Weird and not very likable

Rating: 4/10 (28 December 2007)

"The Nightmare Before Christmas" has been called a Halloween classic by many respected reviewers, yet after seeing it in 3-D re-release, I don't see what is so special. The story is this; the king of Halloween Town, Jack Skellington, has become bored of the same old thing every year, so after wandering through a haunted wood he comes upon Christmas Town. There he discovers what he has been missing all along: warmth and joy. So Jack kidnaps Santa and tries to make Christmas happen himself. Here's the thing though, it's a kid's movie, so it was very boring for me, but if I was a little kid I would've been scared silly of this movie. The visuals are dark and quite Gothic, and the main character is a lanky skeleton with dark holes for eyes.
I must say, even though the visuals are Gothic, they are stunning. The whole movie is done in claymation so what they did is amazing. The opening sequence "It's Halloween" is a great song to introduce the movie with great eye candy, but all that quickly gets tiresome as you start to realize how truly weird and twisted it all is. Even Santa and Christmas Town looks somewhat creepy with a Gothic touch, it's slightly depressing. All the songs are in minors and flats which sets the overall tone, and none of the songs, except the above mentioned, are any good. You're probably thinking, "I'm a big Tim Burton fan though, so I'll like it!" Wrong! I'm the biggest Tim Burton fan ever and I didn't like it. Plus, contrary to popular belief, this film is not directed by Burton, he only produced it, it was directed by veteran clay puppeteer Henry Selick. And the script was mediocre, not bad, but not particularly good either.
The only other sequence I liked was the signature picture of Jack in front of the huge full moon. Otherwise, the 3-D was nothing special, though it does add some nice depth perception and makes you feel like you're watching it all in a box. The only reason I'd recommend this movie is if you already have seen it and loved it, or you like twisted, downright weird and boring movies.