I always have had a special place in my heart for stop motion movies. Some of my favorite films to this day are in that media such as Coraline and Fantastic Mr Fox.
The first ever stop motion feature length film I watched was The Nightmare Before Christmas. The movie is a classic holiday movie. I watch the Nightmare Before Christmas every year. The characters are all extremely well-thought, from their character designs to their backstories. The visuals especially look very good, specifically the scenery. There’s no argument about how great the movie is; however there is a big debate on when is the best time to watch the Nightmare Before Christmas.
This year I watched the movie around Halloween which is a departure from my usual tradition of watching the movie around Christmas. While watching, it made me think, was there actually a correct time of year to watch this movie?
On the Halloween side, you could argue the movie has a more spooky and uneasy appearance due to a majority of the movie being set in Halloween Town. The town has many strange, over-the-top architectural and topographical aspects making the town seem uncanny and whimsical, like the smiling moon over the snowy, dark graveyard. This uncanny campness in the town is a very big aspect of the entire movie, in favor of the movie being a Halloween classic. The characters themselves, living in the town, are theatrical due to the fact the movie is a musical. The juxtaposition of a magical town and musical characters add to the strangeness, giving the movie a horror-esque vibe. In fact, the characters themselves represent quintessential Halloween monsters, like the Boogeyman or the generic ones, like witches and skeletons. The eccentricity of The Nightmare before Christmas fits the spirit of Halloween very well.
Though, on the Christmas side, the movie has the soul of a Christmas movie. The film has a big theme of love. The main character Jack Skeleton struggles with love for Sally, his community, and his holiday (Halloween). To fill the void of his feelings he tries to steal Christmas, ignoring everything else in his life. Like in every single Hallmark Christmas movie made, love is an integral part of the American experience of Christmas, so a major part of the story revolving around it makes the story very Christmas-like despite not appearing visually like it.
When I watched this movie around Halloween, I noticed a major shift between when I watch it around Halloween and Christmas. This year the movie didn’t feel as complete as it usually does. While the aesthetics of the film stayed the same and maybe was enhanced by Halloween, it was missing the Christmas spirit the movie usually had. For me, the movie didn’t have as much meaning as it did before. I believe The Nightmare Before Christmas is best watched around Christmas since you are still able to enjoy the message of the movies and how it works with the plot of the story to make it complete. You will also still get to appreciate the spooky visuals of the film.
