The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Average Rating: 8.2/10
Reviews Counted: 73
Fresh: 70 | Rotten: 3
The Nightmare Before Christmas is a stunningly original and visually delightful work of stop-motion animation.
Average Rating: 8/10
Critic Reviews: 19
Fresh: 18 | Rotten: 1
The Nightmare Before Christmas is a stunningly original and visually delightful work of stop-motion animation.
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Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 879,859
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Movie Info
Despite having recently presided over a very successful Halloween, Jack Skellington, aka the Pumpkin King, is bored with his job and feels that life in Halloweenland lacks meaning. Then he stumbles upon Christmastown and promptly decides to make the Yuletide his own.
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All Critics (73) | Top Critics (19) | Fresh (76) | Rotten (3) | DVD (38)
This cautionary fable (Be True to Your Ghoulish Self) may be a little too twisted for little kids but anyone 8 or older will spot the friendly glint behind jack's empty eye sockets.
Top CriticI'm not sure I've ever seen a fantasy film that's at once so visually amazing and so emotionally dead.
A work of grand visual wit, clever songs, funny gags and genuine pathos, it is perhaps the greatest stop-motion animated film ever, a painstaking style of model animation that computers have all but completely done away with.
A fun house of funereal glamour.
The set designs are ingenious and the songs (music and lyrics by Danny Elfman) are fairly good.
The dazzling techniques employed here create a strikinglook that's never been seen in such sustained form, making this a unique curio that will appeal to kids and film enthusiasts alike.
In the 13 years since it was released to a predictably puzzled family audience, Tim Burton's macabre stop motion musical has wound its way through cult affection (and survived mall-Goth appropriation) to earn its rightful place as a genuine classic.
Tim Burton magic with just a touch of scariness.
...endlessly delightful, even as it deals in icky bugs and severed limbs.
O tom divertidamente sombrio da narrative, associado a uma direção de arte magnífica e à ótima trilha de Elfman, acaba resultando num conto de fadas que deve tanto aos Grimm quanto ao Expressionismo Alemão.
The thin story (the denizens of Halloween Town take over Christmas) is overpowered by the deliciousness of the images.
Let's hope the next time Disney re-releases this on home video... they will include the 3D version.
inspiring, wacky, and infused with Burton's unique romanticism suffused with, but not subsumed by, a gothic sensibility
A twisted revamp of Rankin-Bass by way of Edward Gorey. [Blu-ray]
a brilliant feat of movie making
Burton says that he was impressed by the Blu-ray version because it 'brings out all the textures and nuances' of the artwork. And it's true. As good as the DVD looked, the Blu-ray captures the fidelity of details even in the murkiest scenes.
Leave it to Disney to bring a film back to life over and over again just to make a buck. Fortunately, Nightmare Before Christmas is good enough to withstand all of the reanimation.
Tim Burton`s skewered sensibility finds excellent expression through the masterful stop-motion of director Henry Selick. The songs and score by Danny Elfman are wonderful; the characters are engaging; the visuals are enthralling.
This hugely entertaining horror fable for all the family might suffer from pacing problems, but it's also a true original that still stands out from today's CGI-heavy crowd.
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Latest News on The Nightmare Before Christmas
May 9, 2009:
Exclusive: The Art of Coraline with Henry SelickHenry Selick, the animation mastermind behind such Certified Fresh classics as The Nightmare Before...
December 21, 2006:
RT's Top Yuletide Kid Flicks -- Christmas Countdown, Day FourIt's Day Four of RT's Five Days of Christmas Countdown, where we serve up a different list each day...
October 22, 2006:
Box Office Wrapup: Prestige Defeats Flags for #1 SpotThree well-reviewed dramas fought over the weekend box office crown, but it was a pair of dueling...
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Foreign Titles
- Nightmare Before Christmas (DE)
- The Nightmare Before Christmas (UK)
