Wonderful visually, but less than average in all other respects

Rating: 7/10 (5 October 2005)

This film definitely has Tim Burton's visual style behind it and the animation work is some of the best I've ever seen.
Unfortunately, that's all that stands out. The plot is thin and has no real depth. The songs prolong the movie but don't really add or explain anything and aren't particularly interesting musically. The movie would have honestly been better off without them.
The voices were well done in for all of the characters and the singing was done well. I thought that Johnny Depp did particularly well as I never heard his voice stand out throughout the entire movie. He was playing his part and the character felt like a new character and not just another version of Depp.
Despite the good voice acting, I didn't care especially about any of the characters either way. The protagonist(s) have very little real motivation or dilemmas and the antagonist(s) are laughable. The characters are shallow and I don't feel like they or the world they live in exists for anything more than this movie.
If this movie had been presented as a 30 minute short about, say, an old fable, then it would have been much better. As it is, it's not really worth seeing in the theater or even seeing more than once unless you really love claymation. Well, not even then. Just buy a Wallace and Gromit DVD or The Nightmare Before Christmas. You'll be much happier.