, The Nightmare Before Christmas is both one of my favorite musicals and one of my favorite movies. It’s one of the few movies that can be watched on both Halloween and Christmas, two of my favorite holidays. Lots of “favorite” going on here. Let’s talk about what makes this holiday classic stand so tall.

Tim Burton and Henry Selick’s 1993 masterpiece tells the story of Jack, the skeletal pumpkin king of Halloweentown, who becomes restless and decides to take over someone else’s holiday: specifically, Christmas. As one might expect, it’s a complete disaster. This freakishly charming story features holidays as broken up into different worlds, each run by the characters we associate with that holiday. So in Halloweentown, there are goblins and ghouls, witches and vampires, and many other Halloween monsters all working to make Halloween great each year. It’s a wonderfully grotesque and unique setting for a holiday-themed film, or any film, for that matter.

Nightmare keeps the characterizations simple, yet we still see inklings of meticulous development throughout; the stop-motion animation's precision is spot on as well. Jack’s motivation behind his decision to take over Christmas-the major plotline of the film-is easy for the audience to understand and relate to: after countless years creating countless Halloweens, he’s bored, and is looking for a change. Sally, kept in virtual slavery by the Evil Scientist, is lonely and is the only one in town who clearly sees what’s going on and wants to save Jack. Jack and Sally are beautifully voiced by Chris Sarandon (Prince Humperdinck) and Catherine O’Hara (the mom from the Home Alone movies), respectively, although it should be noted that Chris didn’t do any of Jack’s singing parts, just the speaking.

The songs are some of composer Danny Elfman’s best. He’s worked on an impressive number of films, but the soundtrack from Nightmare Before Christmas should absolutely be considered a part of his legacy. The songs completely fit the movie and help to move the story along, but they’re even enjoyable just to listen to on your iPod in the car or on the subway.  

The soundtrack, the characters, the plotline, and the setting all come together to make The Nightmare Before Christmas a true classic. Burton’s writing combines with Selick’s vision to create a stop-motion masterpiece that breaks with convention and is a film that everyone should see.