Do you want to see ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’?

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 8.2/10
Reviews Counted: 72
Fresh: 69 | Rotten: 3

A stunningly original and visually delightful work of stop-motion animation.

Average Rating: 8/10
Critic Reviews: 18
Fresh: 17 | Rotten: 1

A stunningly original and visually delightful work of stop-motion animation.

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liked it
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.

PG, 1 hr. 16 min.

Animation, Kids & Family, Science Fiction & Fantasy

Directed By: Henry Selick

Written By: Michael McDowell, Caroline Thompson, Tim Burton

In Theaters: Oct 24, 1993 Wide

On DVD: Dec 2, 1997

Box Office:$8.6M

Touchstone Pictures

The Nightmare Before Christmas Trailer & Photos

More Photos (14)

Cast

Critic Reviews for The Nightmare Before Christmas

All Critics (73) | Top Critics (19) | Fresh (75) | Rotten (3) | DVD (39)

A fun house of funereal glamour.

December 5, 2008 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine

| Comment

Richard Corliss

TIME Magazine

Top Critic

The set designs are ingenious and the songs (music and lyrics by Danny Elfman) are fairly good.

November 27, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

| Comment

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

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.

November 27, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety

| Comments (2)

Todd McCarthy

Variety

Top Critic

The hippest of all holiday classics, the 1993 release rendered anew in 3-D format remains a postmodern three-ring circus of morbid humor, eye-popping puppet animation and show-stopping songs.

October 30, 2006 Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune

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Colin Covert

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Top Critic

Flattened for years on cable and video, Nightmare has been resurrected in all its tactile glory.

October 25, 2006 Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly

| Comment

Scott Brown

Entertainment Weekly

Top Critic

(Producer Tim) Burton's skewed vision is seamlessly realized by director Henry Selick and cleverly enhanced by Danny Elfman's songs.

October 20, 2006 Full Review Source: New York Daily News

| Comment

Elizabeth Weitzman

New York Daily News

Top Critic

Tim Burton magic with just a touch of scariness.

January 2, 2011 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media

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Liz Perle

Common Sense Media

...endlessly delightful, even as it deals in icky bugs and severed limbs.

October 21, 2009 Full Review Source: LarsenOnFilm

| Comment

Josh Larsen

LarsenOnFilm

O tom divertidamente sombrio da narrative, associado a uma dire��o de arte magn�fica e � �tima trilha de Elfman, acaba resultando num conto de fadas que deve tanto aos Grimm quanto ao Expressionismo Alem�o.

March 10, 2009 Comment

Pablo Villaca

Cinema em Cena

Let's hope the next time Disney re-releases this on home video... they will include the 3D version.

September 17, 2008 Full Review Source: FilmJerk.com

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Edward Havens

FilmJerk.com

inspiring, wacky, and infused with Burton's unique romanticism suffused with, but not subsumed by, a gothic sensibility

September 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Killer Movie Reviews

| Comment

Andrea Chase

Killer Movie Reviews

A twisted revamp of Rankin-Bass by way of Edward Gorey. [Blu-ray]

September 7, 2008 Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews

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Peter Canavese

Groucho Reviews Source: Groucho Reviews

a brilliant feat of movie making

August 28, 2008 Full Review Source: 7M Pictures

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Kevin Carr

7M Pictures

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.

August 27, 2008 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis

| Comment

James Plath

Movie Metropolis

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.

August 25, 2008 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine

| Comment

Sal Cinquemani

Slant Magazine

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.

July 8, 2008 Full Review Source: ESplatter

| Comment

Steve Biodrowski

ESplatter

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.

November 27, 2007 Full Review Source: Film4

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Saxon Bullock

Film4

The result, though refreshingly different from mainstream animated fare, is ultimately more trick than treat.

November 27, 2007 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide

| Comment

TV Guide's Movie Guide

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Audience Reviews for The Nightmare Before Christmas

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The problem with this is that it's both a Christmas film and a Halloween film and that doesn't really work. At Halloween it's too early to be thinking about Christmas but at Christmas it's too late to be thinking about Halloween and you just want pure Christmas. It is a good film with a good story and morals but it just didn't work for me.

July 25, 2006

Sophie Burgess

Super Reviewer

I remember seeing this in the theater as a kid. The main thing I remember is it's the first movie I saw with my mom where she fell asleep. I didn't think it was all that great at the time. However, time has been good to this movie. It's pretty much a cult classic now(hell my brother Matt has all kinds of

December 24, 2011

Everett Johnson

Super Reviewer

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