DVD Review: TIM BURTON'S THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS

Written by Tim Burton, Michael McDowell and Caroline Thompson
Words and Music by Danny Elfman
Directed by Henry Selick
Voices by Danny Elfman, Catherine O'Hara, Chris Sarandon and Paul Reubens


I’ve never been able to pin down what exactly is the target audience for TIM BURTON’S THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. It’s a holiday tale seemingly too dark to be a Christmas classic and too warm to be a Halloween fright. It’s animated so that eliminates a good chunk of close-minded adults yet it’s far too scary for younger kids (unless you consider Santa Claus being tortured to be good wholesome fun). It’s a musical too so there go all the adolescents outside of the drama club. That doesn’t leave many but those who do count themselves as part of this film’s loyal following know how lucky they are. Sure, it’s an altogether bizarre amalgamation of two seemingly opposite holidays but it is also incredibly clever, darkly romantic and one of the most underrated and satisfying musicals of our time.


THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS originated in Burton’s mind in the early 80’s, while he was working at Disney. Not so surprisingly, the dark story was not the kind of film Disney was looking to make at the time and so it was left behind. Burton left Disney behind as well but went back years later to get his original concept drawings that would become the cast of countless cookey characters that have, since its original 1993 bow, spawned an incredibly successful merchandising line. The first and foremost of these characters is Jack Skellington, the pumpkin king who presides over Halloween Town. The citizens and denizens of Halloween Town aren’t bad people, er, creatures. No, rather they are simply carrying out what they were born to do – bring chills and thrills to the boys and girls of the world on the last day of October. Only after more years than he can count, Jack feels like something now is missing. His emptiness is only exacerbated by a fateful visit to Christmas Town. Jack is overtaken by this indescribable warmth and joy that exudes throughout this place that he’s never known before and suddenly, the world is full of possibilities again.


Walt Disney has been toying with us for years. The film has only been allowed out of that pesky vault once a year, finding what seemed like a new home in 3D theatres in time for Halloween. Finally, the mouse house has let Jack and friends back into our homes in a 2-disc special edition. “Special” would be putting it mildly. Not only is the film impeccably restored but the extras feel so rare that you truly feel as if you are being treated to a genuinely thorough backstage look at this artistic triumph. Deleted and extended scenes are raw and unfinished, giving them a silent film era look. Actor, Christopher Lee reads Burton’s original poem that the film is based on against illustrations inspired by Burton’s original concept art. Even the teaser trailer is interesting in a time capsule fashion and how often can you say that? It only goes deeper from there. The “Making of” is broken down into each part of production and we are introduced to the delicate intricacies of stop-motion animation. Hundreds of puppets, meticulously detailed sets and unique camera mechanics are only three incredibly fascinating parts of this immense three-year long project. And still, I am only skimming the surface here of what other options are included in this package. Burton’s short film’s VINCENT (the story of an impossibly melodramatic seven-year-old boy descending into the madness of his mind) and FRANKENWEENIE (a mad scientist boy brings his dead pooch back from the dead in this precursor to EDWARD SCISSORHANDS and homage to Frankenstein) are a particularly extraordinary inclusion. And finally, a brand new commentary track was recorded with Burton as well as the two other unsung heroes – director, Henry Selick and composer and lyricist, Danny Elfman (who also contributes Jack’s singing voice). They have plenty to say but oddly, they’re all saying it at different times, having recorded their commentaries seperately. Despite not recording together, they are all on the same page when it comes to their genuine appreciate and pride for this project.


There is not enough space here for me to convey just how unique THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS is. Burton, Selick and Elfman, along with the hundreds of other animators and contributors, drew inspiration from such Christmas classics as “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”, turned them inside out and somehow managed to come up with a contemporary version that will remain now forever listed amongst these original classics as a masterpiece all its own. Suffice it to say, it needs to be seen and if you find yourself loving it, then this collector’s edition is a must have.

FILM & DVD

TIM BURTON'S A CORPSE BRIDE

Written by John August, Pamela Pettler and Caroline Thompson
Directed by Tim Burton and Mike Johnson

A tiny, blue butterfly flutters about after being set free from the clasp of two frail, pale hands. It flies aimlessly up the streets and down the alleys of the fictitious British city of yore that is the setting of “Tim Burton’s ‘A Corpse Bride’”. It is a tiny burst of colour in an otherwise dark and gloomy (read: typical for Burton) city and consequently dark and gloomy life of Victor, who has just set this creature free after having immortalized it with paint and paper. Victor, voiced effetely by Johnny Depp, is to be married to a woman he’s never met the very next day in order to increase the stature of his family; A fate equivalent to keeping the beautiful butterfly under glass until it’s inevitable death.

These nuptials must go according to plan as much is at stake for both families involved. What fun would all this be if that’s what actually happened? While trying to get a grip on his pre-wedding anxiety in the forest just outside of town, Victor meets Emily, The Corpse Bride. Emily’s story is the stuff fairy tales are made of. Once in a love with a rich, handsome type that her parents did not approve of, she made the decision to elope. Only her fiancé had other plans. To be more specific, he killed her and ran off with her dowry. Not one to be deterred from her quest for true love, Emily decided to stick around the forest until a gentleman came along who would love her the way she deserved and for the rest of her afterlife.

Who hasn’t been there before, more or less? Jilted by love one too many times, we wait for the perfect someone to come along and find us sitting there, sweeping us away with promises of forever. Like Emily, we might end up waiting a while. Are we as good as dead if we just sit and wait for love to find us? I know we’re tired and broken but we’re certainly not proactive if that’s our approach.

Being dead isn’t so bad in this town though. In fact, the underworld is a hell of a lot more swinging than the one up on the ground. Skeletal folk living it up, singing of love, in vivid, wild colour while the living focus on their bank balances and inappropriate behaviour at the dinner table. This contrast could have ended up being terribly blatant but Burton and Johnson aren’t satisfied with leaving it so black and white. Victor and his intended bride-to-be are actually in love. Thus there is something worth fighting for, something worth living for, something ripe with possibility that grows amidst the drab, dark despair of this supposed life.

To both push this story forward and kill some time, Burton and Johnson rely heavily on misplaced musical numbers, the opening song is promising but so much time goes by without another song popping up that you forget you’re even watching a musical. And despite my reluctance to make obvious comparisons, I can’t help but miss the jubilant and disturbing soundtrack to Burton’s previous, more cohesive stop-motion film, “The Nightmare Before Christmas”. Thankfully, the characters are both animated and voiced so symbiotically that the visual feast is more than enough to keep your stomach from growling with discontent. In fact, it was mostly during scenes where no one was singing that I was hungry for more.

Hope always manages to make its presence known in the demented world of Burton films and, in the case of “The Corpse Bride”, it carries you through to the end believing in love and the sacrifices one must make to let that love grow. One character asks, “Can a heart still break once it’s stopped beating?” The answer is found in the awesomely lively eyes of the already decaying Corpse Bride herself, a woman subjected to understand that if you try to keep life locked under glass, be that yours or someone else’s, death is the only inevitability.