Blu-Ray Review:
The Nightmare Before Christmas
By Jason Gillard
*Screenshots are not from the Blu-Ray source.
Movie
The Nightmare Before Christmas is a stop-motion film and for me this is a piece of art. The amount of work it takes to create a stop-motion film is nothing short of astounding. To produce 1-second of film the animator has to pose the puppet 24 times! So you can imagine how long it would take to complete even one scene. So what is the Nightmare Before Christmas about, well here is a short synopsis: Bored with the same old scare-and-scream routine, JackSkellington, 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! This movie is pure Tim Burton, everything has his stamp on it. The movie reminded me of watching one of those Rankin & Bass produced shows they show at Christmas, only very demented! All the characters are wonderfully realised and there are quite a few memorable songs as well. The stop motion is so wonderfully done you almost forget that you're watching puppets animated on screen. This movie has become a classic and it can be shown at Halloween and at Christmas. If your a fan of Tim Burton and of Stop Motion this movie is a must see!
8 out of 10
Video
For people in North America we were always stuck with a non-anamorphic transfer when the DVD first came out. Even when they released the special edition they decided to go with the same non-anamorphic transfer! As you would expect the transfer was horrible and a travesty to the people that worked on the film and put so much detail in it. But happily with the Blu-Ray release we are treated to 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfer, which in a word is beautiful. The detail comes alive and everything looks stunning. It almost feels like you could reach out and touch the world that is being presented before you. Blacks are very dark and come across amazingly well. One thing to note is that The Nightmare Before Christmas was shot on 35mm film, so there is some grain to certain scenes, but nothing that bad. There is really not much to complain about here. This is the best this film is ever going to look and I must say that Disney did a great job with this transfer. Fans of the film are getting all they could have hoped for.
9 out of 10
Audio
You get your choice of two different soundtracks. There is a Dolby Digital 5.1 track and they have also included a 7.1 Dolby TrueHD soundtrack. I felt that the soundtrack came across very well. The surrounds come alive as well. Since this is a musical there is a lot of songs and they come across crisp and clear. There is not much use of theLFE channel, but there a few instances where you get that deep base. I found the soundtrack to be extremely satisfying and they have done a good job to bring the audio to life.
8 out of 10
Extras
Here is what you get in the way of extras:
Audio Commentary by Tim Burton, director Henry Selick, and music producer Danny Elfman
What's This? Jack's Haunted Mansion Holiday Tour – On Track Version (HD, 7 min.)
What's This? Jack's Haunted Mansion Holiday Tour – Off Track Version (HD, 37 min.)
Tim Burton's Original Poem (HD, 12 min.)
Introduction by Tim Burton (HD, 18 sec.)
D-Box Motion Code
DisneyFile Digital Copy
Frankenweenie (SD, 30 min.)
Vincent (SD, 6 min.)
Deleted Storyboards (SD, 3 min.)
Deleted Animated Sequences (SD, 5 min.)
The Making of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (SD, 25 min.)
Halloween Town (Gallery)
Christmas Town (Gallery)
Storyboard-to-Film Comparison (SD, 4 min.)
Posters (Gallery)
Trailers (SD, 4 min.)
A lot of material has been carried over from the Special Edition DVD. For me some of my favorite extras were Tim Burton's Original Poem. This is a poem written by Burton that served as a basis for the movie. It is narrated by Christopher Lee and is animated as well. I thought it was a really cool addition. I also liked The Making of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. This is an amazing look into how stop-motion films are created. I wish it was a little longer but it's a fascinating look into the art form. I had never seen Frankenweenie before and I thought this was really cool as well. It is a short film that was done in 1984 by Burton. Tim Burton is actually working on a remake of this film as well. The only real specific Blu-Ray feature is not really a feature at all. It's a short little introduction to the film by Tim Burton. It only lasts 18 seconds. Overall there is a lot of material included here and a lot of it will be new if you did not have the previous release of the film on DVD. I only wish they took more advantage of theBlu-Ray format, because a picture in picture while the movie was playing would be great.
8 out of 10
Overall
This is a really great disc! If your a fan of the movie or stop-motion films in general you should pick this up right away. It's a great film that has an amazing transfer, good audio and a large amount of extras. If you have never seen the movie before, I suggest you check it out.
9 out of 10
Highly Recommended