The Nightmare Before Christmas (DVD, 2000, Special Edition)

The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my favorite pieces of animation. It is a charming story about Jack the Pumpkin King and resident of Halloween Town who is sick the day to day drudgery of creating Halloween. One day he wanders off and finds a doorway to Christmas Town. He enters the door and finds himself hip deep in snow and good cheer. He is amazed at this new holiday and decides that a great way to break out of his funk is to kidnap the guy most responsible for Christmas and take over his holiday for him. While Jacks heart is in the right place, the residents of Halloween Town have a tough time adapting to Christmas. Severed heads and man eating gift boxes are not what Jack had in mind.

I love this film. It is a bi-annual watch for me at Christmas and at Halloween. It is a very original story and it has some great musical numbers written by Danny Elfman, however the main hook for me on this one is the animation. I have always been a fan of stop motion animation and there are several scenes in this film that are jaw dropping. Hundreds of characters come flying, running and swimming into the shot and it looks like they move flawlessly. The amount of work that the animators had to go through is mind boggling.

The film is in widescreen format and the picture transfer is very good. It's presented in the original theatrical aspect ratio. The video transfer really captures the detail in the set design and the colors. Halloween town has dark and eerie blacks, browns and grays, back light by pale oranges and blood reds. Christmas town is filled with bright blues, reds and greens set against red brick houses and white snow. The colors are rich and warm. The sound is offered in Dolby Digital and DTS formats. Both transfers are nice. Since it’s a musical the main aspect I focused on were the songs. The vocals are sharp and stand out above the music. For the most part they sound great but at times the vocals overpower the music in the song. There is a director's commentary that runs through the film. There are some great pieces of info on how they did certain scenes and where ideas came from, but a lot of it is also covered in the making of feature and for me the feature is a lot more interesting.

The DVDs making of video is fantastic. It takes you through every aspect of the making of the film. There is a lot of great information about the set design and what influenced the look of the film. It looks at how the models were made and what went in to making them move and how certain tracking shots, a first for in stop motion animation history, were filmed. This is a true making of feature, not a slick five-minute promotional piece, on how the film was made. Fans of this movie will definitely want to see this. Folks who do not know how the film was animated will be amazed on how the characters were brought to life. If this does not give you a new appreciation of this movie when you are watching it, I do not know what will!

The disc has a lot of deleted scenes and storyboards that are ok. If you're not a hard core fan of the film then you could probably live with out seeing them. One deleted sequence had the identity of Oogie Boogie turn out to be one of the characters we have been introduced to before. Kinda cool. Better than the deleted scenes are the movement tests of Jack, Sally and Zero. They were made to show the Disney execs how the characters could use movement to show emotion. There is a slew of concept art and storyboa

This film really brought back stop-motion clay animation to a whole new audience, helmed by the lovably eccentric director Tim Burton. This is a very dark but interesting animated tale about the King of Halloween Town bringing Christmas to his nightmarish citizens.

This one maybe be a little too grim for the younger kiddies, but it's certainly worth a look, even though I don't think Burton really perfected his animation methods until 2005's Corpse Bride.

This DVD is certainly worth owning though if only for the early short films of Tim Burton, Frankenweenie and Vincent, about a young boy who wants to be just like Vincent Price in all his favorite horror films. Vincent is narrated by Vincent Price himself and is one of the best pieces of animation I've ever seen. It's essentially done in the same claymation style of Nightmare, only with a lot more concentrated style.

This DVD is recommended to all fans of stop motion clay animation and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to All Tim Burton fans.

Tim Burton draws attention to any of his work - people tend to love him or hate him... but with the Nightmare Before Christmas, Tim Burton has created a visually stunning masterpiece. The Nightmare before Christmas is a stop-motion animated movie following Pumpkin King Jack Skellington (Love the name!!) who chases what he thinks will be the finer life in Santa Claus's land. But Jack Skellington struggles to leave his world - Halloween!

The beauty of The Nightmare Before Christmas is that its beautifuly created and assembled. In fact, it was nominated for an Academy Award. This is the predecessor to Tim Burton's 2005 release the Corpse Bride. The Nightmare Before Christmas is a must have DVD as, with each watch, you will find new and special scenes and moments.

The Nightmare before Christmas is an amazing movie, With awesome characters and music. I love the gothical way Tim Burton took Christmas and tied it in with Halloween. I think every town should do that for Christmas. Tim Burton is brilliant in every sense. There is really nothing that I dislike about it. The only thing I would change is the music. I would rock the tunes with Marilyn Manson or AFI, Not that I dont like Danny Elfman. He also rocks!!! I decided to buy The Nightmare Before Christmas because it is a classic and I plan on buying more just to have on hand in case something happens to this copy. I wish I lived in Halloweentown!!!! Everyone hail to the pumpkin king!!! By the way the rating doesnt give this classic justice. There is no place that lets you rate omg this movie is bleeping the most awesomist excellent movie in the whole bleeping world....lol. Ok my fingers are tired now...you get the picture right...GOOD BYE!!!

Whether you're a fan of animated film or not, The Nightmare Before Christmas is a wonderful, magical movie. The animation is superb and displays Tim Burton's unique directing style, and the story is completely engaging. Danny Elfman delivers a captivating performance as Jack Skellington, with vocal skills to rival any polished broadway actor. This is definitely a movie for any age.