It's an inspired idea that allows for all kinds of wickedness and invention, and the filmmakers take it to the limit. But the movie's tone is lighthearted, kept buoyant by Elfman's songs and holiday cheer.
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09/26/05
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The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
97
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:70
Fresh:68
Rotten:2
Average Rating:8.2/10
Consensus: A stunningly original and visually delightful work of stop-motion animation.
Theatrical Release:Oct 20, 2006 Limited
Box Office: $356,022
Synopsis: Tim Burton's holiday classic, THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, makes a return to the big screen this holiday season in stunning Disney Digital 3D™. The dazzling new make-over of the ... [More]
Starring: Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara, William Hickey
Director: Henry Selick
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Reviews for The Nightmare Before Christmas
With painstaking stop-motion photography, director Selick and his team have created a fluid universe that is not so much a cartoon world as a pretend world.
03/10/03
The Nightmare Before Christmas has something to offer just about everyone.
01/01/00
Top CriticFlattened for years on cable and video, Nightmare has been resurrected in all its tactile glory.
10/25/06
Top CriticThis 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.
11/27/07
A twisted revamp of Rankin-Bass by way of Edward Gorey. [Blu-ray]
09/07/08
a brilliant feat of movie making
08/28/08
inspiring, wacky, and infused with Burton's unique romanticism suffused with, but not subsumed by, a gothic sensibility
09/08/08
Thirteen years after its debut, Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas has gone 3D, which makes a good thing even better.
10/20/06
Top CriticThis is an amazing looking film.
09/24/05
This is an amazing looking film.
01/01/00
The characters are vivid and often hilariously revolting.... Visually, the film is absolutely gorgeous.
11/02/06
Is it cooler than ever in 3-D? Well, sure. But essentially, it's the same movie that drew Tim Burton fans into theaters in 1993.
10/29/06
A fun house of funereal glamour.
12/05/08
Top CriticThe 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.
10/30/06
Top CriticA magical celebration of the imagination.
12/09/03
The story, characters, music, and look of the film come together to form one complete, unified work with a consistent tone and feeling.
01/02/04
Working with gifted artists and designers, [Burton] has made a world here that is as completely new as the worlds we saw for the first time in such films as Metropolis, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari or Star Wars.
01/01/00
Top CriticThe director of the film, a veteran stop-action master named Henry Selick, is the person who has made it all work. And his achievement is enormous.
10/20/06
Top CriticConcise, elegant, a tad scary, this is a treat for Halloween.
10/20/06
Latest News for The Nightmare Before Christmas
May 09, 2009:
Exclusive: The Art of Coraline with Henry Selick
Henry Selick, the animation mastermind behind such Certified Fresh classics as The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach adds another gong to his cabinet with... More...
December 21, 2006:
RT's Top Yuletide Kid Flicks -- Christmas Countdown, Day Four
It's Day Four of RT's Five Days of Christmas Countdown, where we serve up a different list each day of the best holiday flicks around. Today, we've got something for kids and... More...
October 22, 2006:
Box Office Wrapup: Prestige Defeats Flags for #1 Spot
Three well-reviewed dramas fought over the weekend box office crown, but it was a pair of dueling magicians that North American moviegoers chose first as The Prestige opened at... More...
October 19, 2006:
Critical Consensus: "Flags" Flies High; "The Prestige" Is Magic; "Flicka" Is A Pretty Good Ride; "Marie Antoinette" Spared Critical Guillotine
This week at the movies, we've got a complex tale of heroism (Clint Eastwood's "Flags of Our Fathers," starring Ryan Phillippe), a story of dueling magicians... More...
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