If you didn’t know, The Nightmare Before Christmas was one of Tim Burton’s little pet projects that took a long time to come to fruition. In fact, plans for the film predate Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands — which you can kinda guess when you see Jack Skellington’s appearance in the finale of Beetlejuice. But like most pet or dream projects, the planning behind Nightmare took a long time.
You can’t argue with the final product, though. It’s a blend of imaginative imagery, interesting characters, and memorable music from Danny Elfman. It kinda skates the line between being a Halloween film and a Christmas film. I lean towards it being more Christmas-themed, but with Halloween characters — sorta like a Scooby Doo Christmas or something with the Universal Monsters. It’s got an element for everybody that lifts it above being just another Christmas movie.
Sure, it’s fodder for Hot Topic clothing now, but the style and imagination behind the movie shouldn’t be discounted for that reason. I’d rather watch this than Rudolph or any of those Rankin Bass Christmas movies. Those are the real nightmares at the holidays. That and A Christmas Story, only because they have shown it for 24 hours almost every Christmas of my life. It gets old.
