A Ghoulish Tale with Wicked Humour & Stunning Animation.

Rating: Null/10 (17 April 2014)

A pioneering work of animation at its time, The Nightmare Before Christmas is a stop-motion animation musical concerning the Pumpkin King of the Halloweenland named Jack Skellington who is bored from planning the annual Halloween celebrations every year. While on his way back home, he discovers a portal to Christmasland & is instantly infatuated with the lively Christmas spirit. Unable to understand its concept, he decides to celebrate the holiday & gets the residents of his town to help him prepare for it which, as expected, goes wrong.
Due to its dark, brooding & creepy yet hilarious atmosphere, many mistake this film to be Tim Burton's work, which is further complicated by his name on the title which was strictly for marketing purposes. But it's actually Henry Selick who helms the director's chair with writing & production credits going to Burton. The film makes brilliant use of stop-motion animation blended with puppetry to come out as something fresh, original & intensely creative plus the steadily narrated story only helps the film work charmingly well.
The script is very lively, the concept is new as well, cinematography is distinctive, editing manages to trim the film enough to tell its tale under 80 minutes, the voice actors are nicely cast & music as well as songs by Danny Elfman is a strong supportive character in itself that makes the story work with Elfman also voicing many characters. On an overall scale, The Nightmare Before Christmas would've been an unforgettable experience had I watched it at a younger age but as of now, although it didn't disappoint, I still felt no real affection towards it.