MERRY SCARY CHRISTMAS

By Jeff Strickler

From The Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), 10.22.1993, Metro Edition

The Nightmare Before Christmas is bizarre and intriguing. It's the work of Tim Burton. But wait, we're repeating ourselves.

Burton is the filmmaker with the other-worldly visions who has given us Frankenweeinie, Batman, Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands. That should be enough to tip off potential viewers that this isn't your typical holiday movie. It also should serve as notice that, love it or hate it, you're going to have to admire its flamboyance and audacity.

Odds are, however, that you're going to love it. Conceived by Burton and directed by longtime associate Henry Selick, the movie breaks new ground in form as well as content. It combines computerized special effects with stop-action photography--envision Gumby gone high-tech--in a story that puts an inside-out spin on "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas." Oh, yes, it's also a lighthearted, playful musical.

The title is a bit misleading, but the timing of its release is right on the money. This actually is more of a Halloween movie than a Christmas movie.

The story takes place in Halloweentown, a ghoulish place where an over-the-top assortment of monsters, goblins, mad scientists and politicians--perhaps the most frightening of the bunch--dedicate their lives to scaring each other out of their wits.

The hero of the story is Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King (voice by Chris Sarandon, Lipstick). Jack is facing a mid-life crisis: Halloween has become boring for him. "There's an emptiness in my bones," he complains.

Walking into the forest to sulk, he stumbles into a parallel universe: Christmastown. Everything is the opposite of Halloweentown. The colors are bright, people are happy and joy--not fear--predominates. Jack decides to bring the Christmas spirit to Halloweentown.

Alas, from his skewed perspective, he gets it all wrong. He misunderstands Santa Claus to be "Santa Claws" and assumes that the folks of Christmastown have come up with a more festive way of celebrating Halloween. Things really go wrong when Jack decides to spread some of Halloweentown's version of joy with the people of Christmastown; the kids of Christmastown wake up Christmas morning to find the dolls and electric trains they had requested replaced by shrunken heads and Christmas tree-eating monsters.

The tone of the film is much lighter than the plot may suggest. Much of the credit for that goes to composer and lyricist Danny Elfman (who has collaborated on all of Burton's projects since Pee-wee's Big Adventure and also provides Jack's singing voice). The upbeat music stresses that while the denizens of Halloweentown are frightening, they are not necessarily evil. Scaring people "is our job, but we're not mean," they sing.

The script, outlined by Burton and completed by two more of his frequent collaborators, Caroline Thompson (Edward Scissorhands) and Michael McDowell (Beetlejuice), also has a light touch. When three naive residents of Halloweentown are sent to kidnap Santa Claus, they end up bringing back the Easter Bunny.

The animation is impressive. One advantage stop-action photography has over traditional drawn figures is that the action takes place on three-dimensional sets that are illuminated by real lights producing lifelike shadows. Then the computers get involved and give the whole thing an eerie patina.

Finally, some credit has to go to the Disney Studios, which was willing to go way out on a limb for this project. After chalking up huge hits with Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast the past two years, it took nerve to make such a complete break from the warm-and-fuzzy genre to something that can be as outrageous as this is in spots. (Kidnapping Santa Claus! How's that going to play with the kiddies?) One imagines that Disney executives lost more than a little bit of sleep worrying about The Nightmare Before Christmas. They needn't have.