From the mind of Tim Burton, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is a Claymation adaption of "The Night Before Christmas".

Rating: 10/10 (2 August 2015)

From the mind of Tim Burton, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is a Claymation adaption of "The Night Before Christmas". Directed by Henry Selick the film features the voice acting of Danny Elfman and Chris Sarandon both playing the part of Jack Skellington, Catherine O'Hara as Sally, William Hickey as the Evil Scientist, and Glenn Sadix as the Mayor of Halloweentown. The film was a groundbreaking Claymation production that features thousands of tiny clay figurines that needed to be posed and moved hundreds of times each just to create one scene.
The Nightmare before Christmas takes place in a world with different mystical towns for each holiday, such as Eastertown, Halloweentown, and Christmas town. Jack Skellington, the king of Halloweentown, stumbles across Christmas town and is immediately infatuated with it despite not fully understanding what Christmas is, or what it means. The movie centers around Jack's growing obsession with this newfound holiday and how he can incorporate it into Halloweentown.
Song and dance is one of the key components that progresses the story throughout the film, however, the Theme of The Nightmare Before Christmas is the internal battle that Jack Skellington is fighting. It is apparent from the onset of the movie that he has an empty feeling inside and is trying to figure out why. His obsession with Christmas is an attempt to fill that emptiness and reinvigorate the passion he once had for Halloween. There are several points in the movie that Jack is forced to stop and question what he is doing and why he is doing it. He has a very difficult time understand why he is so captivated by Christmas. The characters that push him through the movie the most are Sally, who portrays the good innocent side of the battle Jack is fighting, and the Evil Scientist, who pushes Jack in a darker more maniacal direction. Jack's internal battle is much less serious than films that would share this central theme. Typical plots in this category sometimes involve depression, drug or alcohol addiction, or serious family problems.
Nearly all of the cinematography within The Nightmare before Christmas is, or was, extremely fresh and exciting for viewers. The movements of characters due to the Claymation process was slightly unnatural but in a very interesting way. The film employs a varying types of lighting techniques to transition from scary Halloweentown creature to scary Halloweentown creature. Varying degrees of framing allow for most of the inhabitants of Halloweentown to seem almost casually terrifying. Viewers are quick to forget that many of this town's inhabitant are the stuff of nightmares and it would take outsiders being exposed to them to bring that point back to light.
Overall The Nightmare before Christmas was superbly done and became an instant cult classic. 22 years later and it is still a great film to watch with a very unique premise. In this day and age, a unique plot is something that is difficult to come by. The story, the Claymation, the cinematography, and catchy songs that the character regularly burst into all create a very memorable film that is worth re-watching time and time again.