Movies / Movie Reviews

The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D Review

By Al Kratina
November 3, 2006 - 16:29

13 years ago this Halloween, something magical happened. A film was released that was so charming, so darkly comedic yet full of life, that children and parents the world over forgot it was an ad for snow globes and plush Jack Skellington slippers. The Nightmare Before Christmas is a marketing phenomenon before it is a film, and the new 3D re-release is nothing more than another excuse to stock the Disney Store with fresh fridge magnets and purses for pre-teens with black nail polish.

And the film suffers for it. Not that it's particularly good to begin with, despite what overweight high school girls in heavy eyeliner would have you believe. The animation is top notch, the musical numbers are engaging, and the atmosphere is pure Tim Burton, an Edward Gorey sketchbook brought to life. But like a sketchbook, there's not a lot of story tying the images and characters together. The plot is there, but it's thin, and the resolution and climax don't do the rich texture of the film justice. Director Henry Selick, producer Burton, and screenwriter Caroline Thompson create such a detailed and idiosyncratic world, ripe with potential, but then just breeze through the story like it's an afterthought to the atmosphere.

Which is exactly what the story is: an inconsequential afterthought. This movie is the cinematic equivalent of a Hasbro commercial; G.I.. Joe with Goth action. That's not to say that I don't have a soft spot in my heart for The Nightmare Before Christmas, right beside the first 6 issues of Lenore and Rob Zombie videos. But I won't pretend that this fondness comes from anything other than a playful sense of the macabre, which is the only thing the movie really has going for it. While that's enough to propel the film through its scant 76 minute running time, it's not enough to elevate it to a great film.

In case you haven't seen it, The Nightmare Before Christmas is about Jack Skellington, the king of Halloween town, who decides that he'd like to try running Christmas instead. Predictably, this works about as well as having a professional wrestler choreograph a ballet, and it's all over just as quickly. The stop motion animation is excellent, the voice acting is broad but effective, and the new Disney 3D makes me feel like I took peyote 2 days ago. Not bad for a commercial, but not great for a film.

Rating: 6 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12