#57: JACK SKELLINGTON

Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny, Puxathauney Phil, Tom Turkey, Father Time, and Baby New Year...seems that every holiday had it's own official character with the exception of Halloween.  What a crime!   And what a head slap in amazement that nobody thought of The Pumpkin King, JACK SKELLINGTON, sooner.

Tim Burton's creations show up on this list a lot, and his film NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS produced one of the best.   There are just so many things perfect about this film I can barely name them all.

The movie, which is based on a poem that Burton wrote while working as a Disney animator, is the first full length stop motion picture ever made.  So much time and effort was put into the film, that according to the official Disney site, they could only complete 70 seconds of film per week.

Longtime Burton collaborator Danny Eflman provided the wonderful singing voice for the character, and Chris Sarandon (who played Prince Humperdinck in THE PRINCESS BRIDE) did the speaking voice.

If you haven't yet seen this great film, you're really missing out on what easily is the best Halloween movie ever made, and one of the better Christmas films as well.  As Jack decides to broaden his horizons and take over Christmas, it doesn't quite work out, but after everything is put back in order by the end of them film, one thing is amazingly clear.

Halloween is a lot more fun than Christmas.

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