Outstanding Christmas animation

Rating: Null/10 (24 December 2011)

'The Nightmare Before Christmas' has hints of A Christmas Carol about it, with its tale of The Pumpkin King (Jack Skellington) and his attempts to hijack Christmas in true Grinch-style.
It's a musical animation, beautifully realised, first as Jack discovers Christmas, and then plans to destroy it ... but will be succeed? Some lovely set pieces including the flight over a Christmas Eve sky, the Bogeyman's gambling lair, and the Edward Scissorhands-like desolation of empty spaces, work well, alongside more obviously comic pieces involving Jack's dog Zero, with the red nose to light up the sleigh.
This being a tale in the true festive spirit it does have the inevitable character development and redemption we have come to expect from versions of Scrooge over the years. But the 'Nightmare' has charm and is very well-voiced and created.