In common with most right thinking people, director Tim Burton prefers the gothic funfair of Hallowe’en to the gaudy, tinsel-tied overkill of Christmas. Hear hear. Presents may have their charms but there’s nothing to compete with hitting the town while dressed as an ice cream.
Mr. Burton’s impeccable taste in holidays informs this imaginative piece of stop-animation first released in 1993 and now remastered as a splendid 3D experience. Though officially directed by Henry Selick (Mr. Burton left the project to direct Batman Returns) The Nightmare Before Christmas is based on one of Mr. Burton’s poems and wears that director’s thumbprints all over it. A delightful and distinctly Burtonesque premise sees the denizens of Halloweentown, led by Pumpkin King Jack Skellington (Sarandon), attempt to take the rival Christmas festivities with predictably colourful results.
The results are unquestionably iconic. Since the film’s original release The Nightmare Before Xmas has inspired several manga, an anime film, two celebrated theme park rides, a Playstation game and its own collectable figure section in each and every comic-book store. Where would a budding goth princess be without her very own Sally the rag doll? Nowhere, that’s where.
Sadly, the film, though well worth revisiting, is not all that it should be. Like several projects released under the Burton brand – think Batman Returns, Planet Of The Apes – the idea is rather better than the execution. The songs, none of which might be regarded as composer Danny Elfman’s best work, are lacklustre and unmemorable. The plot, though bursting with potential, falls flat before it ever gets going.
Still, it would be impossible to overrate Nightmare’s aesthetic qualities. Grandiose, striking and gorgeous, you can see how Burton’s darksome fable has transcended its somewhat disappointing origins.