15 reasons why The Nightmare Before Christmas is still a timeless classic 25 years later

370100 01: A young boy is astonished to see one of Santa’s gifts, an over sized snake devour the family Christmas tree in Touchstone Pictures animated film, “Tim Burton’s A Nightmare Before Christmas,” which will be returning to the big screen for the first time in seven years. (Photo by Joel Fletcher/Online USA)

Blending Halloween and Christmas

It is a concept that should never work and somehow it does. With The Nightmare Before Christmas, audiences watched as Tim Burton took Halloween and introduced Christmas themes to the party.

Who would have ever thought of having the Pumpkin King entranced by the joy and magic of Christmas? These two holidays are as far apart they could possibly be in terms of theme and how we perceive them, and yet somehow this movie works. Taking these two holidays and combining them just worked so beautifully, even though it never should have.

If you think about it, Halloween is the holiday that seems to be the official kick-start to the season, but it is considered dark and creepy, with scares and thrills. And Christmas is the culmination of all the preparation and work that goes into the “holidays,” while being a magical time of love, thanks, and cheer. So, one holiday is dark and scary, and the other is bright and happy, not a mix one would expect on screen.

Bringing these two holidays together and blending them into a creepy story of love and hubris is something Burton did exceptionally well. And we can’t imagine anyone making that type of holiday mashup work again, especially not after seeing it done quite so well.