Danny Elfman
Nightmare Before Christmas

LA RECENSIONE

For the soundtrack of one of his most successful feature films, Tim Burton relies on the assistance of Danny Elfman, who has already composed famous “themes” such as those for Batman or Edward Scissorhands.

The result is a high-level soundtrack characterized by the alternation of sung songs (in the original version by Elfman himself) and instrumental themes that perfectly match the flow of the images. Elfman (and of course Burton) transport us to the fairytale world of Halloween Town, populated by friendly little monsters and the protagonist Skeleton Jack (in This Is Halloween) and the equally enchanted Christmas Land introduced by an amazed Jack in What’s This. As the story unfolds, we meet the evil Oogie Boogie in Oogie Boogie’s song and shortly after Sally, the protagonist of the melancholic yet splendid Sally’s Song.

But in my opinion, the most successful pieces, because they are more entertaining, are the ones where the entire Halloween Town community sings, like the aforementioned This Is Halloween, Town Meeting Song, and Making Christmas. Also noteworthy is the romantic and final (as the name suggests) Finale. As in, and even more than, the excellent subsequent The Corpse Bride, Elfman crafts an impeccable soundtrack for the genius Burton, in a perfect alliance of music and images.