“The Nightmare Before Christmas” may not have much in the way of plot, but it certainly is a visual feast.

The plot: Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, is tired of Halloween and longs for something new. When he accidentally stumbles upon Christmas Town, he decides to bring Christmas to Halloween Town and vice versa. Naturally, this causes all sorts of chaos as the two holidays/worlds don’t exactly mesh well together.

 

I’m not one of those viewers who fell head over heels in love with “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” To me, the romance between Jack and Sally felt forced and the plot was a little too thin for my taste. It’s very much a “what you see is what you get” type of film. With that said, there is still much to admire here. First and foremost, the stop-motion animation (directed by Henry Selick) is absolutely wonderful. Selick and company have created a rich, colorful, atmospheric world that is absolutely brimming with undead life. Each of the characters and sets have been carefully designed and it shows in the final product.

 

Many fans of the film adored main characters like Jack Skellington, but I actually found some of the secondary characters more fun to watch. Even though they do not have much screen time, the Clown With The Tear Away Face and Wolfman were my personal favorite characters in the film

 

As for the songs, there are several memorable tunes that tend to be stuck in my head often. My favorite is the catchy “What’s This?” in which Jack first glimpses Christmas Town.   

 

Note: This movie might be too scary for younger children. There a lot of monsters and creatures that could freak them out.

The 1.66:1 widescreen picture quality is not flawless, but the film has never looked better on home video. On the bright side, you can certainly notice more background and character design details in this particular print. On the downside, I did notice several artifacts (especially on Jack’s outfit) and the print had a few jumps and odd edits every now and then.

The 7.1 Dolby TrueHD audio track was exquisite. The songs and dialogue came through loud and clear (just the way it should be). A Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track has also been included.

* Digital copy.
* An 11 minute illustrated version of Tim Burton’s poem narrated by Christopher Lee.
* A 1 minute Tim Burton introduction.
* A 4 minute storyboard to film comparison.
* 8 mins. of deleted scenes and storyboards.
* Disney ad and trailers.
* “The Worlds Of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas”- Image gallery.
* Commentary by Tim Burton, Henry Selick and Danny Elfman. A must listen to for fans wanting to know more about the film.
* 2 trailers and 5 posters.
* A 25 minute “Making Of” that offers some nifty behind-the-scenes footage.
* “What’s This? Jack’s Haunted Mansion Holiday Tour” (7:00) with an optional trivia track. As I have never attended Disneyland during the holidays, it was nice to get a glimpse of this ride. Still, I prefer the regular Haunted Mansion.
* “Vincent” (6:00)- A delightful animated short film which is a tribute to actor Vincent Price. Vincent Price actually narrates the short.
* “Frankenweenie”- A 30 minute short in which a dead dog named Sparky is brought back to life Frankenstein style. Also included is a new Tim Burton introduction. He also speaks about a new feature stop-motion animated “Frankenweenie” that is in production.