Visually superb, although it's style over substance

Rating: 8/10 (12 July 2005)

Jack is a skeleton living in a scary faraway dimension where bizarre creatures reside and embark to scare children on Halloween every year. But Jack longs for a different life outside the restraints of horror - he doesn't like who he is. One day he wanders outside the limits of the haunted city and through a snowy forest, finding Santa Claus and his Elves' workshop.
Inspired, Jack decides to kidnap Santa Claus and turn Christmas into Halloween.
The ads for this movie were always very grim. It used to boast, "From producer Tim Burton!" and his influence is very clear - extremely Gothic visuals. And, for a children's tale, some pretty scary stuff! Overall this is style over substance, as are most films associated with Burton. He rarely delivers great stories and instead relies on fairytale clichÃ©s (Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish, etc.).
There's nothing wrong with this. It works because his films are so nice to look at.
This is a fun movie with good visuals and an interesting twist on a familiar tale. I recommend it, as long as you don't expect something emotionally involving or brilliant story-wise.