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3D Blu-ray Review The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

Matt Hough

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Imagine the amount of effort for Tim Burton to get his The Nightmare Before Christmas project greenlit in the years before its release in 1993. 2D animation had just begun its renaissance with The Little Mermaid in 1989, but stop motion animation in movies at the time simply wasn’t “in” and never really had been apart from Ray Harryhausen’s effects and George Pal’s Puppetoons. (You could see lots of it on television but somewhat crudely executed.) And, of course, all of this predates the CGI animated feature debut of Toy Story by a few years. Still, this inventive, impressive creation was truly unlike anything else being done at the time, and its uniqueness still keeps it fresh and appealing more than a decade after its initial release. With Tim Burton as its creator, it would have to be a bit kooky and different; The Nightmare Before Christmas is certainly all of that in the best sense of those words. And this 3D edition, taken from 3D conversion theatrical releases which have proven popular seasonal attractions, adds additional interest to the project even if it wasn’t initially conceived as a 3D entertainment.


The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (Blu-ray Combo Pack)
Directed by Henry Selick

Studio: Disney
Year: 1993

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1/1.66:1   1080p   MVC/AVC codec
Running Time: 76 minutes
Rating: PG
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 English; Dolby Digital 5.1 English, French, Spansih
Subtitles: SDH, French, Spanish

Region: A-B-C
MSRP: $ 49.99




Release Date: August 30, 2011

Review Date: August 21, 2011



The Film

4/5


Burton’s original story poem and the screenplay developed from it with the help of Caroline Thompson concerns Pumpkin King Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon), the leader of Halloween Town. Jack enjoys his annual successes in making his holiday a scary, memorable one, but he’s begun to tire a bit of the same old thing every year. He stumbles on the entryway to Christmas Town and is simply dazzled by the bright allure and jolly fairyland atmosphere of the place. He’s so charmed by this fun holiday that he’s not a part of that he determines that he could replace this “Sandy Claws” (Ed Ivory) and for a change bring his own kind of cheer to the world at Christmas time. Obviously, neither he nor his hometown friends know what would be appropriate for this new holiday, but he’s willing to try, and his town's population agrees to help him.


The basic story of the film is right there, but Thompson has included a love interest for Jack, Sally (Catherine O'Hara) who has her own subplot of trying to escape from her mad scientist creator (William Hickey), and some evil triplets Lock, Shock and Barrel (Paul Reubens, Catherine O’Hara, Danny Elfman) who love to cause trouble and pay homage to the district’s reigning devil Oogie Boogie (Ken Page). All of these colorful characters “flesh out” (not quite the right word for these bizarre creations, but it’ll suffice) the story and give this Nightmare a spiky, fun identity.


Like other Disney animated features of the period, The Nightmare Before Christmas is a musical. Composer/lyricist Danny Elfman has fashioned a Kurt Weill-like idiom for his music, songs heavy with recitative and with dissonant chords emblematic of these doleful characters of Halloween Town. Yet, the music is still easily accessible especially on repeated listening, and the composer has fit in the required love songs, character numbers, and production numbers that make for wonderfully entertaining sequences, Tops, of course, is Ken Page’s soulful “Oogie Boogie” number which he wails for all it’s worth. Sally and Jack each have their own interior monolog songs which are both sung beautifully (Elfman provides the singing voice of Jack).


The animation is truly spectacular with the visual motif almost resembling some 19th century wood carved etchings. Director Henry Selick keeps that camera swirling up, down, and around never allowing the stop motion animated nature of the picture to ever begin to seem blockish or rooted. And there are so many delightful touches to be seen and savored: Jack attempting to cut out paper snowflakes only to end up with spider designs, the numerous surprises the families get when opening their Christmas presents, a doorbell pull that’s a spider on a string which emits a scream, Sally sewing herself back together when she rips apart. In the wrong hands, it could all have been ghoulish and off-putting. Instead, it’s a wonderland of sweetly freakish delights and even easier to enjoy with repeated helpings.



Video Quality

5/5

3D implementation 3.5/5


The 1.66:1 theatrical aspect ratio is represented faithfully on the Blu-ray 2D release in the package with a 1080p transfer using the AVC codec. Since stop motion animation is done in three dimensions, the high definition nature of this transfer gives the image a dimensionality that is quite astonishing even before inserting the 3D disc in the package. Obviously, the image is pristine, and the amount of detail in stone, wood, and fabric is palpably realistic with textures so sharp that you feel you could touch them. There isn’t a hint of shimmer in the pinstripes of Jack’s suit, and blacks are impossibly deep adding to that great feeling of depth throughout (Jack’s lonely meandering through the cemetery to the edge of the forest singing his song “Jack‘s Lament” is simply breathtaking). The fluorescent colors (sometimes seen under a simulated black light) of the Oogie Boogie sequences are visual eye candy. Even when smoke and fog enter the picture, the transfer handles it without a hiccup. This is reference quality stuff. The film has been divided into 20 chapters.


The 3D transfer is framed at 1.78:1 (not at 1.85:1 according to the packaging) and is presented in 1080p using the MVC codec. The most astonishing quality of the 3D transfer is in the depths of the blacks with simply mesmerizing black levels which never swallow up detail but seem to extend to the depths of the horizon. Because of the manner in which stop motion animation is filmed, the amount of plane separations with the characters, objects, and backgrounds exceeds just about every other animated film in 3D that I’ve watched. One honestly feels he could walk right into the picture and be in a fully functioning (albeit weird) world. Since the project was not filmed in 3D, however, the 3D conversion proves limited in the amount of forward projections from the screen toward the viewer. There are none to speak of though some rotor blades in the Oogie Boogie showdown sequence come the closest to extending outward, and snowflakes on a couple of occasions also almost make it past the frame. And the real shame is that this movie would have offered prime 3D material with so many pointed and extended aspects to the character and set design, many of which would have proven naturals for outward extension. There were two very, very slight crosstalk moments which disappeared almost as soon as they appeared. Otherwise, the image is sharp, colorful, and filled with depth and detail.



Audio Quality

5/5


The Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio mix makes full use of every one of those channels in a soundtrack that is almost never at rest. You can hear individual instrumentation in the orchestrations for the songs clearly in separate channels, and sounds are constantly placed in channels to give a wide range to the soundfield. Hearing directionalized voices echoing from channel to channel, and, for example, fired missiles zooming through the room is constantly thrilling. There are nice bass effects in the LFE channel, but they aren’t overdone. Again, for an animated film of this vintage, this is a reference quality creation.



Special Features

4.5/5


The 3D Blu-ray disc in the set contains only the movie in 3D. There are no 3D (or 2D) trailers, 3D cartoons, or anything else on the disc. (And with Disney touting its large array of offerings now available and coming in 3D, a few 3D trailers would seem highly appropriate and completely logical as add-ons.)


The second disc in the set is the 2D Blu-ray disc. The following are the bonus offerings on it.


Creator-writer-producer Tim Burton, director Henry Selick, and composer Danny Elfman have had comments edited together to create a very enjoyable audio commentary. Though it’s sometimes hard to tell their voices apart, the information imparted is consistently entertaining and enlightening, and this is a most welcome feature on this release.


“Jack’s Haunted Mansion Holiday Tour” offers a 1080i tour of the theme park’s Haunted Mansion spiffed up with allusions to The Nightmare Before Christmas. You can choose to turn on a pop-up trivia track that gives additional information as you go on the guided tour. This lasts 7 ¼ minutes.


Tim Burton’s original poem narrated by Christopher Lee finds the film’s creator in Dr. Seuss mode writing the poem which formed the foundation of the movie. It has been illustrated and partially animated with art based on Burton’s original concept sketches and is altogether a terrific bonus feature. It lasts 11 ½ minutes and is in full 1080p.


Frankenweenie is given a new introduction by director Tim Burton discussing the in-production stop action animation version of the tale. The original 30-minute black and white short is presented in 480i


Vincent, another short film of Tim Burton’s in a sort of combination tribute to Vincent Price and a rough idea of what his Nightmare movie will eventually resemble, is also presented here in a 6-minute 480i transfer.


“The Making of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas is a 24 ¾-minute behind-the-scenes look at the three years of labor needed to craft this unique animated feature. It’s presented in 480i.


A series of concept art, rough animation, and character tests covering various facets of Halloween Town, Christmas Town, and the real world are presented in vignettes ranging from one to three minutes. All are in 480i


Three deleted storyboards (which run 3 minutes) and four deleted scenes (which run 5 minutes) are presented in 480i.


A storyboard to film comparison is offered in 480i and runs 3 ¾ minutes.


A poster gallery is available as are the theatrical teaser trailer (1 ¾ minutes) and the theatrical trailer (1 ½ minutes). All are in 480i.


The third disc in the set is the combination DVD/digital copy of the movie. Instructions are enclosed for installation on Mac and PC devices.



In Conclusion

4.5/5 (not an average)


Creatively rich and lots of fun, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas gets a 3D home video version not only worthy of its brilliance but one which extends the triumphs  of the film’s creativity and execution to even more majestic heights. 3D Blu-ray brings out the best in this wonderful entertainment, one that I can heartily recommend if one is 3D equipped.



Matt Hough

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FoxyMulder

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I felt the original blu ray release was lacking, it had some grain reduction and of course the well reported issues of a few frames going astray due to scratch removal tools, can you please tell me if this is an improvement on that edition of the film. ?


( With regards the 2D edition of the film )
 

Matt Hough

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Originally Posted by FoxyMulder

I felt the original blu ray release was lacking, it had some grain reduction and of course the well reported issues of a few frames going astray due to scratch removal tools, can you please tell me if this is an improvement on that edition of the film. ?


( With regards the 2D edition of the film )


Sorry, but I didn't share your opinions of the original, and I saw no significent differences between it and the 2D release in this package.
 

FoxyMulder

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Originally Posted by MattH.




Sorry, but I didn't share your opinions of the original, and I saw no significent differences between it and the 2D release in this package.



I have seen stills of the 3D edition which look to me like they contain real film grain and those images were a substantial improvement on the last blu ray release so i had hope that the 2D edition would also get us back nearer to how the original camera negatives would look, now remember this was released on 35mm film, as far as i am aware it was shot still motion using 35mm cameras, it should contain film grain, Disney though have been grain reducing all their animated titles, making them look more like HD cartoons with blatant over saturated colours, reviewers have also been praising those releases to the hills and not seeing the issue.


Are you trying to tell me animated films shot before the digital age should not contain film grain, are you saying this does not impact on their detail levels, thats an interesting stance to take.
 

Matt Hough

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Originally Posted by FoxyMulder




I have seen stills of the 3D edition which look to me like they contain real film grain and those images were a substantial improvement on the last blu ray release so i had hope that the 2D edition would also get us back nearer to how the original camera negatives would look, now remember this was released on 35mm film, as far as i am aware it was shot still motion using 35mm cameras, it should contain film grain, Disney though have been grain reducing all their animated titles, making them look more like HD cartoons with blatant over saturated colours, reviewers have also been praising those releases to the hills and not seeing the issue.


Are you trying to tell me animated films shot before the digital age should not contain film grain, are you saying this does not impact on their detail levels, thats an interesting stance to take.




Not taking any stance. The clean-up of these films in the home video domain just doesn't bother me as much as it does others.
 

FoxyMulder

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Originally Posted by MattH.



Not taking any stance. The clean-up of these films in the home video domain just doesn't bother me as much as it does others.




As a reviewer though you would mention it, i hope.


I would also add that clean up is fine, restoration work involves cleaning up prints, but removing a natural part of that print, in this case the film grain cannot be right. People complain if its done to live action films, i rarely hear complaints about it being done to animated titles, i may be on my high horse about this but it bugs me.
 

Mike Wadkins

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FoxyMulder said:
I felt the original blu ray release was lacking, it had some grain reduction and of course the well reported issues of a few frames going astray due to scratch removal tools, can you please tell me if this is an improvement on that edition of the film. ?


( With regards the 2D edition of the film )
You beat me to it! was going to ask the same question
 

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MattH. said:
Sorry, but I didn't share your opinions of the original, and I saw no significent differences between it and the 2D release in this package.
 

 
Matt, The differences people are describing, and I'm also hoping were corrected, were described in this thread in September 2008.
From the The Nightmare Before Christmas Blu-ray disc, there is an example of the DNR or Scratch-Removal work leaving two flawed artifacts in a single frame of the movie. IMHO, a good catch to show how careful a quality assurance team needs to be when using such techniques. The Blu-ray frame is compared to an anamorphic 1.66:1 Scandinavian Pal DVD frame at this site. Jack loses the right black pant leg and the left black jacket cover over his arm in the frame. Paul
Unfortunately all the actual picture examples that show detail of the actual flaws from improper initial DNR techniques have been eradicated without explanation. The Christmas chapter has an excellent example where Jack is on his sled coming down a hill where: "Jack loses the right black pant leg and the left black jacket cover over his arm in the frame". Has that shot been left in this 3D version or has a better version with the natural grain in the frame replaced it? Hope you can check and verify. Paul
 

Matt Hough

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When I find myself with some free time, I'll try to see if I can find answers, but I hope you understand I have quite a few reviews pending. This week and next week contain heavy review commitments for me.
 

Paul Hillenbrand

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The Christmas chapter has an excellent example where Jack is on his sled coming down a hill where: "Jack loses the right black pant leg and the left black jacket cover over his arm in the frame". Has that shot been left in this 3D version or has a better version with the natural grain in the frame replaced it?
Just verified that the 2D Blu-ray is the same encod as the previous release. The early DNR flaws are still there. The good news is that there is no visible flaws or signs of any DNR or grain reduction in the new 3D version!:) IMO, it is a reference quality transfer.:cool: Paul
 

FoxyMulder

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Originally Posted by Paul Hillenbrand

Paul
Can one view the 3D version as a 2D film, i understand some 3D discs offer this possibility. ?

I imagine if one could do that then the brightness and contrast values on the display might need altered though since they will have been optimized for the 3D playback through the darkened glasses.
 

Matt Hough

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Originally Posted by FoxyMulder




Can one view the 3D version as a 2D film, i understand some 3D discs offer this possibility. ?

I imagine if one could do that then the brightness and contrast values on the display might need altered though since they will have been optimized for the 3D playback through the darkened glasses.



I don't use my PS3 as a 3D player, but I did try to load the 3D disc in it to see what would happen (PS3 feeds into a HDMI 1.3 receiver), and the disc froze. I took my glasses off for a moment during the review process (using a Panasonic 310 player), and it was not a clear 2D image.
 

Matt Hough

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BTW, Thanks, Paul, for answering the members' questions about the 2D and 3D transfers. Heavy reviewing assignments have been unending recently. (August and September are traditionally my heaviest months.)
 

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