The Nightmare Before Christmas
Is it a Halloween movie? Is it a Christmas movie? The easy answer is that The Nightmare Before Christmas is both. So this felt like a great way for HDYR to celebrate All Hallow's Eve and kickoff a run of holiday-themed episodes. Even though it was successful when it was released in the fall of 1993, I'm not sure any of us could have predicted the incredible legacy this film would have two decades later. Ironically, Tim Burton wasn't even at the helm for what feels like the purest translation of his imagination. A lot of our memories are tied into that initial misconception and that's where our conversation begins - with Disney's concerns over how this project was coming together and their 11th hour plans to rebrand it. We then come full circle with them ultimately embracing the property and their attempts to capitalize on its success.
Other topics include: the degree to which Danny Elfman's music informed the overall story, how involved Burton actually was with the production of the film, the painstakingly precise process of stop-motion animation and how many seemingly simple shots were actually incredibly complex, some confusion over the rules of this universe and the doorways to all of these other holidays, a somewhat muddled message and one tiny tweak to the ending that might have made it more cohesive, Easter eggs for other Burton movies that appear throughout, Chris' story about a haunted forest attraction, the triumphant return of Be & F and 2 Truth 1 Lie, and much much more!