The Reel Rejects - THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993) MOVIE REVIEW

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Starting point is 00:00:42 Very excited to hop into this commentary. I hope we do a good job and flip a A. Let's make some Christmas. Oh, and Caroline Thompson. Didn't she write the script for Friggin Adam's family? I don't know. Her name is on more stuff

Starting point is 00:01:01 than you would think from around this time that was all sort of like spooky skewing it but she might have written on Casper to Pete Kozachik. Excellent cinematography and like two, it really makes you wonder about what the actual scale was because I think I often just imagine stop motion characters

Starting point is 00:01:19 being really small but they must be like actually a pretty decent scale. Pretty decent sizable. Yeah, Because you have to get the camera in there really close and everything. And I imagine that like there's already crazy math that you have to do with any lens when you're shooting on like 16 millimeter versus 35 millimeter. But like I imagine if you're shooting subjects that are like much smaller than normal, you probably have to take into take other things into consideration. Yeah. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:01:44 This is just such a, you know, it's evident why this is an enduring classic. But each time and this time especially, just so a lovely to see the marriage of different is. to bring such a wonderfully realized world to life with two very distinct Halloween Christmas aesthetics. But also, yeah, just like the density of great songs, there's not a lot of fat in there. And there are certain songs that, yeah, aren't as like, you know, iconic or the first ones that you think of. But even those ones, you know, serve either a, you know, narrative and thematic purpose and or, you know, just fill in another. layer of sound and and you know like emotive sound um oh and there we go we got the the voices of the uh singing voices here uh or the cast sung by so danny elfman uh was uh jack and then chris rand

Starting point is 00:02:43 did the speaking role and then sally was katherine hara william hickie i'm sure is like a that guy glen shattacks i think was in beetle juice if i'm not wrong paul rubens was locked so you got Pee-wee, Catherine O'Hara, and Danny Elfman doing the other two kids. Oogie Boogie was Ken Page. And then Ed Ivory, I'm sure, is also somebody. Oh, that cop. That's, you know what? I wonder if there's any trivia about that or anything like that or if there were other.

Starting point is 00:03:11 They're not even credited, are there? No, unless there are additional voices. Because, too, one of the fun things about the credit, like, I grew up in a credit staying family. So, you know, but one of the cool things about credits and animated movies that I have learned over time and here as well is just the way they break that stuff up because sometimes because oftentimes they'll have like the character animation credited and the voices credited and sometimes they'll do the credits by sets of characters or just like instead of like the normal live action like here's the cast and then the next department and the next department

Starting point is 00:03:43 like the the mixture of where voices and performers with animators goes is can be different um but yeah from like the big band stuff and like the jazzy stuff to the the more sort of like theatrical, you know, and I don't know, almost like circus or organ grindery kind of stuff. Like just so many like great little lovely sounds. And yeah, just a story about, I don't know, learning how to give yourself the proper amount of a break from your every day, but also learning how to like not lose yourself in the pursuit of, you know, breathing some new vigor into your life's work, I guess.

Starting point is 00:04:24 you know when it comes to credits do you like when they have like a little something on the side to like keep you there and do you prefer that do you think that takes away from what the credits are actually doing or and is there like a unique credit movie credit that you like I mean like I don't complain I don't have any sort of beef with that you know I don't think that we should have to like trick people into sitting through credits but like you know if you want to show bloopers or something like that or additional scenes I think I think that's fun um you know it's like i understand fully inc i am not sitting here absorbing everyone's name and a lot of the times it's most exciting for people who are actually working on this movie to behold the credits and see their actual name or someone you know um but you know yeah i i can't easily appreciate when there's stuff alongside them i often like in especially animated movies when they put little things happening there's like cute little characters walking by the screen are like oh here's a little scene in one corner you know here so if you are sitting here and you are watching the credits there's like oh here's a neat little treat

Starting point is 00:05:28 you know rather than it being like here's something else to watch entirely while you're not paying attention at all to this no i love uh the naked gun credits because they have like little fake names in there and like here's a brownie recipe or or you know some kind of weird play on words yeah yeah which i always loved as a kid i think the most unique weapon i mean the most unique one was weapons that we saw it was like a little triangle the way it was coming up yeah that was really a cool design for that. I like when people get creative with the credits. You know, it's an art

Starting point is 00:06:00 form into itself. Until AI starts doing that entirely, some people make those. But yeah, any just stray thoughts? You know, obviously we've been sitting here, we've been discussing the movie. So most of this is concluded, but you know, in a few

Starting point is 00:06:16 just closing thoughts of review or anything you're compelled to talk about. Yeah, I thought it was really fun. It was great getting to see this classic, a movie. I think that they do a really good job of, you know, showcasing a lot of character, a lot of detail and a lot of heart. And movie that's a lot shorter than what people probably think it is in its memories. Yeah. Because yeah, you think it's like, oh, this movie night before, night before Christmas. But it's only like maybe like an hour, 10,

Starting point is 00:06:43 hour 12, something like that. So yeah, it's a quickie. But yeah, thoroughly enjoyed it. And I will be watching it for years to come. And hopefully you guys watch it and watch our reaction or our commentary of it because we had a lot of I had a lot of fun. Yeah this is a blast and it's fun to get to share it. It's fun to get to dive in in a way where the point is to like kind of

Starting point is 00:07:05 now you can observe everything and kind of the point is to you know find those things but yeah it is interesting that this does feel you ever think about the time when you're a kid so much but like I am frequently marveled and one of the fun things about doing like the animated DC movies

Starting point is 00:07:22 different though they may be from this is that there is a lot you can do. This is a nice reminder of like, oh, in an hour and 10 or 15 minutes, you can do a lot. For sure. Depending on what it is and how you're doing it. And this, yeah, you know, you have, it's weird.

Starting point is 00:07:36 When you're sitting and you're watching it, you're like, oh, I guess there isn't that. I had both feelings at different times because there were times where I would be like, oh, yeah, I guess this is a pretty compact and straight story. And then there were other times where I'd be like, oh, I forgot about this, you know. And it feels substantial.

Starting point is 00:07:52 It doesn't feel too long or too short. And it has just the right amount of grip on its fantasy and how lush it wants to be. It's like there's a ton of really great, you know, texture in the environments, in the natural stuff, in the, like, bricklaying and covalstones and the wrought iron and the shapes of the buildings. But, you know, you'll have a lot of very simple, just like the gray, sort of grayscale gradient sky in the backdrop. Like, they know where to be simple and where to be very ornate. and the way they embody Christmas and the warmth of Christmas is really potent, but it doesn't take over the movie so much that it clashes and the blend of Christmas and Halloween is really effective.

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Starting point is 00:09:24 for the whole year. So stop letting big wireless drain your bill every month. This is literally your sign to switch. Go to mintmobile.com slash rejects. That's mimmobile.com slash rejects. Link in the description box and pin comment. And because we're talking about finances, I should say. Off from payment of $45 required. Equip into $15 a month. Limit time new customer offer for first three months only. Speed may slow about 35 gigabytes on unlimited plan taxes, and extra see mobile for details. Thanks, Minmobile for converting me. and yeah like you know it's it's got such a fun array and medley of different yeah classic spooky characters uniquely burton-esque characters everything has some level of flourish on it and uh and yeah

Starting point is 00:10:03 like jack and sally it is fascinating because you there's so much of a you know iconic couple of characters who you associate with being you know in love of some kind yeah and i totally always forget that yeah they spend so much time not communicating properly and she's just trying to get his attention and just trying to warn him and she loves him so much but you know he's got the

Starting point is 00:10:28 world on his mind and you know the future of Halloween and now Christmas. Dreams and ambitions. Yeah and it's fascinating because I never would have thought about that. I'm like you are dating like the king of Halloween or you do you are in love with this guy and you know he knows your dad who's you know the Frankenstein

Starting point is 00:10:44 of the town You know, and these little things of like the mayor, who's an elected official, clearly, as he says. And it's just like, it's stuff that you don't have to think about. And it's not important. It's not plow holes. It's not any of that. But it is like fun to be like, oh, interesting. Like, this is for her.

Starting point is 00:11:00 She's at home, you know, she's just out here trying to live. He's out here with all these grand aspirations. And he loses himself. He loses sight of himself. He loses, you know, grip on just his world and his, you know, place in it. it and yeah she tries to you know keep him from falling down you know a bad rabbit hole and then you know he has his brush with that and then he finds his way back and comes back more energized for next Halloween you know back in his lane now that he tried something different and yeah

Starting point is 00:11:34 maybe it didn't go right and maybe he went too hard at it but you know he's back and it seems like now they can finally kind of recalibrate and and actually be together yeah sometimes you gotta fail to realize what's you have right in front of you yeah i think it's important lesson to at least you know even if it didn't work out he saw it through and gained inspiration from seeing it through but yeah the fact that most of the movie is not even with them together really it's not like that last song yeah he was a line right before that last song i'm like man so many iconic things like i was that's that one song like we can live like jack and sally then oh yeah like way too song yeah man is it is it don't waste your time is that song yeah yeah yeah i was like they're barely together

Starting point is 00:12:22 in this yeah yeah well you know it's a beautiful song at the end and it leaves you off yeah you're they're gonna go live spookily ever after or whatever but uh but this movie has like it has all the fun and and variety and and sort of gleeful spookiness uh and it's a little bit gallows and it's a little bit macabre. It feels very much like Halloween and the Christmas things feel very appropriately Christmassy, but I also love that there are just a lot of these very meditative, airy moments where you can feel the chill in the air. Like when they're on the snow-covered hillside at the end and the little icicles hanging down and you see the little footprints in the snow, like you really feel that stuff. Yeah. Or like when he falls off, when he hits the pole and he falls in that deep

Starting point is 00:13:05 jack-shaped like snow, just like, you know, depression in the snow. Like, you just feel that or the you know fog in the air or the you know smell of leaves on the wind yeah no it's very atmospheric in that way and you can yeah you you really get it and a couple of the fact that you know it's pretty cold in the studio so it makes it makes it feel more alive that too um oh my god yeah and really well constructed songs a lot of really interesting part like that yeah some good great stuff for like one singer or two and then some really great ensemble pieces and yeah just stuff that's like really perfectly macabre and perfectly heartfelt in its own way or perfectly soulful in its own way oogie boogie all that stuff that stuff was great and two like he lives i think

Starting point is 00:13:50 it's also kind of nice that this is from a time when like things had a little bit more edge even if they were kid accessible because like he lives in a gambling den essentially you know he's probably got in a harder version of this movie there's there's probably a brothel here you know and uh and yeah like even though he's of Halloween town it nicely separates him out as like this is a guy who's taking a little too far you don't want to hang out with him I wonder if in just my own head cannon here because obviously Halloween town all the spooky things if like what's the holiday and cocoa like is that a different door dia de los mortos yeah I wonder actually because they're so did I imagine if you climb the Halloween tree there's another door or something because it's

Starting point is 00:14:38 town over in that same door if you pan if you if you if you yeah dolly the camera a little over to the right there's another tree right next to it that has like a big sugar skull on the doors something like that because yeah it's like they're so close and the the skeletons hanging off the tree do have like if you gave them some ornate like flower designing and pinstriping they would look like you know the dia de los mortos like skeleton imagery you're used to seeing so it's like it's got to be like just down the just down the road they're both Disney. They're both in the Disney house. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:15:10 Funny. And, yeah, all the stuff that harkens to, like, you know, ink drawings and Edward Gorey and everything. And, uh, and yeah, just like props to the voice performers, both, especially Jacks. I think, you know, Danny Elfman is who the people think of most. But like the Chris Sarandon's performance of the character in dialogue really marries well with that. And it's all tied together in the animation.

Starting point is 00:15:33 Catherine O'Hara is amazing. The rest of the, we're going to have to go find out who some of the incidentals are. but yeah like such a great voice cast a lot of cool marriage of effects and yeah like uh it's got just the right amount of like just fun stuff in it that it's perfect for any holiday you know watch around Halloween to Christmas and anywhere between but also yeah it's got just enough extra sort of like pathos and an actual story about it an actual little you know fable happening that uh yeah like leaves an impact like not only is it beautiful and impressive and fun and spooky and it's got great music that sounds really good but it's also yeah like just really well attuned to being

Starting point is 00:16:12 exactly what it wants to be no more no less yeah and what that is is a lot of things so you know so it is an embarrassment of riches but yeah this is super beautiful yeah i'm happy we watched it it's a lot of fun yeah absolutely well gang leave us your thoughts on a nightmare before christmas thank you for joining us for this little uh reaction commentary we rewatch yakin at you thing and uh yeah hopefully catch you for something else pretty cool pretty soon and uh yeah this is a joy be well and uh you know stay spooky and get ready for christmas soon uh everybody scream

The Reel Rejects - THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993) MOVIE REVIEW

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