With each passing day, the end of October is nearing, meaning that Halloween is approaching and soon it’ll be time to bring out movies fitting for the spooky season. And as much as I do like the newest scary movie, we can’t forget about the classics that have popularized Halloween such as Hocus Pocus, Coraline, and Monster House. These kid-friendly movies are a nice way to spend time with the family and may bring back nostalgic feelings for some.
Even now one of the most popular movies is the 1993 Halloween movie “The Nightmare Before Christmas” which is essentially about the pumpkin king, Jack Skellington, who has become bored with the same bland idea of scaring people and is tired of it already. So when Jack stumbles upon Christmas town he is inspired and decides to do something very different than what he’s used to doing which will eventually lead to some undesired consequences.
The film has a rather creepy but unique animation style as well as a storyline that progresses nicely that drew in young kids in the 90s, and even now we still bring back this film that all ages can enjoy.
Thirty years later, this movie is still enjoyable and worthy of bringing back when October rolls around again. It’s mostly due to nostalgia, a strong emotion that reminds us of the good times and how different that time was compared to now. It’s also about appreciating the movie and the memories we have of it so in a way it’s showing respect when we rewatch it.
In the movie, when Sally the rag doll has the chance to, she escapes from her creator, Dr. Finkelstein, and goes on to support Jack with all of his new ideas, even though she thinks it’s a bad idea. Along the way more characters are introduced, such as the Mayor, Oogie Boogie, and three troublesome kids: Lock, Shock, and Barrel. All the characters feel memorable and charming because of how different their personalities are which really add to the story. The way the characters act and express themselves to others also showcases the differences and similarities between each other.
When Jack’s planning starts getting out of control, Sally encourages him to stop everything, but he ultimately disagrees and kidnaps Santa. This ends up causing even more issues because Santa being in Halloween town attracts some trouble, specifically Oogie Boogie starts scheming something.
When more problems arise, Jack finally starts to realize that some things aren’t meant to change, and that you can’t change what’s already set in stone. With this realization, he starts to truly understand what he has and what he’s meant to do.
Some aspects of this movie that was really unique and added a nice touch to the film was the animation style, it has a dark and gothic vibe to it which really emphasizes the theme/tone of the movie.
Besides the impressive visuals, there were also some amazing songs that were used to express the characters’ feelings and atmosphere in the movie. Whether it was an upbeat cheery song that fit the Christmas aspects of the movie or the scarier, more eerie sort of song that perfectly fit the Halloween aspects, both types of songs were captivating and kept the viewers from looking away.
Another great aspect of the movie was the overall storyline, the idea of showcasing different characteristics of both holidays is something that you rarely saw back during its release in the 90s. As well as it still being quite rare, as you don’t really see much of different holidays being combined together in the present either.
“The Nightmare Before Christmas” is and will still be worth bringing back in autumn because of its many elements that are relevant to the October holiday. Classics like this movie are important because of the nostalgic feeling, the feel-good moments when watching, and the overall joy we get from them.
Some may even resonate with parts of the film which cause a better understanding of the message of the movie which creates an appreciation and care for the film as a whole and the hard work put into it to make it happen.
It’s no doubt that classics like “The Nightmare Before Christmas” deserve the amount of popularity it has received over the years with more generations continuing to enjoy this wonderful movie.