A good film; just don't expect a masterpiece

Rating: 7/10 (14 November 2006)

I'd never seen this film until recently, although I'd heard a lot about it. After watching it, I can safely say that it has a dark tone to it, and yet also has a place for some degree of warmth. It's not a black-hearted or darkly spirited movie. It's a children's film. It's also a musical. A stop-motion musical with things that go bump in the night and their attempt at Christmas.
I have to say that the imagery in the film is striking. The entire look of the piece is instantly memorable and the songs and dialogue and everything else really just come together in such a way that it's a complete vision being presented. The end result isn't a masterwork however. It lacks the resonance of a real masterpiece of expression, rather being more of a cute and enjoyable, even if limited, spectacle.
This was clearly an inspired work, visually, but the story is a simple one: the pumpkin king finds his awesomeness in Halloween boring, discovers Christmasland and then the story proceeds from there. But the end impact of the film doesn't have a lot for Jack and the residents of Halloweentown and Jack is the only character that really develops (and not a whole lot).
But it has a couple fun songs, plenty of wonderful visuals and doesn't particularly grate. Jack is the second best expressive stop-motion character that I've seen, after Nick Park's Gromit. A good film; just don't expect a masterpiece. 7/10.