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"What's
This?!"
One of the
appeals of film is that it can transport us to strange and
wonderful worlds impossible to visit. We tend to admire the
richness of detail filmmakers bring to their visions; they
enrich our displacement. George Lucas' Star Wars series, Ridley
Scott's Blade Runner, and Luc Besson's The Fifth Element are
a few examples that overflow with detail too dense to fully
appreciate in one sitting. Imaginative oddities and surrealism
are also effective tools for placing us into unfamiliar surroundings.
Those of you who are enjoying the DVD release of Yellow Submarine
are surely bemused by the delightful Peter Max-inspired animation
style. And then we have the witty dementia of the man who
brought us Batman, Beetlejuice, and Edward Scissorhands, director
Tim Burton. He has fashioned a dark and amusing contemporary
fairytale, set in mysterious locations and populated by peculiar,
single-minded creatures. He has called on a fine body of talent,
specialists in stop action animation, to bring his creations
to life in The Nightmare Before Christmas.
In our naivete,
have we given much thought to where our holidays come from?
It seems that there are secret communities populated by tireless
citizens dedicated to making each of our holidays a success.
One such community, Halloween Town, overflows with ghouls,
goblins, bats, vampires, werewolves, and witches; all delight
in offering a good fright. The undisputed Pumpkin King is
the skeleton-like Jack Skellington (sung by Danny Elfman and
spoken by Chris Sarandon). He sets the tone, directing the
townsfolk with projects and tricks guaranteed to scare the
pants off.
But all
is not well with Jack. He's a bit depressed. While he can't
quite put his bony finger on it, something seems to be missing.
He craves more, something different. In a deep funk, he doesn't
even notice that Sally (Catherine O'Hara), a creation of the
selfish Dr. Finklestein (William Hickey), pines for him. Jack
wanders beyond the normal confines of Halloween Town and stumbles
upon a ring of trees. Each has a door built into its substantial
trunk; each is shaped like a symbol of the holidays we know
but are quite unfamiliar to Jack. He's intrigued by a door
that resembles a Christmas tree. He opens it and falls into
the trunk to be deposited on a snowy hill overlooking Christmas
Town. He decides to explore and finds himself among the creatures
responsible for Christmas. Gifts, candy, snow, and good cheer.
Jack is beside himself with wonder and glee. He can't fathom
what he's seen; he must return to Halloween Town to share
his discovery.
Jack seems
to be having a mid-life crisis. He's overcome by a need to
spearhead a more jolly holiday. So he devises a diabolical
scheme in which Santa is kidnapped. Jack will assume the role
of Jolly Old St. Nick to deliver ghoulish presents manufactured
in Halloween Town. Will Christmas be saved from the misguided
Jack? Will Santa become a mere snack for the Oogie Boogie
Man? Will Sally and Jack live happily ever after?
I must confess
that I normally dislike musicals. Phantom of the Opera is
the only Broadway musical I recall enjoying; I attribute that
to the dark underpinnings of the story. I find that I'm attracted
to Nightmare Before Christmas for similar reasons. Tim Burton
has spun a dark and witty tuneful tale that appeals to my
warped sense of humor. Recommended.
Video: How Does The Disc Look?
The film's
1.66:1 theatrical aspect ratio is presented in non-anamorphic
letterbox video. I found that I could soft-matte the film
to 1.78:1 on my 16x9 screen with no loss of relevant information.
The non-anamorphic video suffers from the usual softness inherent
in the limited number of active lines. Moire patterns and
jaggies were less of an issue due to the nature of the scenes
and scenery. The bit rate is a generous 5.5 to 6.0 Megabits
per second, so the image is quite clean.
The video
does not exhibit any annoying halos characteristic of edge
enhancement. Many of the film's scenes are in grays and browns
that don't highlight the color palette. But when the action
switches to Christmas Town or to homes on Christmas Eve, the
palette brightens and it becomes clear that colors are well-saturated
and smear-free. Blacks are deep and rich, with no noticeable
noise. While I would have preferred the film to be soft-matted
to 1.78:1 during an anamorphic transfer, I have to admit that
the quality of the video is quite good. (This DVD was released
on December 2, 1997, long before the word anamorphic entered
Buena Vista Home Video's vocabulary.)
Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?
The Dolby-Digital
5.1 audio is excellent. Danny Elfman's score and songs are
crystal clear. The frequency response and the sound stage
are broad and satisfying. The top end has a pleasant shimmer;
brass and cymbals are nicely conveyed. The dryly-recorded
voices have great presence. There are a few instances of surround
effects that are not at all gratuitous. A very nice mix indeed.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There? This early
Buena Vista release sports virtually no extras. All we have
are a full-frame theatrical trailer, French as an alternative
spoken language, English and Spanish subtitles, twenty chapter
stops, and a screen of three BVHV DVD releases.
Parting Thoughts
Tim Burton's edgy style is blended perfectly with Danny Elfman's
music and humor. (Their trying collaboration on this film
caused a bit of a riff that was subsequently repaired. Sleepy
Hollow was scored by Elfman.) This is a delightful little
film transferred to an unspectacular but wholly acceptable
DVD.
(There is also a special edtition of The Nightmare Before
Christmas available, and you can read our full review here.)
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