The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Original Poem

. . . whether people must watch the entire 76-minute 1993 feature film, or if this 2008 THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS: THE ORIGINAL POEM could suffice. Advocates of substituting this 12-minute short point out that those who restrict their Yule time nightmare to it will save a whopping 64 minutes in the trade-off, freeing up a much-needed hour for baking Christmas cookies, cleaning house for the holidays and attending religious services. However, there are a few die-hard gluttons for punishment who lobby for the longer version, so that they can wallow in sadness and ill-will even longer. To each his own, I guess.

I have no idea why, but 15 years AFTER "The Nightmare Before Christmas" debuted, another much shorter version came out. Instead of using the stop-motion look of the original, this one has what appears to be hand dranwn animation and CG...with Christopher Lee narrating the story. There is no singing and it's a stripped down version only lasting about ten minutes.

So is it worth seeing? I say if you love the movie you'll likely enjoy this short version. After all, the animation is still very good and the narration is second to none. I saw it because I love Lee and his vocal talents. Overall, well worth your time and avalable on YouTube if you look.