Fresh, fun, exciting, all those positive adjectives that a movie should be

Rating: 10/10 (21 June 2008)

This is a very special film on several levels. On a personal level, this is the first movie I ever truly fell in complete love with as a child. On a technical level, "Nightmare" is really an achievement because making a 76 minute film with claymation in 1993 probably was a nightmare comparable to what the production crew of "Jaws" faced. On a musical level, this is the best movie-musical of all time, in my opinion. Danny Elfman's score is one of the best ever written. Also, this is a milestone film in terms of story and characters. If "Nightmare" were filmed in live-time without the music, it wouldn't have the magic that put it #3 on my list, but it would still be a well developed, quirky story. As I say in every review, the most important part of film a film is its character development and its finale. Henry Selick and Tim Burton take characters that seem very unlikeable and make them personable. I actually think that the humble love story between Jack and Sally is the most romantic love story in film history. It's innocent. The entire film is innocent. A child could sit down and appreciate this film as I did, or an adult could do the same. It's colorful in a literal sense and a figurative sense. Also, "Nightmare" has the greatest opening sequence of all time, in my opinion. "This is Halloween" is undeniably creepy, and all of our Halloween archetypes spring to life before our eyes, promising an exciting hour and 15 minutes. Boogie is one of the most delicious villains of all time. He's just so rotten, you have to love him. His song with Santa Claus is priceless--there's something about the boogeyman singing a jazz number to Santa Claus that fills me with glee. Despite the darkness of the Halloween theme, Burton and Selick bring unimaginable beauty to the screen. Christmas town is straight from a child's (or Tim Burton's) dreams. The ending is also beautiful, but we won't talk about that in a review. The whole point of going to the films is to be taken somewhere that you can't really go. If there ever were a film that does that, this is it.