What's this? What's this? Just evidence that Tim Burton, Henry Selick and Danny Elfman can turn a holiday mashing tale into the best movie ever.
Take some old Christmas TV specials, have them ferment in the mind of Tim Burton, let it flow through the hands of Henry Selick, out of the mouth of Danny Elfman and what do you get? Well, you get a really forced metaphor, that's what you get. But, you also have the instant classic stop-motion animated film about cultural misunderstanding, The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Coming out August 30th in its nine hundredth repackaging (this time with the Blu-ray, DVD, digital download and 3D Blu-ray all in one spot) we thought it a good idea to hitch our bright-nosed, ghost dog to our coffin sleigh and remind everyone why The Nightmare Before Christmas is the best movie ever.
Holiday Portals
So much of what makes this movie so impressive is the simple and effective opening conceit. Somewhere out in a clearing in the woods are a bunch of trees in a ring, and inside of each one is one of our holidays. Valentine's Day, St. Patty's Day, Thanksgiving, Easter, Christmas and, most importantly, Halloween.
This is the first thing you see when you open the portal into that particular realm.
We don't see the trunks of all the trees, so if you don't have your particular faith represented there's no reason to write an angry letter just yet (that time will come when we meet Oogie Boogie).
It's too bad, though, we never get the master shot. I really wanna know how Arbor Day gets represented on a tree.
Each of the citizens of Halloween Town is cooler lookin' than the last (and boy does the licensing department of Disney sure as hell know that).
In the opening welcome tune "This is Halloween," (which you may as well just start singing out loud, because it's impossible to get it out of your head) we meet witches, vampires, creatures from under the stairs, a cyclops, a mummy and, my personal favorite, this half-goofy half-frightening sentient tree with singing skeletons dangling from its branches.
The Hanging Tree has one line in the entire picture. With his deep, resonant voice he implores: "Everybody scream! Everybody scream!"
Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, Halloween Town's resident rock star, is in the dumps.
The Bone Daddy (as the ubiquitous band calls him) has plateaued in his career and no longer finds mirth in his annual scare 'em success. What he needs is a challenge (and, as only the rag doll Sally knows, love).
After Jack falls through the arborescent vortex from his home realm to that of Christmas Town he experiences a sensory overload that can only be mitigated by song (just go with it).
The snow! The lights! The mistletoe, sleds and familial joy!
This catchy ditty (and, again, feel free to start singing out loud 'cause you know it's in your head) is actually much more than a plot-advancing story point. Composer Richard Elfman originally wrote it for Herve Villechaize who starred in the cult 1982 film Forbidden Zone, a mixed-media project of Elfman's first band, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo.
Okay, actually, that is not true at all. I really just wanted an excuse to link to the Forbidden Zone OST. Forgive me.
The Town of Halloween is more progressive with regard to their politicians.
When it is known that your leaders are two-faced, it is a lot easier to deal with their double-speak.
You have to wonder why Dr. Finklestein didn't keep his spells, potions and charming agents better locked up. Sally, his rag doll creation, was very upfront about her desire to escape his evil fortress and live a free life. Here, she is laying into one of the canned goods - excuse me, canned BADS - that is readily accessible: frog's breath.
While on the topic of the good doctor, you should know that he was voiced by one of Hollywood's all time great That Guys, William Hickey. Depending on your station in life, you know him from the John Huston film Prizzi's Honor or from The Jerky Boys (let's split the difference and celebrate the beloved-by-all Gore Verbinski film Mouse Hunt, in which he plays Rudolf Smuntz).
All gooey and disgusting eyes are on Jack as he lays out his new plan to rescue Christmas Town from the evil, lobster-like monster known as Sandy Claws.
The Nightmare Before Christmas knowingly winks to classic cinema at this point, as it is not the first motion picture to let the misunderstanding of Santa Claus' name guide the narrative.
I refer, of course, to Sam Wood's film, A Night At The Opera - an important motion picture about the rise of fascism in Europe. Let's take a look at some dialogue between two young Marxists who went by the curious names of Groucho and Chico:
Otis P. Driftwood: "If any of the parties participating in this contract are shown not to be in their right mind the entire agreement is automatically nullified." It's all right it's in every contract. That's what they call a sanity clause.
Fiorello: Heh, you no fool me. There ain't no Sanity Claus!
This triumvirate of terror harmonizes all the way to Christmas Town and back (by way of Easter Town) to kidnap poor St. Nicholas for Jack's nefarious albeit well-meaning deeds.
One has to wonder what in his previous dealings with Lock Shock and Barrell led him to believe they wouldn't bring Santa to Oogie Boogie just because he told them not to. We, the audience, have just met these three little monsters and we already know not to trust them. Jack, on the other hand, has probably known them their whole lives!
Between not quite understanding the real meaning of Christmas and this blunder of misplaced trust, perhaps there's a side to Jack that isn't much discussed: is the Pumpkin King a moron?
The entire town (including this crazy snake-head, clam-face, striped guy, whatever the heck he is) pitches in to help Jack realize his dream. Isn't that what the spirit of Christmas is all about? Just overlook the stuff about kidnapping and terrorizing children.
Oy.
The best scene in The Nightmare Before Christmas - the best visuals and song - is also the one that makes me the most uncomfortable.
Inspired by Cab Calloway's performance in an old Betty Boop cartoon, the Oogie Boogie Man, as performed by Ken Page, definitely dips his toes in some racially charged waters.
Not that you asked for my opinion, but here it is: the Oogie Boogie man sequence is not, in itself, racist. However, part of what makes The Nightmare Before Christmas so magical is that it has trace elements from great artwork that came before it. There's Rankin, Bass and Chas Addams. Yes, there's even some Bourbon Street minstrelsy that, when it was first created, may not have had been born from the most progressive minds.
Usually when a reference to this pops up, it is in the context of parody, like on The Simpsons's "Itchy and Scratchy" to show us how backward we were back then. Does that exist in The Nightmare Before Christmas? Maybe not. But, then again, this isn't set in Louisiana - this is set in the Town of Halloween. The issue, therefore, is far from a distinct black and white. According to a footnote on The Nightmare Before Christmas' Wikipedia page, Elfman was concerned about the issue. I suppose he decided to do like Oogie Boogie and roll the dice.
Jack's night of terror begins with this iconic image of a young boy opening up Santa's present: a shrunken head.
Cue the montage of mayhem!
What's up with people nailing plants to their door? Plants are living things. Sticking a bow on 'em? Grotesque!
One day the plants will rise up! Stevie Wonder has foretold this! When they do, good people like you and I and Jack Skellington will laugh.
The people of Earth (or, I guess, No Holiday Town) prefer a more traditional Santa Claus... and respond with anti-aircraft guns.
The bright schnoz on Zero offers an easy target. Jack's final words before he plummets down to the ground below? "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good niiiiiiiiight!"
See? The guy really meant it.
Jack defeats Oogie Boogie by hitting him where it hurts - a loose strand.
His potato sack armor loosens to reveal the crawly bugs inside. With the aid of Sally, Santa Claus is rescued in the (St.) Nick of time.
Santa snaps into action to right what Jack has wronged. But his forgiving spirit can't condemn him - after all, Jack only was doing what he thought was best.
Indeed, the fat, evil lobster grants the Town of Halloween a Christmas gift - a seasonal dash of snow.
To which the town can only ask: What's this?
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