Ratings (out of five)
- Movie: 5
- Audio: 5
- Video: 5
- Goodies: 4
- Interface: 4
- Value: 4 (at retail), 5 (at Amazon/Costco price)
DVD Details
- DVD release date: August 26, 2008
- Rated: PG (special features not rated)
- Original release date: 1993
- Sound format: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
- Aspect ratio: 1.66:1 widescreen / original theatrical format (widescreen TVs use 16:9 setting)
- Retail Price: $32.99$39.99
The Movie
This marks the third time The Nightmare Before Christmas has been reviewed on MousePlanet; Kevin Krock reviewed the previous DVD release back in 2001 (link) and Alex Stroup covered the Disney Digital 3-D theatrical re-release in 2006 (link). With that said, it’s hard to say anything new about the movie itself—as Alex said, you already know whether you like it or not, and a new review isn’t going to change that. This review, then, will focus on what makes this new 2-Disc Collector’s Edition release; different—and one would hope, better—than its predecessor.
Jack Skellington rides his black Christmas sleigh. © WDSHE. All Rights Reserved.
Audio, Video, and Interface
Disc 1 features Disney’s FastPlay, which automatically starts the movie after a selection of trailers that includes a Blu-Ray promotional trailer, Sleeping Beauty special edition DVD, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, WALL-E DVD/Blu-Ray, and Disney Movie Rewards. After the movie ends, a subtitled message pops up during the credits advising the viewer to stay tuned for a selection of bonus features, which will play automatically; you can remove the message by turning off subtitles.
Once the actual feature begins, the care with which Disney’s artists and technicians did their work in creating this restored and remastered version is plainly evident. The picture is clear, with no pops, scratches, or compression artifacts. In fact, it’s crisp enough that you can clearly see minute details like Sally’s fluttering eyelashes and the textures on Jack’s books about Christmas, and you can easily see characters and objects in dark scenes, such as inside Dr. Finklestein’s laboratory. The graininess mentioned in the 2001 review is completely absent. As compared to the earlier DVD release, this remastered transfer is true anamorphic widescreen, meaning that the picture expands to fill the entire screen on widescreen televisions.
The surround sound presentation is equally clear and bright, with good channel separation. Song lyrics—this is, after all, a musical picture—are easy to understand even for me, and I usually have to turn on subtitles when watching musicals.
If you start the movie with FastPlay, you won’t see any menus until after all the features, previews, and trailers are done. Once there, however, the menu animations are in the style of the movie’s animation, moving around through various locations in Halloween Town in a one-minute loop. Disc 2’s menu is similar, with different scenes.
On Equipment
- TV: Maxent MX-58HPT51 58″ plasma
- Amplifier: Sony HT-DDW790 home theatre system (5.1)
- DVD player: Toshiba SD-K860SU
- Connections: HDMI (DVD to TV), Digital Coax (DVD to amplifier)
Lock, Shock and Barrel. © WDSHE. All Rights Reserved.
The Goodies
Using Disney’s FastPlay, several special features will automatically run after the feature ends. First, Tim Burton’s original “The Nightmare Before Christmas” poem is narrated by Christopher Lee with unique paper-style animation. Some verses of the poem may seem familiar to fans of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion Holiday.
Next is “The Making of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.” This is apparently the same featurette that has been included on earlier releases, but we watched the whole thing, as we hadn’t seen it before. There’s a great deal of solid information given in this featurette—it’s not at all like the frothy, marketing-driven mini-features on most DVDs. The artists go through set-building, lighting, character animation, and more. One sad note is a brief segment with storyboard supervisor Joe Ranft, who went on to lead the story department at Pixar Animation Studios and who was tragically killed in a car accident in 2005.
After the “Making Of” featurette, FastPlay proceeds to a DVD trailer for Secret of the Magic Gourd. No, I’ve never heard of it either. Yes, it’s a magic talking gourd. Then, DVD trailers for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and Tinker Bell and a nonspecific “Disney Parks” preview. Disc 1 also includes a new audio commentary with Tim Burton, Henry Selick (director) and Danny Elfman.
The big draw on Disc 1, aside from the movie itself, is “Backstage Disney,” a selection of special material about the Haunted Mansion Holiday attraction at Disneyland created just for this DVD set . Note that if you use the FastPlay feature to watch the movie, previews, trailers, and special features, you will not see the Haunted Mansion Holiday feature! Instead, the feature is accessed through the Bonus Features menu.
The first segment, called “On Track,” lets you experience the Haunted Mansion Holiday attraction with actual ride narration in English, optionally with trivia pop-ups. Then in “Off Track”, you discover what went into creating all the creepy fun of Haunted Mansion Holiday. This second segment is a joy for those Disneyland fans—like me—who love learning everything possible about how stuff works behind the scenes. It features Entertainment director Steve Davison and other Imagineers who designed and built the Mansion overlay.
- Frankenweenie, with a new introduction by Tim Burton
- Vincent
- Deleted scenes – some storyboarded but not animated, and some animated but cut before the final edit
- “The Worlds of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas” – concept art and basic character animation samples
- A storyboard-to-film comparison of the “Town Meeting Song”
- A selection of posters and trailers
The Final Evaluation
Reviewed by Andrew and Jennifer Rich.
