Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas was a hit since day one. It’s a fun filled film full of lovable and interesting characters and a unique story line. Here’s a brief review and some fun trivia facts about The Nightmare Before Christmas.
The world of “The Nightmare before Christmas” is an extraordinary one. Filled with magic and wonder, every holiday has its own special land. This film focuses on the story of life in Halloween Town, and one Jack Skellington, who happens to be the pumpkin King of Halloween Town. It all begins when Jack stumbles upon Christmas Town. He is bored with his life in Halloween Town and longs for some different tricks and treats. Christmas Town enflames his spirits with its magical colors, sights and smells, and Jack decides to bring this holiday back with him to Halloween Town. Unfortunately, Santa is kidnapped in the process (imagine that!), and Jack’s dreams to fill Santa’s shoes begin to fall apart. It is left to Jack’s sweetheart Sally to pull things back together.
Now here are some interesting trivia facts. Did you know:
•There is a Mickey hidden on the train when Jack is gallivanting around Christmas Town. The Steam blower puffs out a Mickey shaped cloud but it quickly turns into a rabbit shaped cloud.
•The girl and boy in the ‘real world’ are wearing Mickey/Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck pajamas.
•In the song, This is Halloween, the lyrics “…tender lumplings everywhere…” refers to “Tender Lumplings,” which was a song composed by Danny Elfman when he was with group The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo.
•Two items were invented to enable the filming of this movie. The first was a “light alarm” which would warn the animators if any of the stage lights failed to come on. The second was a system that allowed a puppeteer to seamlessly switch to a replacement puppet if a puppet broke during a shot. Before this film, in either situation (a light failing to come on or a puppet breaking) would have destroyed the shot.
•An excerpt from the theme song in Batman (1989) can be heard when the search-lights are looking for Jack.
•Two of the toys that Jack delivers refer to the movie Batman Returns, the film Tim Burton was involved with the directing of at the time. One is an evil duck on wheels, which is the vehicle that the villain the “Penguin” drives. The other is an evil cat doll, which has the same head as the mascot for Shreck’s corporation.
•Tim Burton had hoped to direct, but placed Henry Selick in the director’s chair instead as Burton was busy working on Batman Returns (1992)
•At the end of The Nightmare Before Christmas, vampires are seen playing ice hockey with a pumpkin. The scene was originally shot using a model of Tim Burton’s very own head, but was later replaced by the pumpkin.
•This was the fourth Disney animated film to be theatrically re-released since the classic hit The Little Mermaid. The first three were Fantasia 2000, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King. Aladdin was originally set up for a release on IMAX, but ended up re-released on DVD instead.
•Jack makes his first lengthy appearance in the movie Beetle Juice (1988) on top of Beetlejuice’carousel hat towards the end when Beetlejuice rises out of the floor, after being summoned by Lydia. Although this was Jack’s longer appearance, he actually first appeared in Tim Burton’s “Vincent” (1982), in minute 4:45, even if it is a very brief appearance.
•Patrick Stewart did the original introduction for the movie, which can be heard on the film’s soundtrack.
