The Nightmare Before Christmas

Name: The Nightmare Before Christmas
Genre: Fantasy, Animation, Family, Musical
Released: October 22, 1993
Duration: 76 min
Rating: 82
Cast: Catherine O'Hara, Chris Sarandon, Danny Elfman, William Hickey

1993

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 31 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 213 Ratings

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8.4

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8.4	User Score Universal acclaim based on 213 Ratings

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The Nightmare Before Christmas

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Movie Details & Credits

Buena Vista Pictures | Release Date: October 22, 1993 | PG

Starring: Catherine O'Hara, Chris Sarandon, Danny Elfman, William Hickey

Summary: Can Christmas be saved? Bored with the same old scare-and-scream routine, Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, longs to spread the joy of Christmas. But his merry mission puts Santa in jeopardy and creates a nightmare for good little boys and girls everywhere. [Walt Disney]

Director: Henry Selick

Genre(s): Fantasy, Animation, Family, Musical

Rating: PG

Runtime: 76 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Staff (Not Credited)

This beautifully realised confection will delight grown-ups of all ages. Read full review

100

Kenneth Turan

Part avant-garde art film, part amusing but morbid fairy tale, it is a delightfully ghoulish holiday musical that displays more inventiveness in its brief 75 minutes than some studios can manage in an entire year. Read full review

David Ansen

The list of marvels could go on and on, testament to the teeming imagination of Burton, who dreamed up this treat more than a decade ago as a young animator at Disney. Now, back at Disney, his magic toyshop of a movie has come to sweetly malignant fife. Chances are, it will be around for many Halloweens to come. Read full review

Michael Roffman

It’s an aesthetically addicting experience that capitalizes on these seasonal feelings, offering an unlikely escape with the press of a button. Read full review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

As adapted by Michael McDowell and scripted by Caroline Thompson, this 1993 release is at worst a macabre Muppet movie, at best an inspired jaunt. The set designs are ingenious and the songs (music and lyrics by Danny Elfman) are fairly good. Read full review

John Hartl

Visually a macabre knockout, this 75-minute fantasy boasts some of the wittiest, most vigorous stop-motion animation effects in the history of the process. Read full review

Harper Barnes

In the hands of some Eastern European masters, stop-motion animation has created some fine adult animated films, like Jan Svankmajer's spooky version of "Alice in Wonderland." But The Nightmare Before Christmas is basically a charmless and muddled tale that aims at a target somewhere in the vast gulf between Franz Kafka and Walt Disney and hits nothing. [22 Oct 1993, p.3E]

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User Reviews

heyitsmegrif4

Dec 19, 2011

Visually beautiful, stunningly original, with some great music and some dark humor. Nightmare Before Christmas teaches kids great messages and brings some entertainment to adults also. I give this film 99%.

6 of 11 users found this helpful65

Xolt3c

Nov 7, 2020

The best animated movie and the best Halloween movie no contest needed. Highly recommend you to watch it.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

AliJoy12

Oct 10, 2018

Have always loved this movie! One of my favorite! Tim Burton gives us a dark, but charming twist on a children's film that makes it so appealing to our eyes, we want to watch time and time again. I have never seen a bad movie from this guy and he keeps on surprising us with other movies likeHave always loved this movie! One of my favorite! Tim Burton gives us a dark, but charming twist on a children's film that makes it so appealing to our eyes, we want to watch time and time again. I have never seen a bad movie from this guy and he keeps on surprising us with other movies like Beetlejuice, Corpse Bride, Edward Scissorhands, etc. A must see!… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

alejandro970

Dec 29, 2019

Ladies and gentlemen, one of best proposals of stop-motion. The collide of two worlds through the daring experience of Jack and his colorful friends. The only thing you will regret is why something so good it's so short. One of ultimate movies of 90's.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

PepticNightmare

Oct 14, 2012

Nothing short of fantastic, made in 1993 the use of stop-motion technology is fantastic and the characters could only come from Tim Burton's mind and the environment surrounding the story is so simple that it deserves the universal acclaim it gets

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

DawdlingPoet

Nov 21, 2021

This is a fun, quirky stop motion animation film which I imagine many kids may find a little spooky but not scary like in a slasher film sort of a way - as is the appeal to it for parents, I imagine. It has the definite Tim Burton feel to it, being a mash up of (primarily) Halloween relatedThis is a fun, quirky stop motion animation film which I imagine many kids may find a little spooky but not scary like in a slasher film sort of a way - as is the appeal to it for parents, I imagine. It has the definite Tim Burton feel to it, being a mash up of (primarily) Halloween related figures/characters reacting to the sudden knowledge of the holiday of Christmas, which is, of course, the polar opposite holiday in terms of tone etc.

I quite enjoyed both the characters and the musical numbers. I quite like that its relatively fast paced at times - its certainly a bit of fun and it looks pretty good in HD. I appreciate well done stop motion animation and this is certainly one of those. If you haven't seen it, I'd say its worth a watch. Its not particularly amazing or brilliantly memorable, I suppose but its certainly not bad, or frustratingly depressing for that matter, either.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

axelkoch

Dec 22, 2013

The Nightmare Before Christmas is undeniably one of the most unique Christmas movies of all time and also put a completely new complexion on Disney movies. The beautifully conducted stop motion technique, the catchy musical numbers that may not be counted as Danny Elfman’s compositionalThe Nightmare Before Christmas is undeniably one of the most unique Christmas movies of all time and also put a completely new complexion on Disney movies. The beautifully conducted stop motion technique, the catchy musical numbers that may not be counted as Danny Elfman’s compositional masterpieces, but still make the movie a lot more entertaining than it would have been without them, and the weird sort of humour that isn’t to make you laugh out loud, but have you chuckling almost perpetually. Nevertheless, it’s still a bit disappointing that a movie this sort can still be boring here and there and the screenplay also isn’t always successful in maintaining an acceptable balance between child-oriented silliness and adult-suitability (though I adore the Hamlet reference). Through that, difficulties arise as the movie ends up being too ridiculous for most adults and too scary for most kids in the target audience. But still I’d say that sparing one hour and fifteen minutes to see this truly one-of-a-kind movie can’t hurt.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

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