The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) ***1/2

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) celebrates its 30th anniversary today. It's always been a weird film for me. I've owned it on three home video formats now, and while I do enjoy it quite a lot, I've never been crazy about the songs, and being that it's a musical, that's prevented me from ever fully embracing it. Also, despite its lean running time of 76 minutes and its fast pace, there are still points where I lose interest.

I adore stop-motion and the animation in TNBC is undoubtedly gorgeous. I greatly appreciate all the painstaking care and craft that goes into making a film of this sort. But when it comes to stop-motion Tim Burton properties, I know I am in the minority when I say that I prefer Corpse Bride (2005) (though I'm due for a revisit of that flick). And when it comes to stop-motion pictures by Henry Selick (who directed TNBC, not Burton as I think a lot of people still believe), I prefer Coraline (2009) (review). I must say though, the movie looks fantastic on 4K UHD.