The Nightmare Before Christmas Blu-ray

The Nightmare Before Christmas

 (1993)

Animation | Family | Fantasy | Musical



When the king of Halloween Town, Jack Skellington, gets bored of his job preparing for Halloween every year, he discovers Christmas Town and is inspired to take control of Christmas season for a change. Unfortunately his ghoulish subjects have difficulty getting the festive holiday quite right. Meanwhile, Sally, a pretty maid who takes care of her creator, Dr. Finklestein, is trying to escape from her confines. She worries for Jack and foresees his plans will end in ruin.

For more details about The Nightmare Before Christmas on Blu-ray, see The Nightmare Before Christmas Blu-ray Review

Starring: Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, William Hickey, Glenn Shadix
Director: Henry Selick

The Nightmare Before Christmas Blu-ray, Video Quality

 


Never before has Nightmare Before Christmas looked so good. Having seen this film on VHS, DVD, and projected theatrically - both flat and in "Disney Digital 3D," I can truly say this is the first time that so many small details are actually noticeable. The soulless blank eyes of the vampires. The swamp creature's blue nails. Zero's nose is actually a freakin' jack-o'-lantern! One could never quite make out the detail of the ghost dog's snout; it always reminded me of an old tungsten light bulb or somesuch.

Encoded in AVC and averaging 30 Mbps, Nightmare is absolutely lovely in all of its 1080p glory. The film is made all the more engrossing by the picture clarity, and the carefully crafted puppets look stunning with such a high amount of detail. For a film with a relatively limited color palette, especially in the grim Edward Gorey-like world of the Hallowe'en holiday, hues are vibrant and really pop from the screen when they are present, such as the neon splendor of Oogie Boogie's Las Vegas-flavored haven. There of course is a lot of black present throughout, and the levels are well balanced, rich, and deep with no evidence of crush. No video artifacts are present throughout the feature, nor any noticeable compression artifacts. In short, Disney has done it again with a breathtaking, flawless picture presentation.

The Nightmare Before Christmas Blu-ray, Audio Quality

 


Being a very musical film - in fact, more of an operetta than a traditional musical - Nightmare Before Christmas obviously relies heavily on its sound presentation. Here the lossless audio - a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mix - wonderfully complements the stellar picture quality. Well-balanced and boasting incredible clarity, the music, sound, and dialogue have arguably never sounded better. The film's scoring is spread nicely throughout the channels, and center channel-heavy dialogue is aided by the front speakers here and there. The musical performances are outstanding and feature a nice level of equalization that does not leave one scrambling for the remote control. Ambiance is captured well in the rear channels, and LFE effects for bass instruments and the rumbling effects of cannon fire, for example, are excellent.

In addition to Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes of English, Spanish, and French are included, as well as a Portuguese track in Dolby Digital 2.0. It is fun and interesting listening to the translated songs, which is quite fun seeing as a film's music is often left to be performed in English. The clarity of the lossless track, in addition to the wonderful aural variety provided, make this Blu-ray of Nightmare Before Christmas a winner.

The Nightmare Before Christmas Blu-ray, News and Updates

• Today on Blu-ray - August 26th - August 26, 2008


• Disney Specs Nightmare Before Christmas Blu-ray - June 3, 2008


• Nightmare Before Christmas Gets Blu-ray Date - June 2, 2008

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