The Nightmare Before Christmas
Published 2010-12-27
Film info
- Title The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Director Henry Selick
- Year 1993
- Run time 1hr 10m
- Genres Animation, Family, Fantasy
- Tagline This is Halloween, everybody make a scene!
- Cast Catherine O'Hara
The film follows the misadventures of Jack Skellington, Halloweentown's beloved pumpkin king, who has become bored with the same annual routine of frightening people in the real world. When Jack accidentally stumbles on Christmastown, all bright colours and warm spirits, he gets a new lease on life - he plots to bring Christmas under his control by kidnapping Santa Claus and taking over the role. But Jack soon discovers even the best-laid plans can go seriously awry.
Live Blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 1:15 | I see three ghosts, I just think Casper. |
| 2:18 | Halloween is a town! I bet you could get sick of pumpkin soup there. |
| 3:15 | Was that Jack Pumpkinhead from Return to Oz? |
| 4:48 | Jack has quite the groupies. They love him! |
| 5:52 | This must be some kind of prequel to Corpse Bride, right? |
| 8:09 | Why is he the pumpkin king? He's not made of pumpkins? |
| 9:40 | Clearly she is related to the Persil Patch dolls of Corpse Bride. |
| 10:22 | Mm, I bet a ghost pet doesn't take much looking after at all. |
| 11:34 | "I'm only an elected official, I can't make decisions by myself." |
| 13:20 | It's a bit like Narnia, only it sucked him in. And the door was in a tree and not a wardrobe. |
| 14:44 | I wonder if he would know what mistletoe is. |
| 18:49 | So that's what the spoons with holes are for! |
| 22:41 | I don't think they are understanding this Christmasland thing. |
| 25:53 | I think that about a lot of science: "Interesting reaction, but what does it mean?" Should have paid attention in school. |
| 27:14 | It must be quite dangerous to walk around with a needle in your hair. |
| 28:58 | That building is top heavy. Like the Leaning Tower of Halloween Town. |
| 31:39 | It didn't take long for him to go from "Aww, what is this Christmas thing?" to "It's all mine, mwa-ha-ha." |
| 37:50 | Fancy just using the girl to sew. Boo. |
| 39:42 | Making Christmas seems like a lot of effort. Oh wait, that sounds about right. |
| 44:31 | He's a bit skinny to be Santa. |
| 49:40 | Reindeer can't see through fog? That seems unlikely if they have to cover the whole world. |
| 53:31 | Skinny Santa has the advantage of getting up and down chimneys easier. |
| 57:13 | Taking off your foot when someone tickles it is genius! If only I could do that. |
| 59:35 | He is not in smithereens at least. Not that he deserves it. |
| 1:03:22 | "You must be double dead!" |
| 1:06:47 | Snow! That would be cute if we hadn't seen enough snow recently to last a lifetime. |
Thoughts
I knew this was a bit like Corpse Bride, which I have watched previously, and as it was only a 70 minute film, I couldn't argue. I enjoy short films, but any shorter and I'm not sure it would count as a movie, would it?
I liked this one far better than I liked the Corpse Bride, although there are a lot of similarities between the two. The story is interesting and unusual, and the characters are fun. The songs are catchy, particularly the Christmas Land one that is repeated throughout. There are some amusing one-liners, and some great emotion. All it is missing is a bit of Helena Bonham-Carter really!
Rating: 4 / 5