Tim Burton: 9 , Danny Elfman: 0

Rating: 3/10 (24 December 2004)

Tim Burton created a visually fascinating environment and characters for The Nightmare Before Christmas, and gave them a clever rough plot, then Danny Elfman came along and basically ruined any potential the film had with some of the worst song lyrics I have ever heard. Since The Nightmare Before Christmas (TNBC) is a musical, this means that the majority of dialog sounds like it was written by a bored 13 year-old for a junior high school musical.
For example, from a song with the lame title of "What's This?": "What's this? What's this? There's color everywhere!--What's this? There's white things in the air!--What's this? I can't believe my eyes, I must be dreaming!--Wake up, Jack, this isn't fair!--What's this? What's this? There's something very wrong!--What's this? There's people singing songs!--I want it, oh, I want it, Oh, I want it for my own!--I've got to know I've got to know,--What is this place that I have found?--What is this? Christmas Town, hmm..."
Or how about
"Kidnap Mr. Sandy Claws--I wanna do it! Let's draw straws.--Jack said we should work together--Three of a kind, Birds of a feather--Now and forever, Wheeee--La, la, la, la, la"
Or:
"This time, this time--Making Christmas, Making Christmas--Making Christmas, making Christmas is so fine--It's ours this time And won't the children be surprised--It's ours this time--Making Christmas, Making Christmas--Making Christmas Time to give them something fun--They'll talk about for years to come--Let's have a cheer from everyone--It's time to party"
Elfman has impressive credentials and has done memorable theme songs and soundtrack work before. And, while I enjoyed his band Oingo-Boingo back in the '80s, their songs were conceptually clever but lyrically simple. And while Oingo-Boingo's songs like "Only a Lad", "Little Girls" and the like had catchy hooks, the tunes he wrote for TNBC are instantly forgettable. With a better songwriter and lyricist, TNBC could've become a classic, up there with "The Grinch who Stole Christmas" or "A Charley Brown Christmas". Instead, it has to settle for being a visual cult film, with memorable-looking characters and sets, but nothing memorable to say.