Growing up in the 90's, I never heard of Tim Burton until a few years later, as a teenage, I watched most of them, but while some of his films are good, I think that the best Burton film would have to be this, a stop-motion animated film about a pumpkin king who turns Halloween into Christmas.
Now, when I had the VHS copy of this film, I got really terrified at most parts in which they're very scary, but to my surprise, it was a well-put together film and it's a classic that still holds up to today on it's 20th anniversary. My only nitpick is that it's a bit too short, but there's a lot of good things about this classic.
The story is original and a nice concept that is well-done. The animation is great and the visuals are solid. From Halloween Town to the North Pole and everything else is detailed very nicely. The character models are great and the characters themselves are great too. Not to mention the voice acting for the characters is really impressive.
Chris Sarandon and Catherine O'Hara as Jack Skellington and Sally, the rag doll, are great and the romance between them is so cute. The other characters are well-voiced, but Oogie Boogie steals the show for being an entertaining villain voiced perfectly by Ken Page (who voiced King Gator in All Dogs Go To Heaven). The singing voice for Jack from Danny Elfman is great and in fact, the songs are very catchy in an animated musical since the times of Disney.
"This Is Halloween", "What's This?", "Sally's Song", and "The Oogie Boogie Song" along with others are catchy and memorable to this day. The music score from Danny Elfman is great with a mixture of dark, Gothic, whimsical, and comedic that is done perfectly well. The tone is solid too with it's dark and scary moments and it's hilarious and light- hearted moments.
Overall, A Nightmare Before Christmas is a classic worth recommending to those who haven't seen it yet before Halloween will end and will always be a classic to those who grew up with it. Thumbs up!
4 out of 5 found this helpful