DVD : The Nightmare Before Christmas (Special Edition) [1994]

Rating: - this year Christmas will be ours!
Only Tim Burton could produce a holiday musical about Halloween's grotesqueries taking over Christmas.

And in fact he did. Burton wrote and produced a charming stop-motion musical called "The Nightmare Before Christmas," which is as close as we'll ever get to a Burton Christmas film. And there's rarely a dull moment in this town called Halloween -- from start to finish, it's a quirky, macabre, vintage-flavoured ride through the darker side of everybody's favorite holidays.

In Halloween Town, the undead Jack Skellington is king, and each Halloween the residents try to make their celebration even more horrible than the year before.

But this year, something is missing for Jack, and he starts wondering if scaring people is all his life has. He ends up wandering into a sort of holiday junction, and finds a portal to Christmas Town -- it's full of snow, lights, presents and innocent fun. Jack is instantly enamoured of Christmas, and decides that for this year, the residents of Halloween Town are going to celebrate Christmas.

He manages to convince the other Halloween residents -- except the sweet rag-doll Sally -- to go along with his plan. So Halloween Town is redecorated and filled with presents (in a suitably ghastly style) and "Sandy Claws" is abducted so Jack can take his place. But are the people of Halloween Town just not suited to innocent merriment, and can the Pumpkin King fill the capacious red suit when Christmas Eve rolls around?

The idea of Halloween ghouls and spooks deciding to take over Christmas sounds terribly twee in concept, like a gimmicky children's book. Fortunately Tim Burton's darkly humorous sense of humor and delightfully gothic designs -- as well as Henry Selick's brilliant direction -- end up turning the movie into something that is more than just another kid's movie. Think a Burtonesque "Princess Bride."

Much of its charm comes from the richness of Burton's visuals -- his Halloween Town is saturated in spiky iron fences, ghost dogs, insects, mad scientists, and a spooky cloudy night that never ends. And though the inhabitants of Halloween Town are devoted to being grotesque and spooky, there's a lighthearted benevolence in their actions at all times. It almost makes Christmas Town look... dull.

But it's also an incredibly funny, sweet little movie, with plenty of heart. There's an adorable little love story between Jack and Sally ("My dearest friend, if you don't mind..."), despite Jack's total cluelessness. And Burton weaves in lots of solid musical numbers ("There's children throwing snowballs/instead of throwing heads/they're busy building toys/and absolutely no one's dead!").

But the crown jewel is Burton's macabre sense of humor. Hardly a scene goes by without a creepy gag (one child's present is a shrunken head) or clever dialogue ("Jack, please, I'm only an elected official here. I can't make decisions by myself!"). But the best humor comes from the Halloween-town's residents eagerly trying to be festive, and only making Christmas even creepier than Halloween ever could be.

For a skeleton puppet, Jack Skellington is a pretty adorable hero -- he's earnest, generous, but suffers from a bit of ennui from the same old performance every year. His meditative songs about Halloween and his attempts at Christmas add an introspective note to him as well. And he's backed by a bunch of lovable characters, with Sally and the ghost dog Zero at the forefront.

"Nightmare Before Christmas" is a macabre, wildly adorable little movie that reminds us why we love Halloween (besides the candy). Sometimes the dark and fun go hand in hand.

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Rating: - Review
Review: The Nightmare Before Christmas

Tim Burton, the maker of "Beetlejuice" and "Edward Scissorhands", brings another classic film, for old and young alike. "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is an enchantingly unique film.
Pumpkin King Jack Skeleton (voiced by Danny Elfman, who also wrote the songs), bored with horror, stumbles on Christmas Town, a charming place where everyone is happy.
Jack, enthralled by this, plans to kidnap "Sandy Claws", steal Christmas, and give children everywhere a better Christmas than ever, with a taste of Halloweentown...
But allowing for the "Boogieman" and his evil dancing, can Santa and Sally stop Jack before he ruins Christmas for everyone?

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Rating: - A WORK OF ART!!
Last week I watched The Nightmare Before Christmas wednesday, thursday and friday...! It is a film you can't watch to many times. The characters are genuine, with Jack Skellington the Pumpkin King as the main character, who gives the film a depth which you wouldn't expect from a puppet. It is also a sheer joy to listen to the fantastic music by Danny Elfman, the music lifts the film to a higher level, with great and humorous songs and you can only wonder how so many things connect in a symphony of visual and audible pleasures. And the story itself is charming and original, with the crazy mix of halloween and christmas- It is in many ways a film suitable for evey ages, young and old, and adults will be as much entertained by watching this film as children are. Tim Burton has therefore in collaberation with Danny Elfman, and all others who has worked on this film, made a massive work of art, which shan't be underestimated, but valued for it's many wonderful aspects.

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Rating: - Why do people like this awful film?
I watched this, or I tried to watch this and fell asleep (even though I was not tired). My kids (aged 12 and 15) thought it one of the most useless films of all time. It is boring, it has no charm, it is utterly predictable. Nothing much happens, it makes no sense. It is infantile, the monsters are not scary scary, they try to be scary yet fail completely. Even the music is awfully bad. It just does not work as a kid's story or a musical or anything. Totally devoid of merit. A waste of time. Banal, sentimental tripe, absolute rubbish.

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Rating: - The best of the best!
I hate kids films, with a vengeance. Sitting through a Disney film makes me feel ill.
When I first saw this 13 years ago now with my youngest sister I was elated, finally, a good film that had the dark undertones and scares I craved as a teen.
The musical score, unrivaled in any other childrens film I reckon, written by Danny Elfman who is more notably linked to The Simpsons.
The story, well, self explanatory, each 'holiday' has its own world that runs it. The Pumpkin King, Jack Skellington, has been sucessfully running Halloween for years and years. The poor chap is in need of a change, he goes for a walk and ends up somewhere he has never been before, 'Christmas Town'.
Everything appeals to him, his bony heart beats with christmas cheer and he decides that he'd like a crack at 'making christmas'. He has Santa kidnapped and gets his ghoulish minions to start making toys. The chaps in Halloween town do their best, but perhaps inevitably, it ends up rather evil and really, really funny.
The way the film was shot using claymation and photography meant the film took 3 1/2 years to make. No skimp on quality there. The motions are seemless, the songs will stay in your head, and hopefully the cheer will stay in your heart.
Get the family round, young and old and put this film on.
Its sure to delight everyone!