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The Nightmare Before Christmas [Blu-ray] + Digital Copy
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Blu-ray detailsActor: Edward Ivory, Judi M. Durand, L. Peter Callender, Randy Crenshaw, William Hickey Brand: Buena Vista Home Video Blu-ray: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); French (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language); French (Dubbed); Spanish (Dubbed) Format: AC-3, Anamorphic, Animated, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, HiFi Sound, NTSC, Original recording remastered, PAL, Surround Sound, THX, Widescreen Picture Format: 1.66:1 Running Time: 76 minutes Blu-ray Release Date: 2008-08-26 Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Model: 05741200 Studio: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Product features: - Now digitally restored and remastered with state-of-the-art technology, THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS is deeper, darker and more brilliant 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
Blu-ray Reviews of The Nightmare Before Christmas [Blu-ray] + Digital CopyBlu-ray Review: THE Blu-Ray film for the holidays Summary: 5 Stars
What a great film for Blu-Ray! Crammed with detail and composed like a series of paintings, it demands the high-definition treatment to fully appreciate. On one hand, the scenes are filled with little surprises like tarantula- and bat-shaped neckties and snakes, but on the other hand they are so artistic! Once you watch Jack Skellington's operatic posings against the moon at 1080p, or see the eerie gray backgrounds of Halloweentown or the vivid colors of Christmastown at that resolution, I can't imagine watching this movie any other way.
But that's not all there is to it. In fact, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is a feast for the eyes, ears and imagination; a delectable witches' brew of stop-motion animation, catchy show tunes and a seriously warped creative license.
The story -- Halloweentown attempts to annex Christmastown -- comes from the macabre mind of producer Tim Burton, who wrote it in his spare time (as a poem!) while working as a Disney animator in the 1980s. The movie blends the tastiest bits of Burton's earlier Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands with a sprinkling of the stop-motion magic first found in Disney's 1961 Babes in Toyland.
The imaginative cast of characters includes:
* Jack Skellington (the Pumpkin King) (Chris Sarandon), a mischievous misfit who believes his purpose in life is to merge the holidays of Halloween and Christmas.
* His faithful dog Zero, a ghost with a glowing, jack-o'-lantern nose who, like the hound in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, eventually pulls the sleigh.
* Rag-doll heroine Sally (voiced by Catherine O'Hara), Jack's love interest, who sews herself back together when she loses a body part.
* Oogie Boogie (Broadway veteran Ken Page), a slimy, singing bag of bugs who channels the cartoon version of Cab Calloway in the old Betty Boop shorts.
* Lock (Paul "Pee-Wee Herman" Reubens), Shock (O'Hara) and Barrel (Danny Elfman, the film's composer), a trio of evil trick-or-treaters who "kidnap the Sandy Claws"
* Wheelchair-bound evil scientist Dr. Finklestein (William Hickey), a duckbilled quack whose flip-top head lets him scratch his brains for inspiration.
* A mayor (Glenn Shadix, the interior director Otho in Beetlejuice) who is literally two-faced.
Director Henry Selick painstakingly created the film over three years. Though he had a production crew of over 100, each minute of footage took a week, as each second required 24 ever-so-slightly different shots.
Devilishly nonconformist, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is an enduring holiday musical for the whole Addams family, or at least those older than, say, 6. Though all of its fright gags are played entirely for laughs, some of the imagery is downright creepy. Teenagers will love it.
BONUS FEATURES
* An audio commentary with Burton, Selick and Elfman.
* A downloadable digital copy of the film, which you can transfer to an iPod or similar device.
* Burton's first short, 1982's 6-minute "Vincent," a black-and-white stop-action film about a boy who dreams of being Vincent Price, who narrates.
* Burton's 1994 Disney live-action short "Frankenweenie." In this 30-minute black-and-white film that re-imagines the Frankenstein story as the tale of a young boy and his car-struck pet dog in suburban America (introduced by Burton himself).
* A reading of Burton's original "Nightmare Before Christmas" poem by actor Christopher Lee
* A promotional film for the annual "Nightmare" makeover of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion.
* Promotional and making-of featurettes, a storyboard to film comparison, deleted scenes and theatrical trailers and posters.
OTHER VERSIONS AVAILABLE
There are two other new "Nightmare" DVDs available -- a two-disc standard-resolution set that includes a downloadable digital copy and a collector's edition that comes with a hand-painted bust of Jack Skellington.
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Description of The Nightmare Before Christmas [Blu-ray] + Digital CopyNow digitally restored and remastered with state-of-the-art technology, THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS is deeper, darker and more brilliant than ever just as Tim Burton originally envisioned it on Blu-ray Disc Bored with the same old scare-and-scream routine, Pumpkin King Jack Skellington 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! Hear the genius of Danny Elfman's sensational music in 7.1 Surround Sound as the fantastic talents and imaginations of Tim Burton and Henry Selick come to life in stunning Hi-Def. THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS now even more eerie and extraordinary on Blu-ray High Definition! Bonus Features THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS is the first full-length stop-motion animated film ever created. The movie contains more than 227 animated characters. Santa Claus' head has more than 50 different working parts, and Jack has more than 400 separate interchangeable heads, each handcrafted with a different facial expression. The smallest working puppet in the movie is a doll from the "real world" Jack visits that is only one inch long. Sally is wearing a real miniature dress laid on top of foam latex so that the fabric doesn't move too much on screen. At the height of production, the animators produced only 70 seconds of finished film per week. To create Halloweentown's twisted look, the design artists often made their sketches using their nondrawing hand. All-New Blu-ray Exclusive Tim Burton Movie Introduction Storyboard To Film Comparison Original Theatrical Trailers And Posters What's This? Jack's Haunted Mansion Holiday Tour FRANKENWEENIE (Uncut Version) With New Introduction By Tim Burton VINCENT Short Film Tim Burton's Original Poem Narrated By Christopher Lee All-New Audio Commentary By Tim Burton, Director Henry Selick And Musical Designer Danny Elfman Behind The Scenes Making Of Tim Burton's THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS The Worlds Of Tim Burton's THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS Halloween Town; Christmas Town, The Real World Deleted Scenes For those who never thought Disney would release a film in which Santa Claus is kidnapped and tortured, well, here it is! The full title is Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, which should give you an idea of the tone of this stop-action animated musical/fantasy/horror/comedy. It is based on characters created by Burton, the former Disney animator best known as the director of Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and the first two Batman movies. His benignly scary-funny sensibility dominates the story of Halloweentown resident Jack Skellington (voice by Danny Elfman, who also wrote the songs), who stumbles on a bizarre and fascinating alternative universe called ... Christmastown! Directed by Henry Selick (who later made the delightful James and the Giant Peach), this PG-rated picture has a reassuringly light touch. As Roger Ebert noted in his review, "some of the Halloween creatures might be a tad scary for smaller children, but this is the kind of movie older kids will eat up; it has the kind of offbeat, subversive energy that tells them wonderful things are likely to happen." --Jim Emerson
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