We were finally able to carve out some time to see Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas
in Disney Digital 3-D (heh, pun intended).
Whew. This was a movie that was made for 3-D. Granted, it didn't quite pass the eight- and four-year old test. After about fifteen minutes, Connery and Jessica (Disney Geeks in training) thought that their glasses had broken. I know that I will take some flak for this, but there is a reason I have only seen this film three times.The positives first. It is mind-blowingly beautiful in 3-D and Danny Elfman's soundtrack has some good tunes. What's This and Kidnap the Sandy Claws are the soundtrack's standout songs. The characters are very well developed and you believe in them as characters--not just as stop-animation figures. You empathize with Jack when he discovers Christmas for the first time and you know what Sally is going through with her unrequited love for Jack. And it looks so good in 3-D.
Now for the negatives. The film is way too long and the story drags for most of the film. Cutting out a few of the songs and expanding the final fight with Oogie Boogie would have added a lot. Also, the theme of love completing you should have been woven a little brighter into the plot. You get the idea from Jack and Sally; Dr. Finklestein and his new assistant; and from what is actually missing to make Christmas special; but it just isn't that apparent.
So, don't hate me. I still think you should see the movie, but mainly for the way the film makes the incredible transition into 3-D.
Nightmare has become a cult classic and it does have its merits. If you didn't get to see Meet the Robinsons
in 3-D, this is a good film for the experience. Beware, though, the theater may charge you an additional fee for the glasses
5 comments:
I saw this movie for the first time last Christmas on TBS (or some Ted Turner network), so I was subjected to commercials and, most likely, some editing.
I thought the movie dragged on a bit, but I chocked it up to the fact that I'm not always a fan of Tim Burton's work. Sometimes, it's just a bit to weird for me.
My wife and I are wanting to see it in 3-D to see if it adds anything to the movie. If it was just a 2-D showing I probably wouldn't be giving it a second thought.
But, this movie does have a cult following so that shouldn't be dismissed. That many people must know something that I am not grasping
Ray,
I love Tim's live-action films (Sleepy Hollow, Edward Scissorhands) but I haven't seen Corpse Bride, yet.
I think it is worth it to see the film in 3-D. Granted, the glasses aren't that hot, but the experience is really cool. Especially seeing the new Castle fly-by that is done before the movie.
I hesitate to whole-heartedly recommend it and I don't want to get slammed by the Nightmare fans, but it is so much more of a technical achievement than a great movie.
George you incredibly ign--
Sorry . . . just kidding. ;)
While I don't consider myself an extreme fan of NBC, I do think it is one of the company's more stunning animated achievements. It was a daring move back in the early 1990s and it has paid off. The NBC characters have slowly grown into evergreen properties that will be around a long,long time.
There are very few really great pieces of Halloween-themed animation and that is one reason I really love the film. The opeining "This is Halloween" number is brilliant and one of my favorite animated sequences of all time.
While I've noticed many younger kids who did not have the patience for it, my two sons have both loved it since early ages.
Thanks, Jeff. I wondered when I would hear from you on this. ;)
I agree that it is amazingly animated and that the characters have grown tremendously...but I still caught my mind wandering during the show.
I adored the Christmas Town scene and the Oogie Boogie song. I just felt the story needed some more, well, story. The layout and design were impeccable. The atmosphere was creepy and scary and oh-so Burton-y.
Deservedly, it needs to be with Snow White, Steamboat Willie and Toy Story. It is astounding. I would like to have seen it lose two or three songs and about 20 minutes.
Does this keep me out of CAS forever?
I have to admit that as much as I like Tim Burton, the best thing about seeing this in the theater was how cool Disney made the film by converting it to 3-D. At one point during the film, George leaned over to me and voiced EXACTLY what I had been thinking....This movie was made for 3-D.
Because of the depth of the scenes caused by the conversion to 3-D, the darker scenes in Halloween Town seemed even darker and more depressing because they were more noticable in the new format.
As for the feat they achieved with the stop animation.....Incredible!
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