The Nightmare Before Christmas
Collector’s Edition
Created by Tim Burton
Directed by Henry Selick
Music by Danny Elfman
Starring (voice) Chris Sarandon, Catherine O’Hara, William Hickey, Glenn Shadix
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Release date: August 26, 2008
There’s not a whole lot left that you can say about Tim Burton‘s The Nightmare Before Christmas that hasn’t been already said at some point since its release in 1993. Thankfully this isn’t just any movie, it’s grown into something else, something bigger.
The Nightmare Before Christmas is an adventure that ties together the worlds of our most beloved holidays, Halloween and Christmas. We follow Jack, The Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, who goes off seeking something different from the same ol’ Halloween happenings. While deep in the forest, he discovers the doors to the various other holidays, eventually going through the way to Christmas Town. While there, he sees how beautiful and magical it is, convincing him that this is exactly what Halloween Town needs and begins his plans. Of course, nothing works as planned and Jack has a mess to clean up to get things set straight!
This movie is so unique because it finds a way to be both creepy and magical at the same time. The beautiful and un-paralleled stop-motion animation adds soul to the entire film and not only does it still stand up now, 15 years later — it continues to get BETTER as time goes on. This is not something that many films can lay claim to and it really speaks for the effort put into it by creator Tim Burton, director Henry Selick, composer Danny Elfman, along with everyone else involved in making this movie.
Seriously, if you kids who haven’t seen this one yet (shame, shame on you), seek it out immediately in any form. For those normal people, this new special edition is pretty stuffed with sweet stuff to check out.
Definitely worth adding to the collection!
DVD Bonus Features
DISC 1
“¢ NEW! What’s This? Jack’s Haunted Mansion Holiday Tour
— On Track w/subtitles: This is the narrated Nightmare Before Christmas version of the famous Disneyland attraction.
— On Track w/subtitles and trivia track: Same as above accept with pop-up screen trivia about the attraction.
— Off-Track [37:22]: The behind-the-scenes look at the NBC version of The Haunted Mansion. The Disney people talks about what they did to make the NBC version and how it’s inspired by the movie — not a retelling of it.
“¢ NEW! Tim Burton’s Original poem narrated by Christopher Lee [11:00]– A new introduction by Tim Burton’s to his original poem that inspired the film narrated here by legendary actor Christopher Lee backed with illustrations by Burton.
“¢ The Making of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas [24:24]- A behind-the-scenes featurette created at the time of the movie’s release. A young Tim Burton explains his ideas for the stop-motion animated movies, and director Henry Selick talks about how he worked with various divisions of the crew. Various members of the crew — animators, puppeteers, artists, sculptors, operators — all discuss their contributions to creating the film, as does composer Danny Elfman. Storyboards, miniatures, and preliminary footage is shown.
“¢ NEW! Film Commentary – commentary by producer and writer Tim Burton, director Henry Selick and composer Danny Elfman.
DISC 2
“¢ NEW Introduction To Frankenweenie [30:00]– A new un-cut version introduction by Tim Burton. The original 1984 back and white live-action short, which is currently being made into a full-length feature.
“¢ The Worlds of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas – This is a click-through feature that explores the lands of Halloween Town, Christmas Town, and the Real World. Each land contains character designs and concept art; Halloween Town also has brief animation tests for Jack, Sally, and Zero, each with audio commentary by Henry Selick.
“¢ Deleted Scenes
This is broken up into deleted animated sequences (four) and deleted storyboards (three), both contain a brief introduction from director Henry Selick explaining the deletions.
“¢ Storyboard to Film Comparison
Begins with the Mayor calling the town meeting when Jack returns and continues through “Town Meeting Song.”
“¢ Original Theatrical Trailers and Posters: Contains a few posters, plus the teaser and full-length trailers.
“¢ Tim Burton’s Complete Short Film Vincent
Made in 1982, the six-minute stop-motion short is about a boy named Vincent who imagines he’s like Vincent Price. Price narrated the black-and-white film, which was based on a poem by Burton.
DISC 3
“¢ Disney Digital
This is a digital copy of the film that can be loaded to a computer or iPod.
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