More Info on The Nightmare Before Christmas

The Story: Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, grows tired of his spooky duties, so he decides to fill in for Santa Claus one Christmas. Jack means well, but finding a shrunken head in your stocking is worse than getting a lump of coal.

Good If You Liked: Casper's Haunted Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Beetlejuice

Heads Up: The macabre humor has inherent elements of gore and implied violence that some viewers might find distasteful. If you don't want your children seeing a mad scientist pop open his skull and scratch his brain, this probably isn't for you. In fact, The Nightmare Before Christmas is so packed with spooky little touches that cautious parents might want to watch it on their own first. Only you will know if that joke or this image might be too much for your child.

Own It? Yes. Most good animation is detailed enough to stand up to repeat viewing, yet this stop-motion extravaganza is especially rich. Every frame is packed with hand-crafted imagination.

DVD Special Features: The 2008 digitally restored and remastered collection includes producer Tim Burton's original poem, narrated by Christopher Lee; two of Burton's early short films (Frankenweenie and Vincent); all-new audio commentary by Burton, director Henry Selick and musical designer Danny Elfman; and a handful of behind-the-scenes featurettes. The packaging features a neat squishy foam Jack Skellington head on the cover.

Trivia & Fun: What better way to kick off the trick-or-treating season than watching The Nightmare Before Christmas each October? If nothing else, the movie will give your family plenty of costume ideas.