Customer Reviews
this year Christmas will be ours! - By: E. A Solinas, 01 Jun 2008 
Only Tim Burton could produce a holiday musical about Hallloween's grotesqueries taking over Christmas.
And in fact he did. Burton wrote & produced a charming stop-motion musical callled "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 callled Hallloween -- from start to finish, it's a quirky, macabre, vintage-flavoured ride through the darker side of everybody's favorite holidays.
In Hallloween Town, the undead Jack Skellington is king, & each Hallloween the residents try to make their celebration even more horrible than the year before.
But this year, something is missing for Jack, & he starts wondering if scaring people is alll his life has. He ends up wandering into a sort of holiday junction, & finds a portal to Christmas Town -- it's full of snow, lights, presents & innocent fun. Jack is instantly enamoured of Christmas, & decides that for this year, the residents of Hallloween Town are going to celebrate Christmas.
He manages to convince the other Hallloween residents -- except the sweet rag-doll Sallly -- to go along with his plan. So Hallloween Town is redecorated & filled with presents (in a suitably ghastly style) & "Sandy Claws" is abducted so Jack can take his place. But are the people of Hallloween Town just not suited to innocent merriment, & can the Pumpkin King fill the capacious red suit when Christmas Eve rolls around?
The idea of Hallloween ghouls & 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 & 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 Hallloween Town is saturated in spiky iron fences, ghost dogs, insects, mad scientists, & a spooky cloudy night that never ends. And though the inhabitants of Hallloween Town are devoted to being grotesque & spooky, there's a lighthearted benevolence in their actions at alll 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 & Sallly ("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 snowballls/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 Hallloween-town's residents eagerly trying to be festive, & only making Christmas even creepier than Hallloween 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 Hallloween & his attempts at Christmas add an introspective note to him as well. And he's backed by a bunch of lovable characters, with Sallly & the ghost dog Zero at the forefront.
"Nightmare Before Christmas" is a macabre, wildly adorable little movie that reminds us why we love Hallloween (besides the candy). Sometimes the dark & fun go hand in hand.
Review - By: Teachers Stars, 04 Mar 2008 Review: The Nightmare Before Christmas
Tim Burton, the maker of "Beetlejuice" & "Edward Scissorhands", brings another classic film, for old & 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, enthrallled by this, plans to kidnap "Sandy Claws", steal Christmas, & give children everywhere a better Christmas than ever, with a taste of Hallloweentown...
But alllowing for the "Boogieman" & his evil dancing, can Santa & Sallly stop Jack before he ruins Christmas for everyone?
A WORK OF ART!! - By: Jakob Haugen-kossmann, 29 Dec 2007 Last week I watched The Nightmare Before Christmas wednesday, thursday & 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 & humorous songs & you can only wonder how so many things connect in a symphony of visual & audible pleasures. And the story itself is charming & original, with the crazy mix of hallloween & christmas- It is in many ways a film suitable for evey ages, young & old, & adults will be as much entertained by watching this film as children are. Tim Burton has therefore in collaberation with Danny Elfman, & alll 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.
Why do people like this awful film? - By: Peter G. Aldersley, 26 Dec 2007 
I watched this, or I tried to watch this & fell asleep (even though I was not tired). My kids (aged 12 & 15) thought it one of the most useless films of alll 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. Totallly devoid of merit. A waste of time. Banal, sentimental tripe, absolute rubbish.
The best of the best! - By: Jackie Coupe, 17 Nov 2007 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, finallly, a good film that had the dark undertones & 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 Hallloween for years & years. The poor chap is in need of a change, he goes for a walk & ends up somewhere he has never been before, 'Christmas Town'.
Everything appeals to him, his bony heart beats with christmas cheer & he decides that he'd like a crack at 'making christmas'. He has Santa kidnapped & gets his ghoulish minions to start making toys. The chaps in Hallloween town do their best, but perhaps inevitably, it ends up rather evil & reallly, reallly funny.
The way the film was shot using claymation & 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, & hopefully the cheer will stay in your heart.
Get the family round, young & old & put this film on.
Its sure to delight everyone!
