The Nightmare Before Christmas - Family Halloween Movie
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas
One of my favourite parts of Halloween is watching all the great array of scary movies that are out there. However, as much as I enjoy the scares and gore of films such as Halloween, Friday the 13th etc. it's the family-friendly 'Nightmare Before Christmas' which comes into my head first whenever I think of Halloween. With it's interesting characters, spellbinding animation and a fantastic Danny Elfman soundtrack, 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' is one film I will definitely be watching this October.
Photo courtesy of www.Amazon.com
The Plot
In Halloween Town, Jack Skellington leads a bunch of assorted monsters and ghouls in preparing for Halloween. One day, however, Jack accidentally stumbles upon the magical Christmas Town and falls in love with Christmas and all of its traditions. He then returns to Halloween Town to convince the residents that they should celebrate Christmas instead.
'The Nightmare Before Christmas' follows Jack's story as he tries to bring Christmas to the world in his own unique style. Will Christmas ever be the same again? Will Santa ever return to his rightful role? Watch the film to find out.
Why do I enjoy this film so much?
There are several reasons why this is one of my favourite movies.
Firstly, the stop-motion animation is top notch. Tim Burton knows how to create a magical world and this film is no exception. The characters are so well designed and each scene is filled with such painstaking detail you can watch the film over and over again and still see new things you have missed on previous viewings.
Secondly, there is the music. Some of the songs such as ‘What’s this?’ have become classics and it’s not hard to see why. The soundtrack was written by Danny Elfman, who does a fantastic job of conveying the right emotions at the right time. The song ‘This is Halloween’ from the beginning of the film also features on the computer game 'Just Dance 3'. Great fun.
Thirdly, it’s a great story. Even ignoring the great animation and soundtrack, the story is interesting and manages to convey a message without being too obvious or annoying about it.
Photo of Jack Skellington courtesy of Cloud - wikimedia commons