Bored with his perennial role as Halloween Town's frightening Pumpkin King, Jack Skellington discovers the cheerful village of Christmas Town. Determined to shake things up in Halloween Town, he schemes to kidnap Santa Clause and takes over the job of delivering gifts to the children himself. When his plan goes awry, Jack attempts to restore Santa to his rightful place, but he must first rescue him from the evil clutches of Oogie Boogie.

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas is an unusual film that improves with multiple viewings. Burton cleverly mixes Halloween and Christmas with fabulous set designs and stop-motion photography, creating a whimsical world in which to tell his story. The film was rereleased to theaters in 2008 with a 3D conversion utilizing the talents of Don Hahn and ILM (Industrial Light and Magic). As explained on Mouseclubhouse.com, they used the original film for the left eye and they projected it onto a featureless piece of geometry that looks like a coffee cup. Then the camera was moved to the right three inches and re-photographed. Any gaps are then filled in via Photoshop and the resulting image is outstanding. I loved the original 2D release of the film for its fine visuals and enveloping soundtrack, but this 3D version takes it to a whole new level.

What is this?

• Chapter 3, 0:13:17
• 3D depth, surround envelopment, detail
• As Jack walks through the barren forest look at the detail in the trees and the depth in the image. Then at the 0:14:08 mark, journey with him through the Christmas door and listen to the circling sound effects as he falls into the new world.

Experiments

• Chapter 6, 0:26:30
• 3D depth
• Here's a great example of how good the 3D conversion is. While Jack is preparing his experiment, notice how the beakers pop from the screen and how there's added dimensionality to the image.

Poor Jack

• Chapter 17, 1:01:56
• Imaging
• As the camera pans around the graveyard listen to the imaging of the policeman's announcement as it moves from speaker to speaker throughout the room.

Release Date: August 30, 2011
Studio: Disney

Movie: 9/10
Picture: 9/10
3D Effect: 9/10
Sound: 9/10