Starts well but doesn't entirely maintain the momentum

Rating: 7/10 (23 June 2013)

I was not a big fan of The Nightmare Before Christmas, which is why many years went by before I watched this movie. I was instantly taken by the film, which has a surprisingly quiet start for a Burton film. When things take a turn for the weird it is in a clever and entertaining way, and the three principals are all such nice, likable people.
As the movie progresses, it gets more and more like what I remember of Nightmare, kind of noisy with an overload of ghoul-themed jokes. I began to just get a little bored. The film picks up for the last 20 minutes, but there's a chunk in the middle that felt overblown and directionless.
There's more about the movie I like than don't like, but I wish it was more like its beginning than like Nightmare.