Loading ...Tim Burton's classic returns in 3-D so real, it's scary.
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 quite right.
Genre(s): Animation, Family, Fantasy, Musical
Runtime: 76 minutes
Rating: 8.0/10 (66,409 votes)
Release Date: 9 October 1993
Country: USA
Languages: English
Company: Skellington Productions Inc.
Sound: Dolby Digital
MPAA: Rated PG for some scary images.
Director(s): Henry Selick
Related Videos for The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Producer(s):
Tim Burton - producer
Denise Di Novi - producer (as Denise DiNovi)
Danny Elfman - associate producer
Kathleen Gavin - co-producer
Don Hahn - producer (3D Version 2006)
Jill Jacobs - associate producer
Diane Minter Lewis - associate producer (as Diane Minter)
Philip Lofaro - associate producer
Writer(s):
Tim Burton - (story and characters)
Michael McDowell - (adaptation)
Caroline Thompson - (screenplay)
Cast:
Danny Elfman - Jack Skellington (singing) / Barrel / Clown with the Tear away Face (voice)
Chris Sarandon - Jack Skellington (voice)
Catherine O'Hara - Sally / Shock (voice)
William Hickey - Dr. Finkelstein (voice)
Glenn Shadix - Mayor (voice)
Paul Reubens - Lock (voice)
Ken Page - Oogie Boogie (voice)
Edward Ivory - Santa (voice)
Susan McBride - Big Witch / W.W.D. (voice)
Debi Durst - Corpse Kid / Corpse Mom / Small Witch (voice)
Music: Danny Elfman
Tim Burton - producer
Denise Di Novi - producer (as Denise DiNovi)
Danny Elfman - associate producer
Kathleen Gavin - co-producer
Don Hahn - producer (3D Version 2006)
Jill Jacobs - associate producer
Diane Minter Lewis - associate producer (as Diane Minter)
Philip Lofaro - associate producer
Writer(s):
Tim Burton - (story and characters)
Michael McDowell - (adaptation)
Caroline Thompson - (screenplay)
Cast:
Danny Elfman - Jack Skellington (singing) / Barrel / Clown with the Tear away Face (voice)
Chris Sarandon - Jack Skellington (voice)
Catherine O'Hara - Sally / Shock (voice)
William Hickey - Dr. Finkelstein (voice)
Glenn Shadix - Mayor (voice)
Paul Reubens - Lock (voice)
Ken Page - Oogie Boogie (voice)
Edward Ivory - Santa (voice)
Susan McBride - Big Witch / W.W.D. (voice)
Debi Durst - Corpse Kid / Corpse Mom / Small Witch (voice)
Music: Danny Elfman
Posted on: October 17, 2008
September 2nd, 2008
Henry Selick did an amazing job adapting Tim Burton's original story ofthis Halloween/Christmas classic. I just bought the new two-disc setand am very happy to own it. I am a very big Tim Burton fan and this isdefinitely a Burton film so fans will not be let down. Watch it as soonas you can!
The singing is amazing as well as the songs themselves and all of thecharacters are brilliant. The story is the driving force and easily thebest part of the movie but the amazing visuals and stop motionanimation would be a very close second. I was blown away by how thisfilm looked as well as everything else.
If you grew up on this film like I did, you owe it to yourself to getthe new DVD set. It's like experiencing the film for the first time allover again. Give it a chance!
October 30th, 2008
I'll just put it this way: I didn't grow up on The Nightmare BeforeChristmas and, honestly, viewing it now, I don't get why it's so hypedup. I can understand how someone who saw it in their childhood, or evensomeone who saw it when it first came out, would consider it classic,but for someone who didn't, it just seems forgettable. I saw The CorpseBride before seeing this, and I thought it was better in every wayimaginable.
I'm not going to smash childhood memories and trash the film, because,really, there is nothing wrong with it. It's imaginative and fun, witha great plot and interesting characters. Unlike Tim Burton'slive-action movies, there is very few clichés. The fantasy word hecreates is rich, vivid, and unlike any other.
Now why I didn't like it:
- For 1993, the animation was top notch. For 2008, anyone first cominginto this movie is going to think it looks pathetic, which I did. Itjust takes you away from the overall experience. On an animation scale,comparing this to Wall-E is like comparing The Blob to Transformers.It's such a huge gap, it's almost impossible to ignore.
- It lacks a high entertainment value. Why? I don't really know, but Ihave read other reviews that agree with me. Maybe it would have beenbetter if it wasn't a musical.
- Except for a few songs, a lot of the songs just aren't . . . good.Some of them even felt gimmicky and there to characterize (such asOogie Boogie's song). The majority of the songs are just unnecessaryand don't drive the plot or characterization whatsoever.
Overall, being someone who literally just saw this movie for the firsttime a few hours ago, I was let down. I can understand why people whogrew up with it would love it, but those people also need to understandwhy people who didn't may not enjoy it as much. I personally preferanimated children's horror such as Monster House over this because ithas higher entertainment value.
6/10
November 12th, 2008
Tired with Halloween Pumpkin King Jack Skellington finds a land calledChristmas Town and plans to make the festivities very frightening.
Tim Burton's vivid imagination has made him a modern day great and thisis a sparkling gem with an acute perception of the holidays.
Opening with a catchy song "This is Halloween", Henry Selick's picturesets the tone for an entertaining and interesting adventure starring aspiderlike central character Jack Skellington is a wonderful creation,filled with many human emotions including hope and challenge and iseasy to watch. Danny Elfman has pitched the songs to match Skellingtonperfectly, especially when he first sees Christmas Town "What's this?"The animation may feel slightly dated with CGI taking over the genrebut the features on the DVD including the making of will leave youfeeling heart warmed and inspired by the work and effort the team wentto in order to achieve the visually stunning Oscar nominated effects.
The plot is very enjoyable. However there are slight shortcomings whenan important decision becomes an instant realisation. For example the'what to do about Christmas' dilemma. Nevertheless the dialogue islikable and is told with that charm of fantasy verses reality thatBurton does exceptionally well.
The songs are always upbeat and all the characters get a chance to singand shine, giving the picture a creative diversity. Jack's explanationof Christmas to the town of Halloween is a particularly annoying partwith other characters disrupting the flow of the song.
But this is a minor flaw when you have the classic well recognized"What's this" discovery song, not to mention a wonderfully colourfulmoment from Oogie Boogie. These two songs bring the light out of thedarkness and are the finest moments of the film.
The humour doesn't live up to recent Burton animation The Corpse Bridebut the characters in this animation are far better. The imaginationand darkness of the picture should not be discouraged and should beapplied to more animations.
The direction gives a charm that isn't horrific but pleasantly spookyand is therefore suitable for the whole family. The likability andhumanity of the characters also help give this picture a relaxing andenjoyable realisation that isn't to be missed.
The Nightmare before Christmas has been recognized as a 90's classicwith its catchy songs and a good plot that is memorable if not thesharpest and funniest you will ever see.
December 8th, 2008
The story? Terrible. The duologue? Terrible. The songs? Good, but wererestricted due to a weak plot. The animation? Absolutely fantastic! Awonderful looking film, and has some really interesting characters.It's really too bad that they are subjected to such a weak plot–Sadpumkin king wants to kidnap santa and accidentally ruins Christmas.Would have been fantastic if there were some bumps along the way, butthat's really just about it- kidnap santa, ruin Christmas, and lookgood doing it. I do like Burton's work, and really appreciate thepainstaking effort that must have gone into producing such mindblowingvisuals, but a movie with a weak plot is nothing more than… a weakmovie. Oh well. As a movie, this is terrible… as a visual treat thisis really hard to top…. I give it a 2 simply because I am rating themovie itself….