L'Étrange Noël de monsieur Jack

The Halloween City has its customs greatly exalted by its residents, peculiar individuals who hum in all corners. All spread the spooky spirit through their shapes and features: the rolling heads, sticky worms and sharp teeth through the shadows. This is definitely a magical place that few would like to visit. But what does all this have to do with Christmas? This is precisely the questioning of the protagonist of "The Nightmare Before Christmas".

Considered the ultimate celebrity of his city, Jack Skellington (played by Chris Sarandon, from the series "Orange is the New Black", and Danny Elfman, composer of "The Simpsons" and "Justice League", among others) is one of the organizers of Halloween. Every year he and the ambiguous Mayor (Glenn Shadix, "The Ghosts Have Fun") organize the festive plight the locals so love, spreading the dark spirit around the world. But Jack is in one of those phases of life where everyone questions themselves. On a walk in search of what may be his epiphany, he discovers a peculiar colored door: green, shaped like a tree, with colorful acorns and a star at its tip. Jack discovers Christmas Town.

When we think of horror aimed at children, The Nightmare Before Christmas is the first work we imagine, always associated with the name of Tim Burton. Despite not being exactly a horror movie, we have, in the creation of this universe, a fantastic gothic feeling that assimilates many of the worst nightmares that children have, without ever causing repulsion, but without being easily digestible by them. For the kids Jack's Strange World frightens as much as it delights, allowing the tape to be an unforgettable milestone in their childhood. The name of Tim Burton, producer of the film, although not related to the direction, the responsibility of Henry Sellick, remains quite highlighted and in a fair way, as he has credit for the creation of the story and the world, with an aesthetic signature clearly his own. . Most interesting of all, in a behind-the-scenes thought, is the information that the film was produced by Skellington Productions, in a joint venture with Disney Studios. The reality is that, on second thought, it would be extremely complicated for a work with a villain composed of disgusting insects and worms to be directly linked to Disney, which is very different from the company. The creativity of Sellick and Burton, at least, is free from any ties, ready to give rise to a remarkable musical work, with peculiar and extraordinary characteristics in several of the areas in which we can analyze the work.

The construction of the world, above all, is one of the great initial successes of the filmmakers. The stop-motion technique, while in other cases it would be an ally for image creation, here it is the basis for what is manufactured in terms of the universe. No wonder that Tim Burton and Henry Sellick would be involved in other animations with this style, such as The Corpse Bride and Coraline and the Secret World. Stop-motion is "weird" in itself, deforming nature in a way that doesn't make it rejectable, but extremely special, not to mention charming. Skeleton Jack's Strange World (Chris Sarandon) is an impressive visual composition, giving rise to a stunning contrast when, later, we see the work's protagonist, saddened, discover another universe, and, consequently, discover Christmas. We're talking about a scrawny being, contradicting himself when his posture is so elegant, but his ability to be terrifying is revealed later as he converses with some demonic children in his world.

We are so used to thinking of terror, haunting or dark as elements aimed at an adult audience that we forget, or deny the fact that children can also feel fear and, in many cases, like that of little Izabel who discovered a new world to her. Coming across a film about a talking skeleton, much more than frightening or terrifying, ended up highlighting a universe where the different is also appreciated and does not cause any surprise or discomfort, but it becomes loved. Along with very few other examples of animations with details characteristic of horror, The Nightmare Before Christmas integrates small lessons and messages to a film whose visual aspect enchants and surprises precisely because we are so used to accompanying enchanted princesses or inanimate objects coming to life. Here, good intentions can lead to chaos, but knowing we made mistakes is part of the trajectory, and repairing our mistakes becomes even more important than admitting that we made mistakes. It's what we do with our mistakes that counts and, no one can deny that Jack, while creating the greatest chaos that Christmas has ever seen, was sincere and humble enough to look for a way to repair his mistake.

Tim Burton's story, at first glance, is not intended to reflect on the breaking of stereotypes, although, in the path he decides to navigate, it begins a subversive thought, in which a monster is capable, as well as any person, of fall in love with a festivity that you didn't know before. The doors are theoretically open for exploring the new. We actually have, despite this anti-conservative surface, a split with thoughts of social integration. Each little world in this created universe is far from the other, reaching the point where the union between two different ones, Halloween and Christmas, causes chaos and not harmony. The onslaught is somewhat tragic, whereas Skeleton Jack fails to translate Christmas into the creatures of Halloween City, failing to be the character Santa Claus (Ed Ivory) who ultimately fixes the mistakes made by the protagonist. Tim Burton's cinema is, in a way, excluding, but not with a malice, arising, however, from a more saddened and pessimistic view of reality. By being seen as different, Tim Burton ends up looking at his own characters, sort of versions of himself, like Edward Scissorhands, and putting them apart from society, which cannot, even at the end of the story, accept them. Children, for example, completely reject Jack's gifts in Strange World.

As good a fable as it is, this film takes us to Jack's questions when he finds himself creatively exhausted. On the other hand, we follow the rag doll Sally (Catherine O'Hara, "Frankenweenie"), whose curiosity complements what the Christmas spirit means so that it never becomes repetitive: a little creativity here; a bit of curiosity over there.

But the big difference is in the direction of Henry Selick ("Coraline"), who takes us from Halloween City to Christmas City, composing characteristics of the characters, which are intertwined in the feelings of scary and cuteness. In this story, the stranger not only doesn't fit, but allows himself to be many things. But the central issue in this permissiveness is the problem of putting it above all in favor of self-acceptance. The protagonist Jack has a crisis with Halloween because he should accept himself and so he could also love himself and also be able to love. Soon the character Sally has her narrative counterpoint parallel with her visions, being oppressed by the scientist who created her, in her capacity to self-destruct and build, apart from empathic understanding. She is the symbol of love that the screenwriter is so fond of, as can be seen in the writer's work in the film "Edwards Scissorhands". She, Sally, puts fatality in front of Jack's fake, emulative, blind belief. Because in your project there is the ego, even if it glimpses your image, believe in the simplicity of recreating Christmas. The result is that with immoral means, even the convincing innocence in Jack's work, it still doesn't determine his understanding of what Christmas is, much less what happiness is, since the film is almost a theft of festivity, with each party having its way of being happy.

Because "The Nightmare Before Christmas" recreates the Christmas spirit with the traditional gothic touches of Burton and Selick, without failing, with that, to lose its essence. Counting on the subtlety of the director and the inventiveness of the creator of this story, the apex of the film is precisely when we discover that the Christmas spirit here is also present in the union of individuals, whoever they may be. But what moves the most in the film is Sally's platonic passion (voice of Catherine O'Hara), a kind of monster of Frankenstein who is treated like a daughter by the mad scientist Dr. Finklestein (voice of William Hickey), for Jack. The most sensitive songs are on account of Sally, but the best ones are on account of Boggarts (voice of Ken Page), including the best musical number too, with a backdrop full of fluorescent colors. By the way, the entire art direction of the film is fantastic.

Technical elements aside, the movie's greatest asset is really its brilliant story. Able to please the whole family, the tale of the skeleton who wanted to be Santa Claus for a day takes us back to the famous popular saying that people are what they are born for. In Jack's case, he passes on and renounces his status as the horror king in search of a world he has discovered and idealized and which he thinks is happy in it. And it will be from this new perception that he will look back and value his own universe and his real condition, as well as all of Burton's characters who look for nothing but ways to be happy. And isn't that exactly what we're all looking for? And that we are often blinded by the discoveries we make and only later realize the reality? That would be a good thought for everyone who comes to see the movie. Analogies aside, The Nightmare Before Christmas works very well as entertainment. A great movie that came from the imagination of a great character creator and excellent storyteller.

Jack Skellington is the Pumpkin King – the creative genius behind the holiday of Halloween, designing each year to be scarier and more horrible than the one before. However deep inside he longs for more than the horror and scares of Halloween Town, a longing he cannot understand until he stumbles into Christmas Town and sees happiness and cheer the likes of which has evaded him all these years. Having finally worked out what Christmas is all about, Jack decides to kidnap Santa and make himself the new king of Christmas Town so that he can have the happiness of Christmas all the time. But the others in the towns realize the significant consequences that this disruption of the norm will have as Jack's evil nature proves harder to overcome than he thought.

With Pixar currently dominating the world of 'animations that please both children and adults' it is easy to forget that over a decade ago Tim Burton delivered this delightful family film to the cinema using a much more traditional animation and a huge amount of imagination. The basic plot is a great little fantasy fairytale with a very dark heart to it that make it much more enjoyable for having that edge. Too often kids films (especially at the time and animated) are soaked in a sweet sentiment that simply forgets that kids are not stupid and indeed often prefer a bit of darkness in the story. The only downside of this darkness is that younger children might not 'get it' and just end up being scared by the Halloween images and imaginative images. Despite this the material will play equally well to adults and children because it neither panders to nor excludes one group over the other at any time. Regardless of the material, the film still manages to come off as charming and enjoyable thanks to a well-written script that never plays for the basic laugh or easy sentiment. Some viewers may come to this with Pixar in their minds and bemoan it for not being hilariously funny from start to finish, but they are missing the point and

The songs reflect this approach and are very clever throughout; whether it is the sorrowful longing of Jack at the start or the Cab Calloway-inspired song from Oogie Boogie Man, generally they are inventive and fun. The same praise can be laid at the door of the stop-motion animation, which is inventive and fun to look at from start to finish. All the characters have a great deal of effort put in and they add to the dark feel of the film. The voice cast may not feature a load of well-known voices in the same way as Pixar films generally do, but they still do a great job. Sarandon and Elfman combine to do a good job with Jack; Page is fun as Oogie Boogie; O'Hara is good as Sally despite not having as fun a character to work with but for my money it is Hickey (as Dr Finklestein) and Shadix (Mayor) that make the biggest impression, mainly due to having the most enjoyable characters.

Overall this is a very short but very enjoyable film that will please both children and adults at the same time (with the same material) and never ignores or panders to one side of the audience over the other. Both groups will appreciate the dark fairytale, the clever songs, the darkly imaginative animation and the comic sense of humour, making this a family film that deserves to be remembered even as kids movie get smarter and fancier.

I was a kid when I first saw Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas, but I wasn't scared by it in the slightest - this world is one entirely of the imagination, and in a sense saying that the film is scary for younger children is something of a compliment. 'Nightmare' is both a horror film and a musical, and fantasy and a suspense film, and like most Burton effort, comedy is thrown in at just the right moments.

With Henry Selick as director and Michael McDowell & Caroline Thompson as the screenwriters, Burton has fashioned the worlds of Halloween-town and Christmas-town as real originals, working on the cliches that are in each holiday and surrounding the worlds with a host of terrific and terrifying characters. While Halloween-town has a mayor (appropriately with two faces, one smiling one distressed), the real leader is Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon voices with a great Danny Elfman as the singing Jack) who orchestrates Halloween every year for its citizens. But he's grown weary over the years, and after stumbling upon Christmas-town, loaded with good will towards men and a large man in a red suit, he gets his town riled up to overtake the joyous holiday. Despite one protest by Sally (an amazing Catherine O'Hara), the doll-girl who loves him, the town goes on creating Jack's vision. The results are hilarious and, indeed, spellbinding.

Much credit is given to Burton and Selick for their work on the film, but a lot should also be attributed to Denise Di Novi (co-producer and co-designer), Rick Heinrichs (visual consultant), Pete Kozachik (D.P.), and of course Danny Elfman for his perfectly fitting score and song creations. Along with the talented voice actors, Nightmare Before Christmas ends up a triumph of artistic ingenuity. Some could construe it as too weird or too stylish, but for the cult audience it has garnered over the past ten years it remains of of Burton's finest accomplishments. A+

I am not a big Tim Burton fan, but this movie is in my top 3 of all time. Perhaps the fact that Halloween is my favorite holiday influenced my opinion, but I doubt it. The more I hear and read about this movie, the more I love it.

Based on a parody of the famous "Night before Christmas" poem by Moore that Burton wrote and illustrated while employed at Disney, this idea was stagnant for many years prior to filming. In many ways this was a good thing, technology was able to catch up to Burton's ideas.

In NBC, we see our hero Jack Skellington, aka The Pumpkin King, depressed as another Halloween passes. In the background we hear the residents of Halloween Town celebrate another wonderful holiday. But Jack is sad. The only one who notices is the Rag Doll-style woman Sally.

Other characters, including many town-monsters, are introduced. We meet the wonderful mayor with two faces, the evil scientist and his assistant, three local children and our evil boogie-man.

After an accident, Jack develops a plan to kidnap "Sandy Claws" and give presents out for Christmas in place of Christmas Town. You will have to view this movie to discover the rest.

The claymation is not what I expected, it was of a high quality and the movements are not jerky like the old Christmas Specials. Danny Elfman's music has little resemblance to his work with Ongo Bongo and "What's this?" (which Jack sings when he discovers the colorful world of Christmas Town) is closer to a tune mixed from Cabaret and The Music Man. The voices match the mouth movements nearly perfectly. This was a project from the heart and all the little touches to make it 'just' right show this fact.

This movie has always been a favorite of mine. I never like holiday movies, because i always find them to be full to bursting with slapstick comedy, or way too sugary-sweet and dramatic. both of these things are okay in moderation, but most Christmas movies seem to go to one side of the spectrum or the other. this wonderful fairy tale is perfect for someone like me, who likes a little bit of a darker movie, but expects a Christmas movie to have a good message. the darkness in the movie is not without cause-it shows the joy of Christmas in great contrast to the scariness of Halloween, and it made me love both holidays all the more for that reason. i don't know, maybe that's just because Halloween and Christmas are my favorite holidays, but i really feel that this movie is great for older children and adults. younger children (up to 5 or 6 years) may find this simply frightening, but older children would find it wonderful.