The Nightmare Before Christmas

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

  • 96% of critics liked it
    (73 reviews)

  • 89% of users liked it
    (879,859 ratings)

Despite having recently presided over a very successful Halloween, Jack Skellington, aka the Pumpkin King, is bored with his job and feels that life in Halloweenland lacks meaning. Then he stumbles upon Christmastown and promptly decides to make the Yuletide his own.

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In Theaters
Oct 24, 1993 Wide
Touchstone Pictures

Critic Reviews

  • David Ansen, Newsweek

    This cautionary fable (Be True to Your Ghoulish Self) may be a little too twisted for little kids but anyone 8 or older will spot the friendly glint behind jack's empty eye sockets.

  • Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

    I'm not sure I've ever seen a fantasy film that's at once so visually amazing and so emotionally dead.

  • Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

    A work of grand visual wit, clever songs, funny gags and genuine pathos, it is perhaps the greatest stop-motion animated film ever, a painstaking style of model animation that computers have all but completely done away with.

  • Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine

    A fun house of funereal glamour.

  • Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

    The set designs are ingenious and the songs (music and lyrics by Danny Elfman) are fairly good.

Read all 19 critic reviews

See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Eric S


    A lot of credit to Danny Elfman for creating such a memorable soundtrack. "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is a classic and one of the most iconic films ever made. With Tim Burton's imagination and Henry Selick's fine directing, you're bound to get something… More

  • Louis R


    A cult film that deserves its status.

  • Manu G


    A ghoulish tale with wicked humour & stunning animation. Great Movie! Painstakingly and meticulously crafted, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is a beautiful and wonderful film from start to finish. The most famous image of this film is the cover art, which features… More

  • Directors C


    The animation is absolutely brilliant and the songs are excellent. Its my favorite christmas film of all time.

  • Sophie B


    The problem with this is that it's both a Christmas film and a Halloween film and that doesn't really work. At Halloween it's too early to be thinking about Christmas but at Christmas it's too late to be thinking about Halloween and you just want pure Christmas. It… More

Read all 20 featured audience ratings

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