SYNOPSIS:
Now
digitally restored and remastered with state-of-the-art technology,
The Nightmare Before Christmas is deeper, darker and more brillant
than ever- just as Tim Burton originally envisioned it.
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!
MOVIE REVIEW:
It took me 15 years before I actually sit through
this Tim Burton’s produced stop-motion classic. Throughout
the years, the movie has seen several incarnations of DVD
versions and the various familiar characters are imprinted
on merchandises during my visits to the happiest land on earth
but still…it didn’t allure me to check out the
movie until now. Okay I admit I find the characters’
outlook a tad creepy.
I
have heard heaps of praise about it of course, notably from
my fellow reviewer who has watched it 'X' number of times,
the last being in 3D back in 2006. Upon initial watching,
"The Nightmare Before Christmas" indeed IS a holiday
classic and truly deserve the accolades it received.
The
main protagonist, Jack Skellington is the pumpkin king who
lives in a town of Halloween. The inhabitants of this town
consist of citizens you probably won’t find on the surface
of this earth. Creatures, hideous monsters, draculas, freakish
scientist etc roam the place and their only job is to give
people a good scare comes Halloween but to Jack, this is getting
routine and stale. He like the rest of us mere mortals is
restless until he stumbles upon Santa Claus (which he cutely
misunderstood as Sandy Claws), his merry elves and Christmas.
"The
Nightmare Before Christmas" combines the spirit of Christmas
and infused it in a macabre manner with Halloween. The dark,
moody sets are trademarks of Burton even though the underrated
Henry Slick did the directing duties (As much as he wanted,
Burton was confined to the directing chair of "Batman
Returns" during Nightmare production). The excellent
or should I say the soul of this movie were the outrageous
song routines which were written and composed by Danny Elfman,
he even provided the singing voice of Jack.
The
highly intricate details of the characters and the technology,
patience require to move the inanimate objects are simply
awe-inspiring. In particular, the cinematography rises to
the occasion in a scene with Jack lamenting in sorrow in a
graveyard. The swirling camera moves in and around the character
with such ease, perfectly capturing the agony of the character.
And you are talking about a stop-motion picture.
With
the release of this special 2-Disc edition, "The Nightmare
Before Christmas" proves it can survive the passing of
time. You might want to pop this title onto your Christmas
wish list and this re-release also mark a chance to win over
new fans liked me.
Although
I still find the characters creepy.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
Disc One contains the movie with an all-new
audio commentary by Tim Burton, Director Henry Selick and
Music Designer Danny Elfman. Since they are all busy
people, the track is recorded separately and lumps together.
Although they manages to competently serve out informative
nuggets, wouldn’t it be better if audience could listen
to them sing, talk and laugh merrily together after 15 years
the movie is released?
The
Making of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas
is separated into six chapters that touches from music, storyboards,
art direction to puppets etc. One very interesting to note
that it takes more than 400 heads just to animate the Jack
Skellington puppet.
Tim
Burton's Original Poem, narrated by Christopher Lee
is also included. Featuring Burton's original sketch art (he’s
an ex-disney animator after all) and narrated by the legendary
Christopher Lee, this makes a cool children storybook a la
cd-rom style.
For
those Disneyland fans, What's This? Jack's Haunted
Mansion Holiday Tour is a feature that you shouldn’t
miss, it takes us behind the scenes on how the Disney Imagineers
infused the Haunted Mansion ride with The Nightmare Before
Christmas during the holiday season.
Some
sneak peeks including the upcoming straight-to-video
Tinkerbell, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, blu-ray promo reel round
up Disc One.
Two
of Tim Burton’s older shots, Frankenweenie
and Vincent are featured in Disc Two. Frankenweenie
is 30 minutes long and shot in black & white. Without
revealing the surprises, it’s full of Burton’s
macabre humour and plotting and tells the story of a young
boy who lost his dog and miraculously brought him back to
life. Vincent is another funny simultaneously weird 6 minutes
short.
The
World of Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas
is spilt to three segments: Halloween Town, Christmas Town
and The Real World. It covers concept art and even initial
animation footages done to impress the studio with commentary
by Selick.
Deleted
Scenes consists of three scenes done in storyboard
and the other four with animation almost done but are cut
due to time constraint. If you are a fan of the original sketch
art, a Storyboard-To-Film Comparison is also included.
The
original teaser, theatrical trailer and posters round
up the extras in Disc Two.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The visual
of this 2-Disc collection is faultless. Most of the scenes
in The Nightmare Before Christmas is dark, moody and almost
black in some instances but this transfer is rich and never
fails to portray the details onscreen.
Presented
in Dolby Digital 5.1, the energetic Danny Elfman’s songs
flows through the speakers with much clarity and the occasional
ambient effects did a fair job at the rear speakers.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD RATING :
Review
by Linus Tee
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