Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas | Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas | Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon | Bonus Features Pay For the DVD Themselves!

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Tim Burton's The N...

	Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon Walt Disney Video/Touchstone Home Video, 1997 average customer review:based on 444 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

For those who never thought Disney would release a film in which Santa Claus is kidnapped and tortured, well, here it is! The full title is Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, which should give you an idea of the tone of this stop-action animated musical/fantasy/horror/comedy. It is based on characters created by Burton, the former Disney animator best known as the director of Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and the first two Batman movies. His benignly scary-funny sensibility dominates the story of Halloweentown resident Jack Skellington (voice by Danny Elfman, who also wrote the songs), who stumbles on a bizarre and fascinating alternative universe called ... Christmastown! Directed by Henry Selick (who later made the delightful James and the Giant Peach), this PG-rated picture has a reassuringly light touch. As Roger Ebert noted in his review, "some of the Halloween creatures might be a tad scary for smaller children, but this is the kind of movie older kids will eat up; it has the kind of offbeat, subversive energy that tells them wonderful things are likely to happen." --Jim Emerson

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Nightmare Before Christmas - Blu-Ray Edition: Disney does it again

This is without doubt the best looking and best sounding blu-ray DVD I have yet watched. The picture is nothing short of incredible. Such unbelievable clarity and depth, you would think the puppets are performing live for you in your own living room. I was slack-jawed at good it looked.

After seeing this film on blu-ray, it instantly renders every other standard definition copy obsolete.

Buy it now.

Bonus Features Pay For the DVD Themselves!

I have owned every version of this movie since it was released on VHS but this 2 Disc Collectors Edition far surpasses them! We've all seen the movie so I won't review how great this classic is. What I want to review is the Bonus Features on Disc 1.
They have a feature where Christopher Lee reads Tim Burton's original poem and they even did original animation for the story. BUt the HIGHLIGHT of the Bonus Features is the part where you get to ride through Disneyland's Haunted Mansion (with complete Nightmare Before Christmas overlay). The audio & video from the ride is crystal clear. You can make out every detail of the ride. But wait! There's more! After you experience the ride, you can go behind the scenes and learn more about what went into the making of the ride. Did you know that every year there is a different Haunted Gingerbread Mansion placed in the Dining Hall? Neither did I.
Disc 2 contains the same Bonus Features that were on the previous version of the DVD.
One more thing, when I opened the box, there was a $10 rebate inside for those of us who had the previous DVD. All I can say is that Haunted Mansion overlay feature paid for itself.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

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Everybody Scream!!!! Everybody Scream!!!!

This is what we have been waiting for! Looks and sounds great! This always puts me in the mood for the Fall and the most wonderful time of the year (when I visit Disneyland and see the Haunted Mansion turned into the Nightmare before Christmas!).

One of the more perfect family films out there.

With all due respect to those little teenagers wandering around wearing "Nightmare" gear from Hot Topic despite having no clue to what the movie is, I am one of those people that saw this back in its original debut clear the hell back in elementary school.

And the movie still charms me to no end. I just cannot get over the sheer sweetness of a story of Halloween horrors (who are still very nice people) wanting to share in the magic of Christmas--despite the fact that they are simply made for Halloween. It's simple, but charming and beautifully done with a message that speaks to adults as well as children. This actually may be one of the more perfect family films out there.

This edition I adore, from the awesome casing to all the bonus features that will certainly satisfy all geekdom. This is exactly how this film gem should be released.

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A Christmas... and Halloween... Classic

Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is a great little film full of strangely brilliant ideas and creepy, atmospheric settings. From the music to the meticulous character design, this is a thoroughly good movie that will entertain children and tug at the heart strings of adults.

The plot is a very inventive one. When the Pumpking King of Halloweentown, Jack Skellington (you guessed it, a skeleton), grows tired on the annual ritual of celebrating Halloween by scaring the wits out of everyone and dancing around with his fellow monsters, he takes a walk in the woods with his ghostly dog Zero. He happens upon a Narnia-esque area that gives him access to the lands where other Holidays dwell. Jack returns from this area obsessed with Chrismas, confident that he will be as good at being "Sandy Claws" as he is at being the Pumpkin King. Things, naturally, go down hill. The plot is pretty dark and the settings are filled with macabre characters and jokes, but there is so much heart in it that children--while they might be mildly frightened--will smile and laugh more often than gasp or scream.

The weak link here, as a few prior reviewers suggested, is the length of each song. While the majority of the songs are quirky and well thought out, a number of them would benefit from being more compact. Also, I felt that Jack's sudden urge to return Sally's romantic gestures happened a bit fast, and I would have liked a moment or so that built up to it. It certainly wouldn't have slowed this film down, because it's one of the shortest full-length features I've seen.

Overall, this cult classic is an entertaining watch, especially around Christmas time. Whether you like it or love it (because really, who can dislike it?), it's something that should be in every DVD collection.

8/10

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