Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1288 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-10-02
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Dutch, English, French, Portuguese
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 77 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
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

On the DVD:This Special edition is a must for all Burton fans with the biggest gem to be found on a DVD release--"Tim Burtons Early Films" which holds his first two works. Vincent is clear predecessor of Nightmare before Christmas using the same stop-animation style and voiced superbly by Vincent Price himself; and Frankenweenie--a B&W live-action flick--takes you back to early B-movie territory seen through the eyes of a boy. Added to these films is a great special-features menu including a short documentary offering an interview with Burton, which exposes the inspiration for this magical animation and presents the three-year task of making the "Nightmare". On top of this is an in-depth commentary by director Henry Selick and Art director Pete Kozachik and layer upon layer of "character development" offering an insight into the intensity of thought that went into making these animated figures real. You also get a great selection of storyboards along with the sequences they manifest into, deleted storyboards and an animated sequence with a surprise alternative ending. The menu is beautifully animated in keeping with the style of artwork in the film. With a 1.66:1 widescreen format and Dolby digital transfer this charming DVD is perfect for Halloween, Christmas and beyond! --Nikki Disney

DVD Description
DVD Special Features:

Deleted Scenes and Animated Sequences
Behind The Scenes at the Studio
Storyboards and Image Gallery
Audio Commentary and Original Trailers
Languages: Dolby Digital 5.1 English, Italian, Spanish
Subtitles: English, English for the hearing impaired, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Widescreen format 1.66:1

Synopsis
Tim Burton's stop-motion animated feature finds Pumpkin King Jack Skellington thinking the grass is greener over in Santa Claus's holiday. He marshals all his goblins and ghouls to take over Christmas, but alas--poor Jack belongs to Halloween. An amazing visual and musical feast that should be seen at least twice to catch all the kinks and quirks in the nooks and crannies. Academy Award Nominations: Best Visual Effects.

Customer Reviews

this year Christmas will be ours!
Only Tim Burton could produce a holiday musical about Halloween's grotesqueries taking over Christmas.

And in fact he did. Burton wrote and produced a charming stop-motion musical called "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 called Halloween -- from start to finish, it's a quirky, macabre, vintage-flavoured ride through the darker side of everybody's favorite holidays.

In Halloween Town, the undead Jack Skellington is king, and each Halloween the residents try to make their celebration even more horrible than the year before.

But this year, something is missing for Jack, and he starts wondering if scaring people is all his life has. He ends up wandering into a sort of holiday junction, and finds a portal to Christmas Town -- it's full of snow, lights, presents and innocent fun. Jack is instantly enamoured of Christmas, and decides that for this year, the residents of Halloween Town are going to celebrate Christmas.

He manages to convince the other Halloween residents -- except the sweet rag-doll Sally -- to go along with his plan. So Halloween Town is redecorated and filled with presents (in a suitably ghastly style) and "Sandy Claws" is abducted so Jack can take his place. But are the people of Halloween Town just not suited to innocent merriment, and can the Pumpkin King fill the capacious red suit when Christmas Eve rolls around?

The idea of Halloween ghouls and 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 and 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 Halloween Town is saturated in spiky iron fences, ghost dogs, insects, mad scientists, and a spooky cloudy night that never ends. And though the inhabitants of Halloween Town are devoted to being grotesque and spooky, there's a lighthearted benevolence in their actions at all 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 and Sally ("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 snowballs/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 Halloween-town's residents eagerly trying to be festive, and only making Christmas even creepier than Halloween 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 Halloween and his attempts at Christmas add an introspective note to him as well. And he's backed by a bunch of lovable characters, with Sally and the ghost dog Zero at the forefront.

"Nightmare Before Christmas" is a macabre, wildly adorable little movie that reminds us why we love Halloween (besides the candy). Sometimes the dark and fun go hand in hand.

Review
Review: The Nightmare Before Christmas

Tim Burton, the maker of "Beetlejuice" and "Edward Scissorhands", brings another classic film, for old and 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, enthralled by this, plans to kidnap "Sandy Claws", steal Christmas, and give children everywhere a better Christmas than ever, with a taste of Halloweentown...
But allowing for the "Boogieman" and his evil dancing, can Santa and Sally stop Jack before he ruins Christmas for everyone?

A WORK OF ART!!
Last week I watched The Nightmare Before Christmas wednesday, thursday and 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 and humorous songs and you can only wonder how so many things connect in a symphony of visual and audible pleasures. And the story itself is charming and original, with the crazy mix of halloween and christmas- It is in many ways a film suitable for evey ages, young and old, and adults will be as much entertained by watching this film as children are. Tim Burton has therefore in collaberation with Danny Elfman, and all 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.