The special edition DVD is unquestionably the version of this classic to buy. Included are a wealth of extras: the teaser and theatrical trailers; a documentary on "The Making of ..."; deleted scenes and storyboards, etc, etc. The best bonuses are two short films by Burton: "Vincent", a poetic tribute to the magnificent Vincent Price, narrated by the subject himself; and "Frankenweenie", a canine send-up of "Frankenstein", starring Shelley Duvall, Daniel Stern, and a cast of talented character actors. This DVD is one that you can spend HOURS exploring happily! Highly recommended as both a Halloween and Christmas treat.


Kidnap the Sandy Claws!   December 21, 1999
 36 out of 41 found this review helpful

This is my favorite animated film and in my opinion the best to come out of the Burton/Elfman team. The plot is... well... "different": The denizens of Halloween Town kidnap Santa Claus and have their way with Christmas. i.e. make a complete mess out of it. The visuals are spectacular (if a little dark) and the music and songs are wonderful and fit right in with the action. Regarding the "family appeal" of this movie: just keep in mind that this is a Tim Burton creation (Beetlejuice, Sleepy Hollow) and therefore it is dark, a little scary and the humor is on the sarcastic side. Oh, and if you absolutely can't stand musicals, then this movie will either make you a believer (like it did to me) or will put you off.

About the DVD edition: I've seen this movie in the theater, on TV, on VHS and now on DVD and I must say that the DVD edition had the best sound quality. They could have included some bonuses (a "the making of..." type of feature is really missing) but the excellent sound and decent picture quality was good enough for me.

Go ahead and give it a try, especially if you're a Burton/Elfman fan!


I Love this film so much, I'm buying it a third time!   August 25, 2000
 29 out of 41 found this review helpful

Call me crazy, but I already own this Tim Burton masterpiece on VHS, DVD, and the soundtrack on CD. Seldom would I ever consider buying a movie a third time, but I love this film so much that I am going to shell out the bucks again! Why? First of all, this movie is so good that it has already become a classic. The story can be enjoyed anytime, but especially at Halloween and Christmas. The story combines elements of both holidays ever so cleverly. Simply, the message of the story is be a first-rate yourself rather than a third-rate somebody else. Jack Skelington, the pumpkin king of Halloween gets "weary of the same old thing" and tries his hand at taking over Christmas from Santa ("Sandy Claws" as he calls him). The results of his efforts are both hilarious and touching. The music by Danny Elfman is outstanding and perfectly complements the story. You'll be singing the tunes to yourself. Oh yes, the other reason I'm buying "The Nightmare Before Christmas" again is because this edition will contain extra "behind the scenes stuff" that I love, which was not made available on my current DVD. This is one of those rare gems that I can recommend buying, even if you've never seen it before. Finally, during the last 10 years there have been many wonderful animated films made. Among my favorites are: "The Prince of Egypt", "The Iron Giant", "Toy Story I & II", "Antz", "A Bug's Life", and "The Nightmare Before Christmas". All of these masterpieces will appeal to all ages.


Be True to Your Ghoul   June 17, 2008
 25 out of 26 found this review helpful

Note: This is a review of the 2008 DVD release

What's this? A new "Nightmare Before Christmas" DVD package? Actually there are three versions: this two-disc set that includes a downloadable digital copy, a Blu-ray version, and a collector's edition that comes with a bust of Jack Skellington with a detachable Sandy Claus beard and hat.

Though this version is billed as a two-disc set, it actually has three discs. The third one contains the digital copy. An instruction sheet spells out in clear steps how to download the file to an iPod or similar device.

The movie itself is a feast for the eyes, ears and imagination. A delectable witches' brew of stop-motion animation, catchy show tunes and a seriously warped creative license, it always stays true to its timeless message: to be happy, be yourself. Devilishly nonconformist, it's an enduring holiday musical for the whole Addams family.

Well, almost. Though all of its fright gags are played entirely for laughs, some of the imagery is downright creepy, especially for small children. Anyone older than say, 6, however, should enjoy every minute. Teenagers will love it.

The story -- the citizens of Halloweentown attempt to annex neighboring Christmastown -- comes from the macabre mind of producer Tim Burton, who wrote it in his spare time (as a poem!) while working as a Disney animator in the 1980s. The movie blends the tastiest bits of Burton's earlier Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands with a sprinkling of the stop-motion magic first found in Disney's 1961 Babes in Toyland.

The imaginative cast of characters includes:
* Pumpkin King Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon), a mischievous misfit who believes his purpose in life is to merge the holidays of Halloween and Christmas.
* Jack's faithful dog Zero, a ghost with a glowing, jack-o'-lantern nose who, like the hound in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, eventually pulls a sleigh
* Rag-doll heroine Sally (voiced by Catherine O'Hara), Jack's love interest, who sews herself back together when she loses a body part
* Oogie Boogie (Broadway veteran Ken Page), a slimy, singing bag of bugs who channels the cartoon version of Cab Calloway in the old Betty Boop cartoons
* Lock (Paul "Pee-Wee Herman" Reubens), Shock (O'Hara) and Barrel (Danny Elfman, the film's composer), a trio of evil trick-or-treaters who "kidnap the Sandy Claws"
* Wheelchair-bound evil scientist Dr. Finklestein (William Hickey), a duckbilled quack whose flip-top head lets him scratch his brains for inspiration
* A mayor (Glenn Shadix, the interior director Otho in Beetlejuice) who is literally two-faced.

Blessed with the ability to bring adult minds back to child's level, Burton dwells in dark mischief. In fact, some of Nightmare's best scenes include the kidnapping of Santa Claus and Jack's hilarious attempt to replace him on Christmas Eve, when the skeleton gleefully delivers presents such as tree-devouring snakes and severed, shrunken heads.

Director Henry Selick painstakingly created the film over three years. Though he had a production crew of over 100, each minute of footage took a week, as each second required 24 ever-so-slightly different shots.

BONUS FEATURES

This 2-disc DVD package has a nice collection of extras:
* An audio commentary with Burton, Selick and Elfman.
* A downloadable digital copy of the film, which you can transfer to an iPod or similar device.
* Burton's first short, 1982's 6-minute "Vincent," a black-and-white stop-action film about a boy who dreams of being Vincent Price, who narrates.
* Burton's 1994 Disney live-action short "Frankenweenie." This 30-minute black-and-white film re-imagines the Frankenstein story as the tale of a young boy and his car-struck pet dog in suburban America. A recently taped introduction by Burton shows some working sketches being used for his full-length version now in development.
* A reading of Burton's original "Nightmare Before Christmas" poem by actor Christopher Lee
* A promotional film for the annual "Nightmare" makeover of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion.
* Promotional and making-of featurettes, a storyboard to film comparison, deleted scenes and theatrical trailers and posters


Zero The Red Nosed Ghost Dog   April 15, 2005
 23 out of 36 found this review helpful

This comparison would never have occurred to my had I not turned on my radio to a short bit on an opening musical the night after watching The Nightmare Before Christmas, but Danny Elfman's scoring for this 'operetta' is more than a little reminiscent of the music one popular in the Yiddish Opera style. For northern European Jews who had come from life in the shtetls (little towns) this music was comfort food and I thing that Nightmare owes more than a little of its attractiveness to fond memories of the klezmer style. Your experience, of course, may differ.

At any rate, the story does indeed take place in a shtetl, although this tiny town is really Halloween Town, and the residents could never be mistaken for anything else than the charming monsters that they are. Led by Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, Halloween Town is wrapping up its annual party of horrors and poor Jack is discovering that Halloween has somehow lost its meaning for home. Torn by his own dismal feelings he walks through the night until, by an accident of fate, he stumbles on another town full of joyful elves and decorated trees - you guessed it - Christmas Town.

Suddenly Jack is overwhelmed by the new feelings that Christmas seems to awaken in him. In a burst of envy Jack determines that this year Halloween Town will do Christmas in its own unique fashion. All the townsfolk join in Jack's merry plot except for rag doll Sally whose unrequited love for Skellington tells her that kidnapping Father Christmas is a potential disaster.

All of this is done in delightful musical style with an animation style that is part old and part new. A feast for eye, ear, and even heart. The story is simple but meaningful, as Jack discovers that Christmas is not about anything that you can touch or feel. And that there is a time to be terrible and, yes, a time to love as well.