Inventive But Unappealing Film

Rating: 4/10 (16 April 2006)

I just never found this story to be appealing, and I gave it several chances as I usually find Tim Burton movies visual feasts and interesting, even if I don't agree with his bias.
Maybe I never was comfortable with an animated film being so dark. Even some of the songs had dark and mean-spirited lyrics. It did get better after the first 45 minutes with "Jack" trying to be Santa Claus but delivering the wrong kind of toys. Santa Claus won out in the end, which was good to see, and there was a nice little romantic ending between Jack and "Sally."
It's an inventive film, to be sure, with a lot of clever animation, especially for its day (it's now over a dozen years old) but I just got too many bad vibes watching this. Sorry. There are lighter, nicer animated films - at least for kids - to watch than this.