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The Nightmare Before Christmas

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Fantasy · Animation · Family · 1993

Tired of scaring humans every October 31 with the same old bag of tricks, Jack Skellington, the spindly king of Halloween Town, kidnaps Santa Claus and plans to deliver shrunken heads and other ghoulish gifts to children on Christmas morning. But as Christmas approaches, Jack's rag-doll girlfriend, Sally, tries to foil his misguided plans.

Movie details

The Nightmare Before Christmas

1993 Fantasy · Animation · Family 1h 16m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.8 / 10

Community rating

Tired of scaring humans every October 31 with the same old bag of tricks, Jack Skellington, the spindly king of Halloween Town, kidnaps Santa Claus and plans to deliver shrunken heads and other ghoulish gifts to children on Christmas morning. But as Christmas approaches, Jack's rag-doll girlfriend, Sally, tries to foil his misguided plans.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Nightmare Before Christmas?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Arthur Christmas

Arthur Christmas

Drama · 2011

For hundreds of years, the Claus family has delegated the title "Santa" to a chosen few of its members, which can be passed down upon retirement. Each Christmas, Santa and his vast army of highly trained elves produce gifts and distribute them around the world in a one-night high-tech operation. However, when one of 600 million children to receive a gift from Santa on Christmas Eve is missed, it is deemed ‘acceptable’ to all but one—Arthur Claus, the current Santa’s misfit son deemed ineligible for the title, who executes an unauthorised rookie mission to get the last present halfway around the globe before dawn on Christmas morning.

Trolls Holiday in Harmony

Trolls Holiday in Harmony

Animation · 2021

Queen Poppy plans the first annual Trolls Kingdom Secret Holiday Gift Swap, but things don't go quite as expected.

Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas

Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas

Animation · 2004

Santa Claus, Mickey Mouse and all his Disney pals star in an original movie about the importance of opening your heart to the true spirit of Christmas. Stubborn old Donald tries in vain to resist the joys of the season, and Mickey and Pluto learn a great lesson about the power of friendship.

The Year Without a Santa Claus

The Year Without a Santa Claus

Animation · 1974

Feeling forgotten by the children of the world, old St. Nick decides to skip his gift-giving journey and take a vacation. Mrs. Claus and two spunky little elves, Jingle and Jangle, set out to see to where all the season's cheer has disappeared. Aided by a magical snowfall, they reawaken the spirit of Christmas in children's hearts and put Santa back in action.

The Canterville Ghost

The Canterville Ghost

Animation · 2023

An American family moves in to the Canterville Chase, a London mansion that has been haunted by ghost Sir Simon De Canterville for 300 years.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Animation · 1964

Sam the snowman tells us the story of a young red-nosed reindeer who, after being ousted from the reindeer games because of his glowing nose, teams up with Hermey, an elf who wants to be a dentist, and Yukon Cornelius, the prospector. They run into the Abominable Snowman and find a whole island of misfit toys. Rudolph vows to see if he can get Santa to help the toys, and he goes back to the North Pole on Christmas Eve. But Santa's sleigh is fogged in. But when Santa looks over Rudolph, he gets a very bright idea...

That Christmas

That Christmas

Animation · 2024

It's an unforgettable Christmas for the townsfolk of Wellington-on-Sea when the worst snowstorm in history alters everyone's plans — including Santa's.

Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas

Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas

Animation · 2011

When Sid accidentally destroys Manny's heirloom Christmas rock and ends up on Santa's naughty list, he leads a hilarious quest to the North Pole to make things right and ends up making things much worse. Now it's up to Manny and his prehistoric posse to band together and save Christmas for the entire world!

Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July

Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July

Animation · 1979

Winterbolt is trying to make the North Pole his evil wonderland, and it is up to Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and others to stop him.

Trolls Holiday

Trolls Holiday

Adventure · 2017

When the eternally optimistic Poppy, queen of the Trolls, learns that the Bergens no longer have any holidays on their calendar, she enlists the help of Branch and the rest of the gang on a delightfully quirky mission to fix something that the Bergens don't think is broken.

Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Henry Selick

Written by

Caroline Thompson · Tim Burton

Danny Elfman

Danny Elfman

Jack Skellington (singing) / Barrel / Clown with the Tear away Face (voice)

Chris Sarandon

Chris Sarandon

Jack Skellington (voice)

Catherine O'Hara

Catherine O'Hara

Sally / Shock (voice)

William Hickey

William Hickey

Dr. Finkelstein (voice)

Glenn Shadix

Glenn Shadix

Mayor (voice)

Paul Reubens

Paul Reubens

Lock (voice)

Ken Page

Ken Page

Oogie Boogie (voice)

Court is in session

Put The Nightmare Before Christmas on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.