~ Opinion ~

A great film I thoroughly enjoyed with lots of interesting plot developments and a great soundtrack, including vocals provided by characters. The stop motion method used to create the film worked great and added a sense of quirkiness to an already unique concept and film in general. The animation is faultless with great character design and interesting things to look at everywhere.

The scripts suits the non-stop action from the stop-motion technique used. Although there is an abundance of information thrown at you throughout, you dont feel lost or as though Burton has forgotten you. Instead, you are almost escorted, able to enjoy the 'ride' and able to keep up with its momentous speed. In this way the climax is even more satisfying as you feel truly engrossed by this point.

As well as this, the action itself is overflowing with intrigue, which is something I greatly appreciate as I'm usually the type of person to re-watch films over and over and find it fun to look out for and hopefully spot new thing. This is definitely a film worth watching, one that I have thoroughly enjoyed for years and was brought up on. Not only is it funny, sweet and quirky, it is also greatly pleasing as the storyline is easy to follow and creative. Having been originally developed from a poem written by Tim Burton in the 1980s, it is astonishing to see how far he and others involved in the project managed to stretch the concept to such great heights, to achieve an excellent film ahead of its time for 1993.

~ Plot ~

Jack Skeleton (Chris Sarandon), Halloween Town's Pumpkin King, leads an annual Halloween celebration where the townspeople of Halloween Town put in a huge and scary display to celebrate their favourite holiday. Jack becomes tired of this and longing for something more, he become more and more depressed. One day he wanders through the forest with his ghost dog, Zero, and accidentally comes across a door that acts as a portal to another world, thus beginning the ensuing 'nightmare' for the residents of the town.

With a few twists and turns including the kidnapping of Santa, the revelation of Jack and Sally's love for one another and the defeat of an evil Bogeyman name Oogie Boogie, mixed in with a few energetic captivating song, the whole town rejoices as Jack returns home after having left them, dancing and playing in snow that falls as Santa flies away leaving Halloween town to return home. Jack and Sally sing one final song and we feel contented at them having finally found true love upon the film's closing.

~ Conclusions ~

A great, lively film with good musical numbers, great animation and a fun storyline. A personal favourite of mine and my family, that I grew up watching over and over and never really grow tired of it. In spite of knowing what happens now, the visual and audio aspects of the film makes it continuously interesting and a film that never truly can become boring. The songs are catchy and lively and add to an already excellent film. The voice actors do a great job of portraying the right amount of emotion to demonstrate regret i.e. at Jack never experiencing real change, or longing for love from Sally who has lived a life of inaction without real love. Despite being fundamentally a children's film it is in no way childish or 'dumbed down' and so it is a good watch for people of all ages, and despite being a Christmas film lacks any real cliche or over-emotional scenes. I think it is somewhat ironic that in all of the horror films I have watched throughout my life, it is perhaps this Halloween tale that haunted me most. Not necessarily for fear or anxiety, but rather in a more cinematic way. It was able to captivate me for years to come, and remain thoroughly entertaining even now. Isn't that what we all want from our films?

A film we've now come to expect from Tim Burton, a true classic.