I liked it but...

Rating: 6/10 (20 December 2010)

...I probably missed something while watching "The Nightmare Before Christmas" because I didn't find anything so special as people claim to have seen it. It's good overall, very watchable but I really didn't felt the hype of this animation. And the tragic thing that I heard was people saying that the only people who'll enjoy this film is the ones who watched since they were kids and grow up watching over and over again. Fine. I watched it more recently, I'm young but not a kid but I still think that a movie can and must win all kinds of audiences otherwise it's just silly and forgotten.
The concept, the story of Jack a scary Halloween creature that discovers Christmas and gets involved with the holiday but doesn't know its meaning quite well, is very original, funny. Perhaps more suitable and interesting for a live action film than a animated feature. This is a cartoon for kids but at the same time it's not, it's dark, kind of creepy. And a movie idealized by Tim Burton wouldn't be a Burton film without Danny Elfman's songs. Sometimes the songs work quite well, other times it's annoying and overlong.
Perhaps the aspect that bothered me on this film, or the thing that didn't make me enjoy it more than I wanted is the direction of the film in charge of Henry Selick. Selick directed one of the worst films ever made, a tiny awful film called "Monkeybone", a waste of time, space, money, completely misguided film and since then I was afraid of watching something directed by him. Here in "The Nightmare Before Christmas" he was good, knew how to direct and control the stop motion technique, and was able to capture Burton's ideas. But had this movie directed by Burton himself, with more control on things this would be a better and greater film as it is. Burton is present here but not as much as his presence in the wonderful "Corpse Bride" (which I enjoyed so much more).
The voice casting was very good although they haven't included any famous actors behind the characters voices. The great special effects were nominated for the Oscar (lost out to the undefeatable "Jurassic Park"), the soundtrack is good, has its great moments most notably the song "This Is Halloween" played at the opening, that song should have been nominated for an Oscar.
Again, I wasn't so excited as many people claimed to have been while watching this experience. It's good but not great. I've seen better animated films and that's only my opinion. Now I'm gonna have to face many people who suggested the film to me, and they were so thrilled while talking about it, and when they ask me what did I find about it I'm gonna frown my face a little, say it was okay, and they're gonna kill me for doing that. But that's life! 6/10