Some Things are better the Second Time Around

Disney has re-released the classic Nightmare before Christmas, in a fantastic digital 3-D presentation. I don’t normally like the whole reissue thing, but this current version is more visually spectacular than the original; and it sure sounds better too.

In short, the story of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare before Christmas follows the life of Pumpkin King Jack Skellington who is the inspiration for all spooks in Halloween town. Jack is looking for meaning to his life, and stumbles upon a door to a place called Christmas town after a long soul searching walk. When he enters the door, he finds a glorious colorful happy place, unlike anything he has ever seen before. Jack decides that it is time for Sandy Claws (Santa Claus) to take a break, and have the citizens of Halloween town take over Christmas. Unfortunately, our ghoulish friends don’t really understand the nature of Christmas, and they cause a load of trouble despite their good intentions. Jack in the end is forced to make things right, and realizes that all along he should have been looking around him for more meaning to his life; there is a girl named Sally who just never had the courage to walk up and tell him how she feels.

I have been a big fan of this film since its release in 1993, and it gets several viewings a year between the Halloween and Christmas seasons. If any of you remember, this movie did not fare well in the theatres, and was only out (at least in New Orleans where I lived at the time) 2 weeks. The toys and tie ins didn’t sell, and they all wound up in bargain stores. Despite what most of you might think, this movie was NOT directed by Tim Burton; it was directed by Henry Selick, the modern master of stop motion animation. It took over 10 years for Tim Burton’s original poem and the characters Jack, Zero and Sandy Claws to come to life back in 1993. I couldn’t verify this anywhere, but 14 years ago when NMBC was originally released, I heard that the original story was developed while Burton was a Disney animator for the Fox and the Hound. Since Burton was working for Disney, his idea was under their ownership, and that is why it was hard to get it made without their assistance.

The 3-D version of this film is nothing short of spectacular. The colors, the clarity, and new multi channel soundtrack mix breathe new life into the film without interfering with the original classic. If you have a theatre with the DLP projection system in town, go on down and check it out ‘ it will only be out for another 2 weeks or so.