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"TIM BURTON'S THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS" (1993) (voices of Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara) (PG) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons None *Mild Moderate *Moderate Mild Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Moderate None Mild Moderate Minor Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Minor None None Moderate Mild QUICK TAKE: Animated/Musical: Having accidentally discovered the joy and magic of Christmas, the ruler of Halloweentown decides to kidnap Santa Claus and then deliver his land's macabre version of Christmas presents to the boys and girls of Christmastown. PLOT: In a land where every holiday has its own isolated locale and citizenry, Jack Skellington (voice of CHRIS SARANDON, singing voice by DANNY ELFMAN) is the Pumpkin King of Halloweentown, a drab and dreary place of ghouls and goblins where everything revolves around the last day of October. The following day, the two-faced Mayor (voice of GLENN SHADIX) wants to discuss his plans for the following year, but Jack is nowhere to be found. Looking for something more in his life than just scaring people, Jack has wandered off into a remote forest where he comes across the entrances to the many holidays and is swept into Christmastown. There, he's fascinated by the colorful sights and enraptured by the holiday spirit. Beaming with a new sense of purpose, Jack returns home to share the news of his discovery, including that of Santa Claus, whom Jack misinterprets as the malevolent and monstrous dictator, Sandy Claws. Although most everyone is mesmerized by Jack's description of this place, Sally (voice of CATHERINE O'HARA) - a rag doll stitched together by her Dr. Frankenstein type creator, the Evil Scientist (voice of WILLIAM HICKEY) - isn't so sure if his plans on taking over Christmas are wise or sound. Nonetheless, Jack sends the town's trick-or-treaters, Lock (voice of PAUL REUBENS), Shock (voice of CATHERINE O'HARA) and Barrel (voice of DANNY ELFMAN) - who serve the malevolent underworld figure, Oogie Boogie (voice of KEN PAGE) - to kidnap the real Santa. With Saint Nick out of the way, Jack decides he'll play Santa and deliver Halloweentown's version of macabre presents to the boys and girls of Christmastown. When that goes disastrously wrong, Jack must figure what to do, as well as save Santa and Sally from the clutches of Oogie Boogie. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? The somewhat familiar animation style, while predating "Chicken Run," may entice kids into wanting to see this one. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG For some scary images. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: While it's not clear whether kids view animated/non-realistic characters as role models, here's a brief rundown on the major characters. JACK is the troubled ruler of Halloweentown who yearns for something more in his life than just scaring people. When he discovers the Christmas spirit, he decides to spread that joy to others, but does so in a misguided attempt that involves the kidnapping of Santa as well as the delivery of macabre toys to the boys and girls. SALLY is a stitched together rag doll who yearns to be free from her mad scientist creator and sees a kindred spirit in Jack. As such, she repeatedly tries poisoning the scientist so that she can leave. OOGIE BOOGIE is a malevolent monster from Halloweentown's underworld who wishes to harm others. LOCK, SHOCK and BARREL play his three young minions and pranksters who kidnap Santa (under Jack's orders) and are otherwise generally mischievous troublemakers. The MAYOR is a two-faced politician (literally) who's either an optimistic official or a pessimistic, nervous Nellie. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: The following is a brief summary of the content found in this animated musical that's been rated PG. The film gets that rating for various scary images - of menacing, macabre and bizarre looking creatures and locales - that may or may not be unsettling or frightening to young kids, all depending on their age, level of maturity and tolerance for such material. Some of that involves the sight of a humanized rag doll occasionally losing or unstitching her limbs (with no blood or gore, although kids might think it looks gross or be disturbed by it), as well as some scenes where various characters are in peril and the general thought of Santa being kidnapped and his toys being replaced by ones that are dangerous, scary or just gross. Some cartoon-style violence is present, with the most coming near the end where anti-aircraft guns fire at a character flying through the sky and in another scene where a malevolent character tries to harm others. A few colorful phrases are present, while one song is sung by three kids and involves kidnapping Santa and doing bad things to him. As such, various characters exhibit varying degrees of bad attitudes. Beyond that, there's one tiny bit where a woman's leg is alluringly/seductively used to distract a monster, as well as some imitative behavior that might prove enticing to some impressionable kids. If you're still concerned about the film's appropriateness for anyone in your home who wishes to see it, however, you may want to take a closer look at our detailed content listings. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE None. BLOOD/GORE Although not gory in the traditional sense, some kids might find a scene where Sally pulls a stitch and her sewn-on arm falls off as unsettling or gross. The same holds true when Jack briefly removes his skeleton head from his body while singing (but again no traditional blood or gore). Later, the evil scientist opens his skullcap and rubs his wrinkled-brain. Then, later in the story, he removes half of his brain and puts it into the empty skullcap of his latest creation. Sally, who's "grounded," throws herself from her tower window and lands on the ground, breaking into various pieces (but she stitches herself back up and is okay, with no blood/gore). A boy pulls out what looks like a shrunken head from a gift that Jack (playing Santa) has just delivered. Oogie Boogie turns into a writing mass of squirming worms and other such creatures. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE The evil scientist always wants to confine and control Sally. In turn, she repeatedly tries to poison him with nightshade in his tea or soup, but all it appears to do is knock him out. Jack decides to have Santa kidnapped so that he can take over the responsibility of delivering toys to the boys and girls of Christmas town (he doesn't think he's doing a bad thing, however). Lock, Shock and Barrel throw various items at the Mayor and then accept and complete Jack's job of kidnapping Santa. Lock, Shock and Barrel sing a song that has lines about kidnapping and burying Santa Claus for 90 years and then seeing if he talks, of tying him up in a bag and throwing him in the ocean, beating him with a stick, and chopping him to bits. FRIGHTENING SCENES Scenes listed under "Violence" and "Blood/Gore," as well as the sight of many of the bizarre and somewhat monstrous looking creatures that populate Halloweentown (including the occasionally menacing appearance of Jack, Oogie Boogie some glowing eyes and sharp teeth under a bed, etc.) might be unsettling or downright frightening to some younger kids, all dependent on their age, level of maturity and tolerance for such material and sights. The same holds true for the film's setting of Halloweentown (in cemeteries, and other dark and foreboding locales). Santa encounters the large and menacing looking Oogie Boogie. The sight (and related thought) of kids receiving menacing or dangerous toys from Jack for Christmas might scare some kids. We see that Oogie Boogie has Sally and Santa tied up on a table of sorts. He then lifts up one of the edges, hoping to dump the two into what looks like molten ore or something similarly quite hot (but they turn out to be okay and aren't harmed). GUNS/WEAPONS Three of Oogie Boogie's stationary cowboy-like robots carry some sort of guns that later fire at Jack in the big climatic scene. Anti-aircraft guns: Fire shots at Jack as he flies through the sky on his sleigh, eventually hitting nearby and sending him and pieces of his sleigh falling toward the ground. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "You wretched girl" and "Shut up." Kids might get the notion to kidnap someone for fun, or to give gag gifts of gross-out items to unsuspecting recipients. Sally repeatedly tries poisoning the evil scientist by adding poison to his tea or soup (some kids might get the same idea). Sally, who's "grounded," throws herself from her tower window and lands on the ground, breaking into various pieces (but she stitches herself back up and is okay, thus possibly making some kids think they could do the same thing). JUMP SCENES None. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) Some dramatic and suspenseful music plays in a few scenes. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) Lock, Shock and Barrel sing a song that has lines about kidnapping and burying Santa Claus for 90 years and then seeing if he talks, of tying him up in a bag and throwing him in the ocean, beating him with a stick, and chopping him to bits (although most young kids probably won't understand the lyrics). Another song includes the phrases "By God" and "My God." PROFANITY A song includes the phrases "By God" and "My God." SEX/NUDITY To distract Oogie Boogie, Sally suggestively places her leg around a corner in an alluring/teasing stripper sort of manner (but he then finds that it's only her leg - she's unstitched it from the rest of her body). SMOKING None. TENSE FAMILY SCENES None. TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT Kids might be nervous that Santa (if they believe in him) might be in danger of being kidnapped or that they'll receive gifts that will be dangerous, scary or mean toward them (as happens here). Sally repeatedly tries poisoning the evil scientist by adding poison to his tea or soup (some kids might get the same idea). Sally, who's "grounded," throws herself from her tower window and lands on the ground, breaking into various pieces (but she stitches herself back up and is okay, thus possibly making some kids think they could do the same thing). VIOLENCE Sally's arm, now separate from her body, raps the evil scientist on his helmet several times. Some slapstick material includes Jack accidentally running into a signpost and falling back into a snow bank. Sally, who's "grounded," throws herself from her tower window and lands on the ground, breaking into various pieces (but she stitches herself back up and is okay). Lock, Shock and Barrel throw various items at the Mayor and later briefly struggle with/hit each other. A character smashes a scorpion with a mallet and then places it in a container to become a present. Anti-aircraft guns fire shots at Jack as he flies through the sky on his sleigh, eventually hitting nearby and sending him and pieces of his sleigh falling toward the ground. We see that Oogie Boogie has Sally and Santa tied up on a table of sorts. He then lifts up one of the edges, hoping to dump the two into what looks like molten ore or something similarly quite hot (but they turn out to be okay and aren't harmed). Jack then has to avoid all sorts of knives and other sharp objects while on a large and spinning horizontally mounted wheel, along with some stationary cowboy like robots that fire something from their guns at him. Santa squashes a bug. Reviewed October 24, 2000 / Posted October 27, 2000

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