#11 - Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
There's a bit of a debate on whether this is a Christmas film or a Halloween one. Perhaps it's both and should be viewed in November? At any rate, I usually count it as a Halloween movie, but I'm in the minority on that. And I can see why people would call it a Christmas film. It's subject is Christmas, most of the movie either takes place preparing for or doing Christmas, and a secondary message of the film is that Christmas can't be ruined.
The film came out in on October 29, 1993. (See? It is a Halloween film.) I was eight years old when I saw it in theaters. To tell you the truth, even though it had a scant 76 minute running time, I got bored around the halfway point. (Although I was ADHD diagnosed, so that could be a reason.) I still feel that the middle of the film does start to drag a bit from when he gets back from Christmas Town to when Jack starts to deliver the ghoulish presents. Still, I can handle it better now and it's become a classic of sorts to my generation. (No thanks to the emo/hipster types that about 7 years ago made me never want to see the movie again due to it's overmarketing to them.)
The film brings back memories of the Rankin/Bass holiday specials that came on from the 1960s to the 1980s like Rudolph, Mad Monster Party, Year Without A Santa Claus, Jack Frost, or Here Comes Peter Cottontail. The film is, like those were, made of stop motion animation. It is also holiday themed with catchy songs. And the songs really hold this film together. They were written by the great film score composer and member of Oingo Boingo, Danny Elfman. He also provides the singing voice for Jack Skellington. (Chris Sarandon does the speaking voice.) My favorite songs from the film are What's This?, Kidnap the Sandy Claws, Oogie Boogie's Song, and Making Christmas. All of the songs have that trademark of Danny Elfman's early scores like Batman, Beetlejuice, and Scrooged. There's a lot of tuba, harp, piano, and trombone in this soundtrack. I also like the way Sally acts as a type of Cassandra figure in the film, and as a sort of Greek Chorus.
But why is it a great Christmas film? Well, I think it shows how odd the holiday really is when looked at from the outside, such as in the song 'What's This?'. The song also shows, through what's shot, the difference between the dead fall/winter period of Jack's world (and ours in the few months leading up to the holiday) and the glowing lights, happiness, and lifefullness of Christmas.
It's become a classic, but a Christmas classic? I'm not sure it's there yet for most, but for a lot of people it is. So it belongs at #11 on this list.
The film came out in on October 29, 1993. (See? It is a Halloween film.) I was eight years old when I saw it in theaters. To tell you the truth, even though it had a scant 76 minute running time, I got bored around the halfway point. (Although I was ADHD diagnosed, so that could be a reason.) I still feel that the middle of the film does start to drag a bit from when he gets back from Christmas Town to when Jack starts to deliver the ghoulish presents. Still, I can handle it better now and it's become a classic of sorts to my generation. (No thanks to the emo/hipster types that about 7 years ago made me never want to see the movie again due to it's overmarketing to them.)
The film brings back memories of the Rankin/Bass holiday specials that came on from the 1960s to the 1980s like Rudolph, Mad Monster Party, Year Without A Santa Claus, Jack Frost, or Here Comes Peter Cottontail. The film is, like those were, made of stop motion animation. It is also holiday themed with catchy songs. And the songs really hold this film together. They were written by the great film score composer and member of Oingo Boingo, Danny Elfman. He also provides the singing voice for Jack Skellington. (Chris Sarandon does the speaking voice.) My favorite songs from the film are What's This?, Kidnap the Sandy Claws, Oogie Boogie's Song, and Making Christmas. All of the songs have that trademark of Danny Elfman's early scores like Batman, Beetlejuice, and Scrooged. There's a lot of tuba, harp, piano, and trombone in this soundtrack. I also like the way Sally acts as a type of Cassandra figure in the film, and as a sort of Greek Chorus.
But why is it a great Christmas film? Well, I think it shows how odd the holiday really is when looked at from the outside, such as in the song 'What's This?'. The song also shows, through what's shot, the difference between the dead fall/winter period of Jack's world (and ours in the few months leading up to the holiday) and the glowing lights, happiness, and lifefullness of Christmas.
It's become a classic, but a Christmas classic? I'm not sure it's there yet for most, but for a lot of people it is. So it belongs at #11 on this list.
#10 - The Santa Clause (1994)
Another one from my childhood. Is it sad the thing I remember most about this one is how long it took to come to home video? The movie came out in theaters on November 11, 1994. It took until the Christmas season the next year to come out on VHS. That was a long wait for my sister and I, as we loved the film. We still quote it all the time, as we do with many films, but I haven't actually watched the film in about seven years or so. However I remember it very well as I watched it many many times when I was younger. In fact, the movie is funnier now than it ever was when I was a child. There's quite a few more adult jokes in the film that flew right over my head back then, and that's the mark of a great family comedy right there. (See Rocko's Modern Life for more of that!) For the nonexistent bunch of you who have never seen the film, here's the trailer so you can get the gist of the story.
Now this one came out when Tim Allen was at his most popular, being in Home Improvement at the time. If only Johnathan Taylor Thomas had been in it, it probably would have broken box office records. And boy do I wish he was in it, because the son in this film you just want to do horrible things to. He's so damned annoying. However, he's not as annoying as he is in the two sequels. Still, he's a whiny, petulant, sulky child throughout most of the film. And he doesn't have one funny line or scene. However, Tim Allen, Judge Reinhold, and David Krumholtz are at the top of their games here. Each have quite a few funny scenes and make the movie enjoyable. This is nothing like Tim Allen's recent stuff which has been god awful. He's basically a really cynical version of Tim Taylor, his character from Home Improvement here, and it's great to see that cynicism melt as the story goes on and he becomes Santa. Still, his son does bring the movie down, and I can't get over that.
The movie is great because it deals not just with the whole doubting Santa phase that kids go through at least once before they learn the truth later on, but it's also a divorce/custody film and a mid-life crisis film. Now, I must point out, because I find such subjects to be interesting, a part of the film that has been removed from recent home video versions of the film. There's a part where Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) has a phone number given to him in case of emergencies by his wife. He looks at it and says, "1-800-SPANKME?! I know that number!" Well, a kid called that number and racked up a $400 phone bill. It's not a big removal, but I'm glad my family has the original VHS that has the line still in tact, as I hate censorship.
The early 90s was a good time for family-friendly comedy, even though most were poorly reviewed. There's an absence of the genre today, and it's good to go back to the likes of The Santa Claus to remember it. Sadly, none of the best scenes are on youtube, or I would have shared them. No, only a few random ones were. Ones that weren't indicative of the film. So that's where I end this, sadly.
No comments:
Post a Comment