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Danny
Elfman .... Jack Skellington (singing), Barrel
Chris Sarandon .... Jack Skellington (speaking)
Catherine O'Hara .... Sally and Shock
William Hickey (I) .... Dr. Finklestein
Glenn Shadix .... Mayor
Paul Reubens .... Lock
Ken Page (I) .... Oogie Boogie
Ed Ivory .... Santa
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Susan
McBride .... Big Witch
Debi Durst .... Corpse Kid, Corpse Mom, Small Witch
Greg Proops .... Harlequin Demon, Devil, Sax Player
Kerry Katz .... Man Under Stairs, Vampire, Corpse Dad
Randy Crenshaw .... Mr Hyde, Behemoth, Vampire |
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Tim
Burton is the young director known for his comic-strip
visual sensibility (rooted in his early apprenticeship as a cartoonist and a
Disney animator) and black, surreal humor. During his stint with Disney, Burton
made a six-minute animated short, Vincent, narrated by Vincent Price.
The film used the skewed perspectives of German expressionism to portray the
dual life of a tortured, but seemingly normal suburban child; it won a number
of awards and was released commercially in 1982. His next venture, the 29-minute
live-action film Frankenweenie (1984) was deemed such an unsuitable Disney
product that it did not receive a proper release until 1992 when it finally
became available on video and on the Disney Channel. Nonetheless this
short grim fairy tale landed Burton his first feature directing assignment on
the superlatively silly Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
(1985). Next came Beetlejuice (1988), an inventive,
campy ghost story, with outstanding special effects, which became a sleeper
hit of 1988; its live-action cartoon style made Burton an intriguing choice
to direct Batman (1989), an enormously popular feature
that emphasized a dark, brooding atmosphere and stylish visuals but was marred
by a clunky story and somewhat leaden action sequences. Burton consolidated
his position as Hollywood wunderkind of the early '90s with Edward
Scissorhands (1990); a very personal suburban fable of a youth with
scissors shears instead of hands. The role of the "inventor" responsible for
Edward's bizarre deformity was played by Vincent Price, whom Tim Burton cites
as an important influence especially in his Roger Corman collaborations of the
early '60s in his directorial sensibility. That same sensibility was again on
elaborate display in Batman Returns (1992). Burton
returned to animation with his next feature as the producer, creator, and guiding
sensibility behind Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas
(1993), a wildly imaginative excursion into the macabre. While not directed
by Burton, the film boasted his trademark visual and thematic concerns, including
expressionist lighting, stylized and detailed production design, unrequited
love, a misunderstood protagonist on the outside of society, and a lively score
by Danny Elfman. Nightmare Before Christmas also had the distinction
of being the first full length stop-motion animated film produced by Disney.
Burton remained at Disney for his return to the director's chair for his first
period piece, the biopic Ed Wood
(1994). Shot in glorious black and white, the film starred Johnny
Depp as "the world's worst director" and featured Martin Landau as a debilitated
Bela Lugosi. While the film was smaller in scope than his last three outings,
Ed Wood was also the first Burton movie to be grounded in a truthful,
if bizarre, historical reality, unlike the internally consistent but fictional
worlds of Edward Scissorhands and the Batman movies. This was also Burton's
most personal film since Scissorhands, with many critics citing parallels between
Wood's relationship with Lugosi and Burton's with his mentor Vincent Price.
1996 marked the return for the dark director with his big budget sci-fi film
Mars Attacks based on the Topps cards produced during
the cold war of the sixties. Despite it's big budget and great cast, Mars
Attacks failed to do well at the box office, but it was loved by his legions
of fans and hailed as a masterpiece. This year Burton brought the tale of Sleepy
Hollow to the big screen, continuing his
reign as the master of gothic storytelling. |
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Jack
Skellington, the pumpkin king of Halloween Town, is bored with doing the same
thing every year for Halloween. One day he stumbles into Christmas Town, and
is so taken with the idea of Christmas that he tries to get the resident bats,
ghouls, and goblins of Halloween Town to help him put on Christmas instead of
Halloween -- but alas, they can't get it quiet right. |
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