General Information:

Media Type: Home Video
Type: Bluuray - Open Edition
Release Date: 2018-09-05

Geek's Thoughts: Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas turns twenty-five this October and to celebrate the occasion Disney has released a new home video version on Blu-ray/Digital HD/DVD. This stop-motion classic shares the adventure of Jack Skellington’s attempt to bring Christmas to Halloween Town. New with this release is the option to turn on a sing-along mode for all the songs.

 

I was disappointed to find this release is very light on new offerings. I thought for the 25th anniversary there would be new features or retrospectives. The only new feature is a sing along version of the film. The release does feature an extensive set of classic bonus features though including a making of, deleted scenes, several shorts, and a tour of the Haunted Mansion Holiday at Disneyland. For a full listing of the included bonus material see the press release below.

Two of the features stand above the rest to me. The Making Of and the Haunted Mansion Tour. I really enjoyed watching both. They are both longer than traditional featurettes. The Haunted Mansion Holiday piece is over 37 minutes. So you get a fairly extensive tour of the mansion. I thought the ending felt a bit rushed compared to the beginning. I would have really liked to have seen an update on this featuring some of the changes to the attraction over the years and a look at the Tokyo Disneyland version and its differences would have been a great addition. The Making Of piece really drives home the amount of effort stop-motion animation takes and the skill and patience involved to produce films using this method.

If you already own a Blu-ray or digital version of the film there really is nothing new this time around unless the sing along interests you or your family. If you do not own the film or the a version with the classic bonus features you may want to consider it. The Making of and Haunted Mansion Holiday pieces are both well done.