Word: burtons
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Burton's movies are continually faulted for being visual feasts without plots. More like cartoons than live-action films, they are heavy on surreal style and light on story development. Luckily, his leads are generally more cartoonish than real anyway: Pee Wee Herman, Beetlejuice and Batman. But as "Batman Returns" hinted, even these films are too limiting for Burton. With "The Nightmare Before Christmas," Burton may have found the ideal vehicle for his sensibilities: an actual animated feature totally free from the constraints of actors...
Though not directed by Burton, "Nightmare" is the most fully realized execution of his brooding fantasies. Director Henry Selick and composer Danny Elfman have produced a Christmas special gone terribly wrong. All the expected cliches are here: the despairing soul who doesn't understand the holidays, the possibility of a Christmas that almost isn't, a jolly but befuddled Santa Claus and...a mad scientist with a flip-top skull? "Nightmare" is a decidedly different celebration of the season...
Based on a story by Burton, the film centers on Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloweentown. After a perfectly executed Halloween--another one--Jack experiences a mid-death crisis. He longs for something to take away the monotony of endlessly scaring boys and girls. So when Jack discovers neighboring Christmastown, where children dream of sugarplums sans monsters under the bed, he will not rest until he has conquered the secret of this strange "Christmas...
...spreads it visually resembles. Uplifting to the last, the film maintains a child's-eye-view of the wonder of Christmas. And like those television specials it is a very secular celebration of Christmas. With the blending of the holiday with Halloween, it's probably just as well that Burton steers clear of the disturbing religious overtones of the plot...
CORRESPONDENTS: Joelle Attinger (Chief), Paul A. Witteman (Deputy), Suzanne Davis (Deputy, Administration); Chief Political Correspondent: Michael Kramer Washington Contributing Editors: Stanley W. Cloud, Hugh Sidey Senior Correspondents: David Aikman, Jonathan Beaty, Sandra Burton, Barry Hillenbrand, J. Madeleine Nash, Bruce van Voorst, Jack E. White