Thursday, December 8, 2022

Must - See? Or Must - Not - See?

Jack Skellington
The Nightmare Before Christmas

Sam was a good sport to weigh in on his favorite must - sees, so whether or not we agree with his assessment, it's only fair to allow him a thumbs - down on this one. I fear that his unfavorable impression stems from my bad parenting choice of encouraging him to watch it at the tender age of 5.
Dear Family,

I gave Nightmare Before Christmas another shot last night (after it was in timeout for the past 25 years). I don’t remember watching it multiple times. It was definitely a long time ago.

I tried to be open minded — but it still creeps the shit out of me / scares me, and I don’t really get it. Also, I couldn’t stop thinking of this Family Guy clip the whole time I was watching.

I’m not sure if we had family consensus (or if I had to use my security council veto) on no subsequent viewing. But I had flashbacks last night when I saw the creepy scientist dude + how Jack’s long legs move. I don’t know who at Hollywood decided that was a “Christmas” movie?! smh

Nightmare Before Christmas is to Christmas movies as an ice cream taco (structural neutral, ingredient rebel) is to sandwiches.

On the flip side, the “Halloween town” and “Christmas town” concept is cool + some of the lyrics are pretty good. I’m just glad Jack didn’t go down the thanksgiving tree; then we’d have real beef. 😤

Postscript from Cathleen: "Oh my! I’m intrigued. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it. Maybe we’ll give a try, or maybe we should watch something else! lol
Further advice from an expert viewer:

"I think The Nightmare Before Christmas is a delightful movie. Still, I can understand how Sam felt damaged by it. It's got some really dark and negative themes, but it's so inventive. I haven't seen it in a long time, but I remember loving the imagery, the Kurt Weillesque score and the voices of Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara, and William Hickey as some of the characters.

If you check the DVD, it should include a short film that Tim Burton made called Vincent, which is about Vincent Price, whose last movie was Edward Scissorhands. The short version of Frankenweenie is also lovely.

Thanks Steven!

Ben made some cut - out Christmas stockings & declared:
"Shortbread success! "Tastes like my childhood!"
So the movies may have been scary,
but the cookies were tasty!

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