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- Colossus.net
The Nightmare Before Christmas is a visual splendor. Done on the cheap, this could have been a gimmicky, unsatisfying experience, but, as the result of considerable time and effort, it is an unqualified success. All of the figures move smoothly and naturally, and the attention to detail is exquisite. We are given a group of cleverly-fashioned characters that look like refugees from Edward Gorey’s sketchbook. - Popmatters.com
When The Nightmare Before Christmas was first released in 1993, I recall a reviewer saying, “This is the kind of story Dr. Seuss would have written if he had grown up on heavy metal and horror films.” I must say that I agree. I’m not exactly sure what music Tim Burton (who authored the story on which this stop-and-go animated musical feature is based) grew up on, but I know that he is a huge fan of horror film actor Vincent Price. I think it’s pretty safe to assume that the many Price films Burton watched as a child helped shape his macabre sensibilities and laid the groundwork for Nightmare. - HorrorDVDs.com
There are few directors who have a fan base as dedicated as Tim Burton. While flying below the radar most of his career, Burton has managed to juggle commercial and box office success while maintaining the originality and spirit that has been present from the beginning. With characters ranging from a superhero, to a Headless Horseman, to the tale of a boy and his big red bike, we have been treated to a variety of tales from all ends of the spectrum. Even with such a broad range, Tim Burton has been able to give his stamp of approval on every film, changing it from ‘a movie’ to ‘a Tim Burton movie’. With all of the success that Burton has been associated with, it may be the one he didn’t technically direct that gives him the most recognition. What began as a childhood dream, Burton began work on what may be his biggest challenge to date – his animated take on Christmas. Bypassing the traditional animation cells, Burton and director Henry Selick created a world from the ground up, creating a world that is given life through stop motion animation. The result is one of his most recognizable movies in this generation – The Nightmare Before Christmas. With the Batman franchise being run into the ground, Pee Wee continually thinking with the wrong head, and the purists still bashing Burton for his Planet of the Apes update, The Nightmare Before Christmas may very well be the dark horse that stands the true test of time. - DVDLaunch.com
One of my favorite movies of all time, “The Nightmare Before Christmas” was the first DVD I ever picked up when I got my new player. I saw this film all the way back on opening day when I was living in Los Angeles, I waited on such a long line for tickets at the El Capitan theater in Hollywood. But it was worth it. This movie blew me away. No, it was not the Oscar-nominated visuals (though they did and still enchant me), but rather the strong story about stealing other people’s joys, the music, the voice acting and the whole atmosphere in general. - TimBurtonCollective.com
While I dearly love every movie directed by Tim Burton, The Nightmare Before Christmas stands as my favorite of his movies. Okay, so he didn’t really direct it (Henry Selick did, but more on him later), but there’s a reason the full title is “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas”: it is his handiwork through and through. - FlakMag.com
There’s an irony to the film’s main message, which is “don’t try to pretend to be that which you are not.” It’s exactly what mainstream society has always told members of fringe cultures, as long as fringe cultures have been around. But the answer is loud and clear: “We aren’t pretending — this is who we are.” It’s those in the mainstream who have generally failed to acknowledge their true selves, and announce them to the world. - DVDReview.com
It’s the simple, yet brilliant premise at the center of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” which makes the film work. The notion of whole towns built around major holidays is a fascinating one, and this imaginative plot device immediately sucks in the viewer. (Of course, we’re left wanting to see the other towns. Is Thanksgiving-town run by turkeys?) Along with the intriguing plot, we are offered many wonderful characters. Despite the fact that we are watching puppets, each character is given a real personality and you care about each one. Jack Skellington walks the line between hero and anti-hero at times (after all, he does almost wreck Christmas), but we know that deep-down, Jack is just trying to do the right thing and this makes his character all the more lovable.
The other facet of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” that makes it a classic is the animation. This was the first feature-length stop-motion film and the 3-D art form gives the characters a depth and feel that cel-animation would have lacked. Through this pain-staking process, the animators have given us a truly unique vision and have been able to create a world that we’ve never seen before. - Roger Ebert Reviews
The movies can create entirely new worlds for us, but that is one of their rarest gifts. More often, directors go for realism, for worlds we can recognize. One of the many pleasures of “Tim Burton’s the Nightmare Before Christmas” is that there is not a single recognizable landscape within it. Everything looks strange and haunting. Even Santa Claus would be difficult to recognize without his red-and-white uniform. - Bikkit.com
It looks and feels anything but the standard Disney talking-animal fare that usually gets shoved down kids’ throats; Nightmare is a whole new breed of children’s films, if not of a whole new kind of film entirely, and for once I’m glad to report the people who are in charge of this stuff finally did something right. Yup, the verdict is in after having seen it at the age of ten and just a few days ago: it’s a film that can be enjoyed by children despite its weird, sometimes sinister feel, and it’s even better for adults who have grown to appreciate good filmmaking, even if it comes with a PG rating. - Rotten Tomatoes :: Find more reviews here!
