(Not Really a) Review: Films I Watch at Christmas

🎵It's the most wonderful time of the year...🎵 And I'm so busy with Christmas preparations that I haven't time to write a proper review. So instead I'm doing a short list: my five favourite films to watch at Christmas. (Note that I didn't say "Christmas films". They're so trite and repetitive nowadays that I hardly bother watching any films specifically called Christmas films.)

It's a Wonderful Life (1946) is at the top of almost everyone's list of favourite Christmas films. And with very good reason. Sure, it's unrealistic and often silly. But it's so cute and heartwarming that I love it anyway.

Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) is a bit of an oddity. It's an adaptation of A Christmas Carol, obviously, with Uncle Scrooge as Ebeneezer Scrooge (what a surprise!) and other Disney characters as everyone else. By all logic I shouldn't like it at all. I've never been able to like A Christmas Carol. But it's entertaining, and surprisingly sad in parts. So I enjoy it much more than I'd expect.

Prancer (1989) is one of those films that I love mainly because I watched it as a child. Rewatching it as an adult I can see it's not nearly as perfect as I used to think it was. But nostalgia means I still watch it every Christmas.

No, this isn't even remotely a Christmas-y film. But Beauty and the Beast (1991) is my all-time favourite Disney film and one of the best fairy-tale adaptations ever made. That's a pretty good reason to watch it at any time of the year.

What do you mean, this isn't a Christmas film? It's right there in the title! The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) is a wonderfully creepy film that I love watching all through the year. At Christmas and Halloween I just watch it even more than usual 😄

And now, "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night"!

Review: The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Halloween is approaching (and Christmas preparations won't be far behind), so what better time for this review?

Most people have probably heard of The Nightmare Before Christmas. It's a stop-motion film based on a poem by Tim Burton (but it wasn't directed by him, despite what many people think). You know all those "monsters steal Christmas" films? This is one of them, from the perspective of the monsters.

The story starts in Halloween Town. Jack Skellington has grown tired of scaring people, and wants something different. Then he stumbles into Christmas Town.

Jack in Christmas Town.
(Side note: it took me an embarrassingly long time to realise his surname is a pun on "skeleton". In my defence, "skeleton" and "skellington" sound nothing alike in my accent.)

He decides that the citizens of Halloween Town should take over Christmas for a year. So he kidnaps Santa (who's then kidnapped again by Oogie Boogie the boogeyman), and the monsters try to make their own version of Christmas. Sally, Jack's love interest, tries to convince them that this is a terrible idea, and ends up captured by Oogie Boogie too.

The monsters making Christmas

Oogie Boogie. Easily the scariest monster in the film.

Sally

Jack takes Santa's place and delivers the monstrous toys to children. It goes exactly as well as you'd think. It ends with the military shooting Jack and his "sleigh" out of the sky. Jack finally realises what an idiot he's been, and sets out to find Santa and put things right.

He rescues Santa and Sally, kills Oogie Boogie (yay!), and apologises for the mess he's made. Santa undoes the chaos Jack caused. The people of Halloween Town celebrate. Everything's back to normal... and Jack finally realises he loves Sally. Took you long enough, Jack!

My overall opinion? I loved the film when I first saw it years ago, and I still love it. It's hilarious and scary and heartwarming, and Jack and Sally are surprisingly adorable for a skeleton and a ragdoll. Oogie Boogie is exactly as creepy as the Boogeyman should be. The residents of Halloween Town are so funny with their well-meaning trouble-making, and the ending always makes me go "aww!".

Is it available online?: Not as far as I know.

Rating: 8/10.