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By 1993, director Tim Burton was such a successful filmmaker in Hollywood that he was able to return to one of his most beloved early projects, "The Nightmare Before Christmas." It's certainly an inspired movie, as it is also very weird, and when I say "weird," I mean it's distinctly Burton.

Even though it was directed with enough competency by Henry Selick, this groundbreaking stop-motion animation film is Burton all the way, as it contains ample "esque" qualities that make this "Nightmare" uniquely his vision.

As the film opens in the twisted, "Burton"-esque village of "Halloweentown," Jack Skellington, who is dually voiced by Chris Sarandon and longtime Burton collaborator Danny Elfman, is celebrating another "horrible" Halloween. You'll be shocked and amazed at some of the town's inhabitants, who include jazz-playing zombies, Four Tenor-like vampires, a wolf man, and a wheelchair-bound scientist who occasionally opens up his cranium to (literally) scratch his brain; his creation, a Frankenstein-like scarecrow named Sally (Catherine O'Hara), yearns for contact with others and is quite fond of Jack Skellington.

But Jack's quickly growing tired of the same old routine year after year, and because he's so downtrodden with boredom, he ventures into the dark forest outside the town's borders, and accidentally stumbles onto the wondrous, jolly world of "Christmastown." Enticed by its splendor, he decides to bring back his discovery to the residents of Halloweentown, who of which are just as shocked by Christmas as he is. Jack gets the brilliant idea to pose as Santa Claus but hires three mischief-makers to kidnap the real Santa so he can share his own, misguided vision of Christmas with an unprepared world.

Painstakingly and meticulously crafted, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is a beautiful and wonderful film from start to finish. The most famous image of this film is the cover art, which features Skellington eerily silhouetted against a full moon while he stands atop a coiled hill that overlooks a desolate graveyard.

Burton is such a wonderful director, who had already brought us one unique "esque" vision after the other, especially with the first two "Batman" films and "Edward Scissorhands" behind him as of '93 when "Nightmare" was made.

10/10

I am not a big Tim Burton fan, but this movie is in my top 3 of all time. Perhaps the fact that Halloween is my favorite holiday influenced my opinion, but I doubt it. The more I hear and read about this movie, the more I love it.

Based on a parody of the famous "Night before Christmas" poem by Moore that Burton wrote and illustrated while employed at Disney, this idea was stagnant for many years prior to filming. In many ways this was a good thing, technology was able to catch up to Burton's ideas.

In NBC, we see our hero Jack Skellington, aka The Pumpkin King, depressed as another Halloween passes. In the background we hear the residents of Halloween Town celebrate another wonderful holiday. But Jack is sad. The only one who notices is the Rag Doll-style woman Sally.

Other characters, including many town-monsters, are introduced. We meet the wonderful mayor with two faces, the evil scientist and his assistant, three local children and our evil boogie-man.

After an accident, Jack develops a plan to kidnap "Sandy Claws" and give presents out for Christmas in place of Christmas Town. You will have to view this movie to discover the rest.

The claymation is not what I expected, it was of a high quality and the movements are not jerky like the old Christmas Specials. Danny Elfman's music has little resemblance to his work with Ongo Bongo and "What's this?" (which Jack sings when he discovers the colorful world of Christmas Town) is closer to a tune mixed from Cabaret and The Music Man. The voices match the mouth movements nearly perfectly. This was a project from the heart and all the little touches to make it 'just' right show this fact.

This is certainly a pleasant surprise. Tim Burton, purveyor of the wacko, has created, along with his amazing team, a real classic work. Seldom does a film bank on so much originality, from the incredible creation of Halloween Town, with its denizens, marvelous in their diversity and variety, to a really interesting plot. The character of Jack Skellington is a scene-stealer. Considering he pretty much a stick with a round, skeletal head, he has amazing expression and energy. He is an artist and a rebel, dissatisfied with the continuing shortsightedness of his frightening peers. When his world opens up through an accidental fall into another town, paralleling his own, he tries to bring Christmas back with him. The problem is that he really doesn't understand the concept well enough. He mixes his own social foundation with an alien one and the results are hilarious. Wonderful to look at with some of the finest animation you will ever see, each moment carefully scripted and produced.

Tim Burton's 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' is one of the nice animated movies not from Disney. It is about Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, who lives in Halloweentown. One day he goes through a door in a tree and arrives in Christmastown and sees how happy and beautiful it is over there. When he is back in Halloweentown he shows his friends what Christmas is like, and he suggests to do Christmas this year instead of Halloween. Things do not go as planned.

Everything is beautifully animated and although the story is not that great it is entertaining the whole way through. I liked all the songs in the movie and there are some good laughs as well. Definitely worth watching.

THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS / (1993) ***1/2

Starring the voices of: Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara, Ken Page, Ed Ivory, and William Hickey Directed by Henry Celiac. Written by Michael McDowell. Running time: 76 minutes. Rated PG (for horrific images and some animated violence).

Tim Burton seems like the only being on the planet who could come with characters such as the ones found in "The Nightmare Before Christmas." The feature is literally a tale likely to be found in a child's dreams. It creates a world of its own, inhabiting unforgettable characters and events that should be shared with generations. This film is a visual masterpiece; a movie that deserves to be a holiday favorite for some time to come.

The atmosphere director Henry Celiac captures in "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is truly breathtaking. The cities and setting in which these characters live are visually perplexing, yet descriptive and develop the production's mood perfectly. We, as audiences starving for originality and imagination, are able to enter a scope so believable and unrelentingly convincing we lust for every last minute of it.

The movie's protagonist is Jack Skellington, the pumpkin king of the holiday town of Halloween. Jack is the role model for much of the cities population. The only problem is that Jack has been around for ages, parked in a town where every single year builds up for a conventional holiday, Halloween. This character has grown depressed and saddened by the routine living style he inhabits. We learn of his passion for new events and a and new life through a musical number that is both effective and engaging.

Later on that vary night, Jack wonders off into a nearby woods and stumbles upon an area surrounded with magical doors leading to specific holiday worlds. Jack, blooming with curiosity, enters Christmas town: a joyful, happy place with snow, glitter, children singing, and colorful lights decorating the village in its entirety. Jack is mystified by the glamorous atmosphere, and rushes home to tell the Town of Halloween about his adventures.

We realize the internalconflict is Jack's boredom of routine. This becomes more complex when he tries to figure out the meaning of Christmas. The external problem comes later in the plot, where we predict an uneasy disaster upcoming due to his intentions of recreating Christmas in Halloween style.

Other key characters are Sally, the puppet-like creation of an angry professor, the city's Mayor who has a head for both his good and bad personality, the Oggie Boogie, the film's villain who is everything we ever dreamed of regarding a diabolical animated bad guy, and the inevitable character of Santa Clause.

"The Nightmare Before Christmas" is not necessarily a children's movie, it might be too strange or fanatical for the very young. It is certainly a musical production, and at times, I felt that the songs replaced essential development. However, the musical numbers are challenging and memorable, containing passion and emotion. The picture is a walk into the mind of some of the most wildly imaginative filmmakers of our time. "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is titled wonderfully, although the film is truly not a nightmare, but a dream--a dream brought to life on the big screen.

Brought to you by Touchstone Pictures.