A Nightmare before Christmas

Every person does have some holiday traditions, I think. For me, "A Nightmare before Christmas" is a Christmas holiday tradition.

It's been on TV early this year, but nevertheless, it was shown. Well, even that wouldn't be a problem for me any longer, as I own the movie on DVD. But it's a difference between watching the movie on DVD and watching it on TV. TV is more of a 'this is for real' feeling for me.

What I like most about the movie is the story, closely followed by the looks.

As the movie is a couple of years old already, I'll summarize the story for you. Jack Skellington is the master of Halloween, the Pumpkin King. But he's bored with always designing new ways of scaring humans. Once, just once, he wants something different. Then, while walking in a forest close to his home - Halloween Town -, he finds himself in the world of another mystic figure: Santa Claus. Everything there is strange and new for him, because in his world it's always Halloween. And he wants to be in the middle of this holiday, just once. With the help of others he even manages to kidnap Santa Claus and take his place (although skeleton reindeer pull his sleight and the presents are a little ... odd). It backfires of course and he just comes back early enough to save Santa from the clutches of one very evil being in his world. Luckily, Santa can put everything right and Jack realizes that he doesn't have to walk through his world alone ... that someone was always waiting for him.

As far as the looks are concerned ... well, if you've never seen one of Tim Burton's stop-motion movies, I'll try to give you a short description: Whether it's in "A Nightmare before Christmas" or the younger movie "The Corpse Bride", the characters always look a little like sketches, but are done very artfully. Jack, for example, is very tall and thin (fitting for a skeleton) and wearing a strange kind of tuxedo with pinstripes and a collar that always reminds me a bit of a feather boa with a lot of the feathers pulled out. (Or Count Dracula's favourite cape, quite frayed from using it so often.) Sally, who's secretly in love with him, is a living rag doll, sewn together and animated by a mad scientist living in Halloween Town. She looks quite normal, save for the stitches running everywhere. Every character is unique, from the main characters right down to those only appearing once, but then, perfection seems to be a main trait of Mr. Burton.

"A Nightmare before Christmas" is one of my Christmas traditions and I love it.