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Released by: Disney
Released on: 8/26/2008
Director: Henry Selick
Cast: Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara, William Hickey, Ken Page
Year: 1993
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The Movie:
One of the most unorthodox 'holiday' movies of all time, Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas has fast become a beloved classic by kids of all ages. The strange mix of the macabre holiday of Halloween mixed with the sweetness of traditional Christmas themes might not sound like a very good mix but the film proves that sometimes opposites really do attract.
The film is set in Halloween Town, a village where all of the inhabitants spend their days getting ready for the next big scare. Lead by Jack Skellington (voiced by Chris Sarandon with musical duties handled by Danny Elfman), these monsters, vampires, werewolves and other assorted motley creatures mean well, even if they might look a little on the outside. Jack, however, has become disinterested in his life and he's tired of doing the same thing over and over again. While out exploring on day he finds in the forest a series of trees, each with a different symbol on it. He picks the one with the Christmas tree and falls into Christmas Town, where everyone labors gleefully making toys while surrounded by snow and lights and colors.
Swept up in his newfound love for all things Christmas, Jack convinces the citizens of Halloween Town to join him in making Christmas their own. He convinces a rag doll named Sally (Catharine O'Hara) to make him a Santa Claus suit and sends three local punks - Lock (Paul Ruebens), Shock (O'Hara again) and Barrel (Elfman again) - to go kidnap the man in charge of Christmas Town, 'Sandy Claws,' so that he can deliver the presents made by the citizens of Halloween Town in his place. Unfortunately for Jack, he hasn't quite figured out what Christmas is really all about and so the citizens of the real world aren't too stoked with his choice in gifts. Meanwhile, the sinister Oogie Boogie (Ken Page) abducts Sandy Claws for himself, and only Sally and Jack can save him…
A genuinely cute movie (cute in the positive sense, not in the sickeningly sweet sense), The Nightmare Before Christmas is a rare fantastic cross-genre mix of a film that just all comes together. While obviously the visuals are the highlight of the picture, the musical numbers are as catchy as they are completely appropriate and even those with an aversion to musicals will have trouble not singing along to some of the songs in the film. The stop-motion animation style used to give the film its unique look lends the picture plenty of character and charm and quirky style. The attention to detail in the design work is impressive as is the orchestration behind the songs and the soundtrack that make up so much of the film. The voice work fits well and even the background characters all seem to have their own unique personality.
While the over saturation and marketing exploitation surrounding the film may have cheapened the film for some, it really is quite an impressive achievement and judged on its own merits (rather than as the cash cow it seems to have become - just walk into a Hot Topic and take a look around to see for yourself!) the film is still fantastic.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Disney presents The Nightmare Before Christmas in a beautiful 1080p AVC encoded 1.66.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer on a BD-50 disc. How does it look? In short, stunning. Considering that this film was made over fifteen years ago it really does look excellent on this release. There's a wealth of detail present throughout the entire film in both the foreground and the background of the picture and the image is wonderfully clean and sharp throughout. Color reproduction is fantastic, this is one of those high definition transfers that really 'pops' in that regard, while black levels stay nice and deep without ever breaking up or looking murky. Shadow detail is nice and strong and there are no problems with mpeg compression artifacts or heavy edge enhancement. There are a couple of shots in the film that look just a tiny bit on the soft side but overall this is a huge improvement over the previous SD release of the film (which was wasn't even anamorphic). Fans should be ridiculously happy with how good the picture looks.
Even better than the new transfer on this release is the new English language 48 kHz/24-bit 7.1 Dolby TrueHD surround sound mix. Right from the opening musical number, 'This Is Halloween,' it is readily apparent that this is going to be a very immersive surround sound mix. Voices and instruments come at you from throughout the sound field and surround usage is very active throughout the entire movie. Bass response is strong without ever feeling like it's 'too much' while dialogue stays crisp and clear, delivered primarily from the front of the mix. You can really hear each individual member of the group sing-alongs underneath the main vocalists for each number while in the non-musical portions of the film you'll notice all sorts of detailed background chatter and ambient noise.
English, French and Spanish standard definition Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mixes are included, as are optional subtitles in English SDH, French and Spanish.
The extras on this release are a mix of the old and the new, some in HD and some in standard definition. Here's a look at what lays beneath those slick looking menus…
First up is an all new commentary track courtesy of creator/producer Tim Burton, director Henry Selick, and music designer Danny Elfman. Each of the three participants were recorded separately but whoever edited this track together has done a nice job of making sure that the discussion flows nicely and stays fairly scene specific. This results in a pretty decent discussion as the three look back on the film and tell their own specific stories about what they did and how they did it. It's fairly standard as far as commentary tracks go and there probably isn't much in here that the die-hard fans don't already know about but this track definitely delivers a tight, well rounded dissection of the movie from the three men most involved in making it.
Also new to this release is What's This? Jack's Haunted Mansion Holiday Tour, presented in 1080i. Basically, ever year for two months before Christmas, Disney's Haunted Mansion is redecorated and given a Nightmare Before Christmas themed makeover. This featurette takes us on a guided tour of the mansion in that state and it's available here with or without a pop up trivia track that compliments the more promotional style narration by throwing out some interesting facts and trivia bits as we cruise through the world's most famous haunted house.
One of the more remarkable bonus features on this release is Tim Burton's Original Poem Narrated By Christopher Lee. Basically, this is just Lee, in his inimitable voice, reading Burton's poem overtop of a bunch of very colorful images based on Burton's original drawings. It might not sound like much but it's presented in 1080p and it looks fantastic. And who better than Lee to provide the narration for something like this? It really is quite a treat.
Carried over from the previous release is the twenty-five minute Behind The Scenes Making Of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (the laserdisc had a forty-minute version on it). This is worth checking out as it's pretty interesting to see how much work went into this film, though most of us have seen it by now. Again repeated from the last release are the selection of deleted scenes and the three The Worlds Of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas featurettes that explore Halloween Town, Christmas Town and The Real World. The storyboard to film comparisons, original theatrical trailers and a still gallery previously included on the last release can also be found here, again in standard definition.
Also included here are the two excellent Tim Burton short films, Vincent (a black and white animated film about a boy who adores Vincent Price, narrated by Price himself - presented in standard definition) and Frankenweenie (the heartwarming live action tale of a boy who resurrects his dog, Frankenstein style, also presented in standard definition). Both of these were present on the previous release but they're both great shorts and their inclusion here is quite welcome indeed even if it would have been nice to see them in high-definition.
Aside from that, look for some well laid out animated menus and sub-menus, some (thankfully skipable) Disney promos spots that play before you get to said menus, and a 'Digital Copy' should you want to watch the movie on your iPod or a similar portable device. Oh, and what about the All-New Blu-ray Exclusive Tim Burton Movie Introduction touted on the back of the packaging and in the ads for this release? It's nothing more than a very brief intro from Tim who says that the movie looks really great in high definition… and that's really about it.
A couple of minor complaints… the commentary from director Henry Selick and cinematographer Peter Kozachik that was on the first DVD release has NOT been carried over here, and it would have been nice to have both that original track and the new commentary available one disc. That track is really the only reason to keep the old disc. Also, while the technology might not cooperate, it would have been nice to see the 3-D version of the film presented here. Home video and 3-D don't always get along so it might not have been possible, but in a perfect world it would have been here. Regardless, what's here is great, and there's a lot of it to go through and enjoy.
The Final Word:
Disney really has done a knock-out job with this release. The new transfer is gorgeous, the audio is excellent, and the supplements as entertaining as they are interesting. As for the film itself, The Nightmare Before Christmas holds up incredibly well, it's a truly timeless tale that is both sweet and macabre and it stands as a rare film that has justly earned its massive following - every member of which will want to pick up this release as soon as possible.