Instant Classic

Rating: 9/10 (12 October 2010)

More of a soundtrack than a movie, but that is not really such a bad thing when all 11 songs are top notch! The plot for this one is simple, Jack the king of Halloween is tired of his holiday and is fascinated by Christmas that he decides to replace Santa to experience the joy of Christmas although him and his people don't fully understand the elements of the holiday and instead terrorize the town with a mix of Halloween and Christmas. There a total of 11 songs with the first one reworked at the end along with the romantic Is Never Meant To Be to Is Meant To Be, although I can safely say that the first song This is Halloween and the villains' songs Let's Kidnap Sandy Claws and Oogie Boogie are the most entertaining, as always in animated features the villains have the best songs. The funny aspect about this movie is that is the perfect movie to play on Halloween and Christmas as well although I'd incline more with Halloween but it does have that Christmas spirit in the number What's This? and at the end of the movie where Santa wishes Jack a Happy Halloween and Jack replies with a Merry Christmas. I also love how they show the main character's growth when he admits the spectacle of Christmas but to also accept his place as the king of Halloween and how they both appreciate their holiday at the end of the film with that exchange of Happy Halloween and Merry Christmas, classic. Although I'd like to say that the movie is perfect, it does have some flaws. The main one is that Oogie Boogie deserves more screen presence as he was the best character in the movie with the best musical number but the audience only get to know that he is a gambler and one of the most feared in Halloween Town, although his death is extremely anti-climactic as Jack just happens to stumble on a loose string and pulls on it therefore releasing all of his bugs and killing him, lame. It would of being nice to see Jack and his goons terrorize the town at the beginning as well when they praise him at the beginning so we can see how Jack behaves as the Pumpkin King. Also, is never stated but one can safely assume that the town that Jack visits as Sandy Claws and the one that is fixed is the real world but it can also be Christmas Town for that matter since the elves look similar to the children but this last complaint is just a nitpick. My verdict is to definitely buy this movie since it's both a Halloween and Christmas classic and it belongs in any collection.