Blyss's Movie Review for:

Main Cast of Characters:

Chris Sarandon...........Jack Skellington (voice)

Danny Elfman.........Jack Skellington (singing), Clown With Tear-away Face, and Barrell(singing voice)

Catherine O'Hara..........Sally, Shock

William Hickey.........Dr. Finklestein

Glenn Shadix..........Mayor of Halloween Town

Paul Reubens...............Lock

Ken Page...............Oogie Boogie

Ed Ivory...............Santa

Susan McBride...............Big Witch

Debi Durst...............Corpse Kid, Corpse Mom, Small Witch

Greg Proops..............Harlequin Demon, Devil Sax Player

Kerry Katz...............Man Under the Stairs, Campire, Corpse Father

Randy Crenshaw...............Mr. Hyde, Behemoth, Vampire

Sherwood Ball...............Mummy, Vampire

Carmen Twillie...............Undersea Gal, Man Under Stairs

Glenn Walters..............Wolfman

1993. Rated: PG Genre: Animation 76 minutes

"Where do holidays come from?"

That was a question that Jack Skellington never asked. For years, he was Jack Skellington, Pumpkin King, the most adored personality in Halloweentown. But after a while, he grew tired of the same old thing. Halloween just passed and he did his best but he is just bored with his life. Sally the Rag Doll can relate. Dr. Finklestein created her and she is miserable because he wants her to stay inside all of the time. The only way she can get away is to drug him with certain ingredients in her soup so she can roam. Jack Skellington roams the woods that night and goes through a door he was not meant to go through, the one to Christmastown. He decides that he wants to do Christmas this year and put a Halloween twist on it and he has Boogie's Boys kidnap the real "Sandy Claws" so Jack can do it. But Jack could change history with this move and ruin Christmas for everyone. Can anyone stop him in time to save Christmas?

This is the first real animated movie I had watched in a long time the first time I saw it. I saw it the first year I started junior college. The only reason I waited so long was because I was tired of cartoons. My roommate insisted on watching Disney cartoons (Little Mermaid, Lion King, etc.) and I was sick of them. But this one was different. I am a Halloween freak so I totally got into Nightmare Before Christmas. Overall, the best thing about this movie was the animation. I loved how everything looked so real but yet not so real. I think my favorite character was Sally the Rag Doll. She was strong enough to break away from the things that she did not want to have anything to do with and to express herself. The graphics for Sally were really cool in that she could take her body parts loose by loosening thread and still control them when they were away from her body. I also liked watching her cook. The other character I really liked was the Mayor because he was a stereotype and was displaying a message, "I'm just an elected official, I can't make decisions for myself!"

Overall, I would think that this movie would be good for ages 13 and over. It really should have had a PG-13 rating. Some of the graphics were a little too intense for younger eyes. The movie even had music appeal because I could not seem to get those songs out of my head for days after I watched the film. The story was adorable and I cannot think of anything to make this any better.

I rate this film: 9

Blyss