Tim's Burton The Nightmare Before Christmas | |
---|---|
Directed by | Henry Selick |
Produced by | Tim Burton
Denise Di Voni |
Written by | Story: Tim Burton Lyrics: Danny Elfman Adaptation: Michael McDowell Screenplay: Caroline Thompson |
Starring | Chris Sarandon Danny Elfman Catherine O'Hara William Hickey Glenn Shadix |
Music by | Danny Elfman |
Cinematography | Pete Kozachik |
Editing by | Barry Zetlin |
Distributed by | 1993 release: Walt Disney Pictures |
Release date(s) | October 13, 1993(Limited) October 29, 1993 October 20, 2006(3-D Re-Release) Noviember 17, 2023 |
Running time | 76 min. |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $18 million |
Gross revenue | 1994: $50 million 2006: $8.7 million 2007: $15.8 million 2020: $1.323 million 2023:$84.9 million |
Official website | |
Allmovie profile | |
IMDb profile |
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas is a 1993 Disney/Touchstone stop-motion animated film directed by Henry Selick and produced/co-written by Tim Burton. The film tells the story of Jack Skellington, a living skeleton from Halloween Town who finds a door to Christmas Town.
Idea behind the film
The genesis of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" started with a Poem by Tim Burton. He wrote it during his time as a Disney animator in the early 1980s. With the success of Burton's short film "Vincent" in 1982, Disney started to consider "The Nightmare Before Christmas" as either a short film or a 30-minute television special. Over the years, Burton's thoughts regularly returned to the project, and in 1990, Burton and Disney made a development deal. Production started in July 1991 in San Francisco in California and Skellington Productions. Walt Disney Pictures decided to release the film under their Touchstone Pictures banner because they thought that the film would be "too dark and scary for children."
Plot
In a magical place called Halloween Town, all of the town's citizens have gathered to celebrate their holiday and success after terrifying the world. However, Jack Skellington, the pumpkin king and most-acclaimed citizen of the town, a de-facto leader, has become tired of this holiday and no longer sees the point of scaring people. The night after the celebration he takes a long walk through the forest with his ghost dog Zero (who has a glowing pumpkin for a nose), where he finds doorways to other holidays. Intrigued by one showing a bright green tree with decorations, Jack opens the door and falls down a hole leading into Christmas Town.
Amazed by the snow, color, and wonder he sees, he becomes fascinated with Christmas. Jack returns to Halloween Town and shows the citizens examples of Christmas items. He shows them Christmas trees, stockings, and the whole routine of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The townspeople are excited, but Jack worries they don't fully grasp the concepts he's trying to explain to them. In the crowd is Sally, a ragdoll brought to life by the town scientist Dr. Finkelstein. She is secretly in love with Jack and too is awestruck by Christmas, but sees a vision of a burning Christmas tree and worries it is a bad sign. She informs Jack of her vision, but he simply shrugs it off his shoulders and goes ahead in his plan.
Jack secludes himself in his lab, leaving the citizens of Halloween Town in troubled thoughts of what Jack is up to and if he's okay, and performs various experiments on Christmas-themed items in an attempt to find a way to explain it to his citizens. Jack's obsession escalates as his experiments fail, and he ultimately comes to the conclusion that not only could he imitate Christmas perfectly, but that he could improve upon it, and announces to the town they are taking over Christmas.
Jack rallies the town to begin making Christmas presents, hires Dr. Finkelstein to animate skeletal reindeer for a sleigh, and charges Sally with knitting him a red and white Santa Claus coat. As Christmas approaches and both Halloween Town and Christmas Town prepare for Christmas, Jack puts three tricks-or-treaters (Lock, Shock and Barrel) in charge of kidnapping Santa Claus from Christmas Town, but warns them not to include their master Oogie Boogie in any of their affairs. On Christmas Eve, everything is almost set when the three return with Santa. Jack tells Santa to "take the night off" and has the three take Santa back to their lair to keep him contained for the night. Instead, the three send Santa to Oogie Boogie, who plots to gamble with his life at stake.
Sally attempts to stop Jack by creating a thick fog, but Jack uses Zero's glowing red nose to light the way and directs the dog to the head of the sleigh. Jack takes off around the world and begins to deliver his terrifying presents with disastrous results, though he mistakes their screams for joy. A warning is put out on the news of a Santa Claus impersonator, and the citizens of Halloween Town rejoice, believing their Christmas a success. Sally rushes to save Santa Claus, but is captured by Oogie Boogie as well. Artillery cannons fire on Jack, destroying his sleigh, and both the police and the people of Halloween Town assume him dead. Waking up in a graveyard, Jack realizes his plans have ruined his Christmas, but is newly inspired about Halloween. Jack tears off his Santa suit and declares himself the pumpkin king again, then hurries back to Halloween Town to release Santa.
Jack enters Oogie Boogie's lair just as he's about to kill Santa and Sally. He is able to pull open a stitch in Oogie Boogie's clothing (for his skin is made out of cloth) and all the bugs that are inside Boogie's body start to fall out, rendering him helpless. Jack apologizes to Santa, who then races off to fix Christmas. Jack confronts Sally about her attempt to save Santa and realizes her feelings for him, as Lock, Shock and Barrel lead the Mayor to find Jack. Santa Claus is shown flying around the world, giving out real presents and removing the evil toys Jack had given out. Jack returns to his townpeople as Santa flies overhead. Santa and Jack wish each other "Happy Halloween" and "Merry Christmas" as Santa brings snow to the town. The residents of Halloween Town begin playing in the snow, and Jack follows Sally out of town. She climbs and sits atop a snow covered hill, and Jack joins her singing. They sing to each other and realize that they were meant to be together. As their hands touch, they embrace and kiss each other as Zero looks on. Then Zero flies up into the night, transformed into a star.
Cast
- Main article: List of Actors
- Danny Elfman as Jack Skellington (singing voice), Barrel and Clown with Tear-Away Face
- Chris Sarandon as Jack Skellington (speaking voice)
- Catherine O'Hara as Sally and Shock
- William Hickey as Doctor Finklestein
- Glenn Shadix as Mayor of Halloween Town
- Paul Reubens as Lock
- Ken Page as Oogie Boogie
- Ed Ivory as Santa Claus
Character Voices
- Susan McBride as W.W.D., Big Witch
- Debi Durst as Corpse Kid, Little Witch, Corpse Mom
- Greg Proops as Harlequin Demon, Devil, and Sax Player
- Kerry Katz as Corpse Dad, Creature Under Stairs, and Vampire
- Randy Crenshaw as Behemoth, Mr. Hyde, and Vampire
- Sherwood Ball as Mummy Boy and Vampire
- Carmen Twillie as Creature Under Bed and Undersea Gal
- Glenn Walters as Wolfman
- Thurl Ravenscroft as Hanging Tree
Additional Voices
- Mia Brown
- L. Peter Callender as Accordion Player
- Judy Durand
- Ann Fraser
- Doris Hess
- Daamen Krall
- Jennifer Levey
- Christina MacGregor
- David McCharen
- Jesse M. McClurd
- John Morris
- Robert Olague
- Bobbi Page
- Elena Praskin
- David Randolph
- Gary Schwartz
- Trampus Warman
Production
Burton wrote a three-page poem titled "The Nightmare Before Christmas" when he was a Disney animator in the early-1980s. Burton took inspiration from television specials of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" and the poem "A Visit From St. Nicholas". Rick Heinrichs and Burton created concept art and stroyboards, with Heinrichs also sculpting character models. "Back then, I would have done anything to get the project off ground." Burton explained. "There was a lot of talk of either a short film, like 'Vincent' or a TV special, but it went nowhere. I also wanted to have Vincent Price as narrator." Burton showed Henry Selick, who was also a Disney animator in the early-1980s, the material he and Heinrichs developed.
Over the years, Burton's thoughts regularly returned to the project. In 1990, Burton found out that Disney still owned the film rights, and the two committed to produce a full-length film with Selick as director. Disney was looking forward to Nightmare "to show capabilities of technical and storytelling achievements that were present in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". Nightmare marked Burton's third film in a row to have a Christmas setting. Burton could not direct because of his commitment to Batman Returns and he did not want to be involved with "the painstakingly slow process of stop-motion." To adapt his Poem into a screenplay, Burton approached Micheal McDowell, his collaborator on "Beetlejuice". McDowell and Burton experienced creative differences, which convinced Burton to make the film as a musical with lyrics and compositions by frequent collaborator Danny Elfman. Elfman and Burton created a rough storyline and two-thirds of the film's songs, while Selick and his team of animators began production in July 1991 in San Francisco with a crew of 200 workers. Joe Ranft worked as a storyboard artist.
Elfman found writing Nightmare's 10 songs as "one of the easiest jobs I've ever had. I had a lot in common with Jack Skellington." Caroline Thompson still had yet to be hired to write the screenplay. With Thompson's screenplay, Selick stated, "there are very few lines of dialogue that are Caroline's. She became busy on other films and we were constantly rewriting, reconfiguring and developing the film visually." The work of Ray Harryhausen, Ladislas Starevich, Edward Gorey, Charles Addams, Jan Lenica, Francis Bacon, and Wassily Kandinsky all influenced the filmmakers. Selick described the production design as akin to a pop-up-book. In addition, Selick stated, "When we reach Halloween Town, it's entirely German expressionism. When Jack enters Christmas Town, it's an outrageous Dr. Suess set piece. Finally, when Jack is delivering presents in the 'Real World,' everything is plain, simple, and perfectly aligned."
On the direction of the film, Selick reflected, "It's as though Burton laid the egg, and I sat on it and hatched it. He wasn't involved in a hands-on way, but his hand is in it. It was my job to make it look like 'a Tim Burton film,' which is not so different from my own films." When asked on Burton's involvement, Selick claimed, "I don't want to take away from Tim, but he was not in San Francisco when we made it. He came up five times over two years, and spent no more than eight or ten days in total." Walt Disney Studios contributed with some use of second-layering traditional animation. Burton found production somewhat difficult because he was directing "Batman Returns" and in pre-production of "Ed Wood".
Deleted Scenes
- Original Opening: The original opening of the film only got to the storyboard stage. It involved a day by day wall calender starting at December and flipping through the days and holidays until it reaches Halloween with a Jack-O-Lantern. The camera then zooms into its eye and the opening titles play. This opening can only be found on the original work print.
- Jack's Experiments (Extended): A longer version of the scene where Jack conducts various experiments in order to figure out the meaning of Christmas. The deleted portions of this scene include a bit where jack bites a piece of the candy cane before placing it in the beaker, Jack taking more time to select a tool to cut the teddy bear, as well as a short gag involving a chalk drawn Sandy Claws turning into his monster form when Jack spins the board. Cut for timing reasons.
- Yawning Jack: Before Jack starts reading the various books about Christmas while in bed, he stretches out his arms and yawns.
- Doll: In "Jack's Obsession", instead of giving him the portrait of himself as the Pumpkin King, Zero gives Jack the doll as seen earlier in his bed, in hopes to get Jack to reminisce of their games of fetch.
- Sally’s Suspicions: When the crowd around Jack’s house is cheering at his announcement for Christmas, Sally has a questioning reaction with an audible “Hmmm…”.
- Cookie Samples: A cut segment of the scene where Jack assigns Christmas tasks to all the Halloween Town residents in the Town Hall. Jack instructs the Werewolf to make Christmas cookies warning him that they are the only samples he has and warns him “Don’t even nibble around the edges” to which the Werewolf assures Jack he won’t who replies with “Good!”. This occurs before the Vampires step up and Jack presents them with the baby doll. Jack greets the Vampires with “This next job needs a tender touch!” before the Mayor spills his ink.
- Jingle Bells Snooze: Before Jack is playing Jingle Bells for the town band, the Mayor is shown to be asleep, hence why he’s shown waking up when Lock, Shock, and Barrel arrive. Immediately after this is an extended shot of Jack finding the bells in his pile of toys and addressing the band with “Alright fellas…”.
- Singing Behemoth: A scene during "Making Christmas" where Behemoth sings about the various presents that the citizens of Halloweenland are making. Only storyboarded.
- Precious Jewel: The appearance of Jewel Finkelstein occurs much earlier in the film on the workprint, happening when Sally is discussing Jack’s doomed Christmas plans with him while making his suit.
- You Guide My Sleigh: Jack asks Zero to guide his sleigh after Sally attempts to stop Jack by creating a thick fog.
- Upset Sally: When the crowd is watching Jack delivering presents through the witches cauldron, Sally looks at the crowd in disappointment.
- Oogie Boogie's Song (Extended): Two deleted moments in Oogie Boogie's song. The first is during a cut verse about Oogie making snake and spider stew where bugs would walk out of his eyes and dance on his arm. Cut because it would be too difficult to make tiny armatures for the bugs. The second takes place during the musical interlude where Oogie's shadow dances on an orange background. This scene was animated but scrapped for timing reasons. The music for both of these scenes can be found on the official soundtrack. See the Song page for more info.
- Watching Oogie: Lock, Shock, and Barrel are bored so they grab some snacks and go inside their elevator to watch Oogie torture Santa and Sally. later, a thought to be dead Jack Skellington enters the lair by jumping on the elevator with the kids inside and he scares them which can explain how he got inside the lair at the nick of time. Pictures of the scene were in the promotional booklets, postcard books, and storybooks.
- Jack Destroyed ?!: Upon returning to Halloweentown, Jack runs through the graveyard and trips over a tombstone dedicated in his honor and he realizes that the townsfolk believe him to be destroyed. This scene was fully animated and the last few seconds of Jack running through the graveyard gates remains in the film. It was most likely cut for timing.
- Alternate Confrontation: In the battle between Jack Vs Oogie Boogie, there exists an original workprint that was cut due to the insensibility later versions brought up. The scene first starts out with Jack scaring Oogie off, then finding Sally. When Oogie comes back, he unleashes his bugs, which swarm out and attack Jack. While he hides, Sally and Santa Claus come up with a plan to use one of the skeleton props and make it look like Jack. When Jack hides for cover with Sally, he falsely calls out to the bugs, who take the bait and fly to the prop. After trapping the bugs inside, Oogie's last bug leaves his sack, which is squashed by Santa. The scene ends with Zero angrily biting what's left of Oogie.
- Oogie's Alternate Identity: The alternate identity of Oogie Boogie was originally going to be Dr. Finklestein, who said he became Oogie Boogie because Sally was in love with Jack even though he created her and as Oogie Boogie he'd give her a lesson she's never forgotten. Finkelstein then mentions a creation that will like him and with Igor's help he escapes through a trap door, the scene ends with Jack saying "I can't believe this". Tim Burton reportedly despised this scene and kicked a hole in a wall because of it.
- Tim's Severed Head: The scene of the Vampires playing hockey while the Halloween residents celebrate Christmas originally included them playing with the severed head of Tim Burton rather than the Jack-O-Lantern seen in the final film.
Videos
Trailer
Clips
Deleted scenes and beta elements
Soundtracks
- Main article: The Nightmare Before Christmas (soundtrack)
The film's soundtrack album was released in 1993 by Walt Disney Records. For the film's 2006 re-release, a special edition of the soundtrack was released, featuring a bonus disc which contained covers of five of the film's songs by Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, Marilyn Manson, Fiona Apple, and She Wants Revenge. Four original demo tracks by Elfman were also included.
In celebration of the film's 15th anniversary, on September 30, 2008, Disney released a cover album titled "Nightmare Revisited", featuring artists such as Amy Lee, Flyleaf, Korn, Rise Against, Plain White T's, and the All-American Rejects.
American Gothic rock band London After Midnight featured a cover of "Sally's Song" on their 1998 album, "Oddities". LiLi Roquelin did a French cover of "Sally's Song" which was released on her album Will you hate the rest of the world or will you renew your life? in 2010.
Another soundtrack released in 2003 was the "Disneyland Haunted Mansion Holiday" CD. Although most were not original songs from the movie, one song provided on the CD is a medley of "Making Christmas", "What's This?", and "Kidnap the Sandy Claws". Other songs included are original holiday songs changed to incorporate the theme of the movie. The last song on the list, however, is the soundtrack for the Disneyland Haunted Mansion Holiday ride.
Songs
- "This is Halloween"
- "Jack's Lament"
- "What's This?"
- "Town Meeting"
- "Jack's Obsession"
- "Kidnap The Sandy Claws"
- "Making Christmas"
- "The Oogie Boogie Song"
- "Sally's Song"
- "Poor Jack"
- "The Finale"
The film's soundtrack album was released in 1993 by Walt Disney Records. For the film's 2006 re-release, a special edition of the soundtrack was released, featuring a bonus disc which contained covers of five of the film's songs by Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, Marilyn Manson, Fiona Apple, and She Wants Revenge. Four original demo tracks by Elfman were also included.
In celebration of the film's 15th anniversary, on September 30, 2008, Disney released a cover album titled "Nightmare Revisited", featuring artists such as Amy Lee, Flyleaf, Korn, Rise Against, Plain White T's, and the All-American Rejects.
Sequels
In 2001, Walt Disney Pictures began to consider producing a sequel, but rather than using stop motion, Disney wanted to use computer animation. Burton convinced Disney to drop the idea. "I was always very protective of Nightmare not to do sequels or things of that kind," Burton explained. "You know, 'Jack visits Thanksgiving world' or other kinds of things just because I felt the movie had a purity to it and the people that like it... Because it's a mass-market kind of thing, it was important to kind of keep that purity of it." The 2005 video game The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge did continue the story of the film, with Capcom's crew of developers going after Tim Burton for advice, and having the collaboration of the film's art director, Deane Taylor. In 2009, Selick said he would do a film sequel if he and Burton could create a good story for it.
Characters from "The Nightmare Before Christmas" have also had cameos in Disney and Square Enix's role-playing game series, Kingdom Hearts. In the majority of these games, Jack acts as a partner to the main character. In the first game, Jack attempts to liven up Halloween by giving a heart created by Dr. Finklestein to a Heartless, but the experiment goes wrong and the heart soon is taken by Oogie Boogie. In "Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories", he tries to help the protagonist, Sora, regain his memories. In Kingdom Hearts II, Halloween Town and its inhabitants are seen, while Jack rekindles his notion of taking over Santa's job. In the prequel game Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Jack seeks inspiration for livening up his Halloween by paying attention to the actions of the protagonist, Roxas.
Characters have also made appearances in later Disney games, such as Disney Infinity, Disney Crossyroad, Disney Magic Kingdoms, Disney Heroes: Battle Mode, Disney Sorcerer's Arena, and the newest Disney Mirrorverse.
In 2018, a comic book was released by TOKYPOP in dedication of the film's 25th anniversary, approved by Tim Burton, called Zero's Journey. The tale picks up some time after the movie's events, telling a story of Zero getting lost in Christmas Town and finding his way back. Later in 2021, a spinoff comic sequel series was published by TOKYOPOP, called Mirror Moon. It tells the story of Jack Skellington inventing a magical mirror that will clone the citizens, with Sally finding a way to control the chaos. Later on, another sequel was announced in novel form to be released in 2022 - called Long Live the Pumpkin Queen, telling the story of Sally marrying Jack Skellington and becoming the Pumpkin Queen. She is stressed by her overwhelming duties, and flees Halloween Town, only to stumble upon a long-lost, hidden doorway to Dream Town.
Since 2001, Disneyland's Haunted Mansion attraction is redesigned in September with characters, decorations and music from the movie. This attraction is called the Haunted Mansion Holiday, and remains in operation through the Christmas season. It takes ride goers on a what-if adventure of if Jack, as "Sandy Claws," had visited the Haunted Mansion on Christmas Eve, leaving holiday chaos in his wake.
Trivia
- Tim Burton originally planned to make a second movie, "The Unlucky Clover", but the concept never went beyond the initial ideas, because he said it would "spoil the magic of the 1st movie".
- The film was originally intended to be released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner, but Walt Disney Studios decided to have it move to the Touchstone Pictures banner as it was deemed unsuitable for the Disney brand. However, in 2006 to 2010; the film was re-released in Theaters on October 20th in Disney Digital 3-D under the Walt Disney Pictures banner, accompanied with the short film from Pixar, Knick Knack (1989). In recent Blu-ray and DVD releases, the Walt Disney Pictures banner has been restored to the film.
Goofs
- In "Kidnap the Sandy Claws," just before Lock launches Barrel across the room, Lock is singing and his words are aligned. But when Barrel begins to sing, Lock's lips are moving to the words that Barrel should be singing. Barrel's lips don't move at all.
- Jack emphasizes to Lock, Shock and Barrel that their mission to kidnap Santa is top secret, and no one can know. However, when they first return (mistakenly with the Easter Bunny), Behemoth is present but Jack isn't concerned about him.
- After researching many books and stories about Christmas, Jack continues to call Santa Claus "Sandy Claws". He should know what the correct spelling of his name is.
- Right before the three Mr. Hydes joins the search party for Jack to report that he just searched the pumpkin patch, you can see his foot is already in frame, ready for him to come into frame.
- After Jack orders Lock, Shock, and Barrel to kidnap Santa, they immediately set off, and by the very next scene, they are already back with a wrong catch (the Easter Bunny). Jack points them then into the right direction, and the trio start their "mission" anew. However it takes an inexplicably long time for them to return, more than 30 days, in fact. Considering that they managed to kidnap the real Santa Claus in mere seconds and how quickly they caught the Easter Bunny earlier, it shouldn't have taken them so long.
- Santa Claus prepares the presents and his sleigh first, but only then checks which children were good and naughty. It would make more sense the other way around, unless he wanted to hand out presents randomly.
- During "What's This?" Jack sings "There's children throwing snowballs instead of throwing heads". But the earlier verse ("There's white things in the air") established he never actually knew about or seen snow before.
- When Jack's telling the people about Christmas Town, some of them keep switching places. The "Clown with the tear-away face" is in the first line at the start, then later in the second line, then back in the first line, only on the other side; the guy with snake fingers goes to the first line to the second one, then back again; the werewolf switches place with the devil, etc.
- During "Kidnap Mr. Sandy Claws" Shock has black gloves that disappear and re-appear throughout the song.
- When Jack opens the Christmas door, he places his right hand on the third from the bottom tree bough. In the reverse shot, his right hand is on the bottom tree bough.
- When Sally is raising the basket up to Jack's window Jack is writing on the chalkboard. When he stops writing the chalk he is holding disappears.
- When the citizens of Halloween Town gather up for the town meeting, the megaphone on the roof of the Mayor's car changes position during the clip.
- After Sally lifts the basket up to Jack and he opens the bottle, the basket is seen on the window sill. But, after he leans out the window to thank Sally, the basket has somehow vanished.
- In some shots, the 'Man Under the Stairs' has visible nipples on his chest, in some shots, they are missing.
- Sally's trick spoon (with holes) becomes whole in the shot after she dips it into Dr. Finkelstein's soup.
- Near the end of the movie, when Jack puts a kid on the Mayor's hat, he's doing it from the left, both his arms are on the left of the hat. In the next shot, he's holding the kid with his arms from both sides of the hat.
- When the cannons are being raised to shoot at Santa Jack, there are search lights in the background. When the cannons start firing, the positions of the lights jump, and they stop their sweeping motion.
- When Jack falls after running into the Christmas Town sign's pole, there is a hole in the snow for his umbrella. However, he did not have it coming up the hill, as he left it hanging right after the line "the smell of cakes and pies are absolutely everywhere".
- During the town hall scene, both of the witches are circling Jack when he sings about the present. When the Clown takes it away from him, the big witch is suddenly sitting in the crowd.
- When Lock, Shock and Barrel throw each other into the tub, water visibly splashes, but when they get into the tub, there is no water, and none draining from the tub.
- During Jack's Lament on top of the hill, the light being used as the moon can be seen.
- Jack doesn't know what snowflakes are ("what's this? there's white things in the air"), but knows what snowballs are ("the children are throwing snowballs instead of throwing heads").
- As the Mayor turns on the reflector light at the town meeting, some bats fly off it, scared by the sudden light. Here you can clearly see the wires that they are suspended by.
- When Jack is in Christmas Town, at one part he jumps across from house to house. For about several frames, you can see wires suspending the puppet.
- When Jack flips a coin to the street musicians, the wire holding the coin up is visible for several frames.
- After he discovers Christmas Town, Jack accidentally stumbles down a hillside. All the lights of the town overlap his body, yet those are supposed to be far away in the background.
- In the cemetery scene, as Jack sings and gets to the line "And I just can't wait until next Halloween", you can briefly see the wires supporting him shining against the background.
- As Jack is kneeling in the snow upon his entry into Christmas Town, small black debris is noticeable at 14:31 for about a second next to his knee.
- When Sally is picking the petals off of the dead flower on top of the spiral hill at the end of the movie, the petals disappear when she drops them.
- When Sally returns to Dr. Finkelstein's home to get her arm back, the doctor enters, as the lamp he's carrying "lights up" the entrance he comes from. However, when Sally starts back up the ramp, and Doctor Finkelstein follows, it is quite apparent that the light wasn't the lamp, itself; rather it was placed behind the wall of the ramp. This is revealed when the light casts a shadow on both Doctor Finkelstein and Sally; it would be impossible for the lamp to cast their shadows in that direction, as the light is supposed to come from that direction in the first place.
- During Oogie Boogie's song, when he gets to the line "Would someone shut this fella' up?", the camera noticeably lurches a bit. You can tell, because the objects in the background shift position ever so slightly.
- In the Halloween song, you can see strings against the moonlight holding up the bats that fly from the moon.
- During the song "Kidnap the Sandy Claws", after Shock sends a cage with a bug inside of it to Oogie Boogie, you can see the wires holding up the cage as it bounces upon reaching its destination. And when Lock places Barrel onto a catapult, you can see the metal "skeleton" of Barrel cambering the puppet's feet. Finally, there is a piece of debris next to Barrel when he rises up (as Shock shows them a black box) that disappears.
- As Jack ponders the holiday doors, the Easter door appears to the right of the Thanksgiving door. Later as he approaches the Christmas door, it is now to the right of the Thanksgiving door and the turkey is facing the other way (the first shot was probably flipped).
- When Sally gets dizzy from the fumes of the stew, the steam rising from the pot briefly overlaps her, even though it's supposed to be behind her.
- Wires are visible holding up the scorpions that jump onto Barrel's head.
- At the end of the "Making Christmas" song, when the kid throws the last present into Jack's sleigh, the unmoving shadow on the bottom of the screen changes shape from one frame to the next.
- As Sally ducks behind a well to hide from Dr. Finklestein (during Jack's assigning of tasks), one of the well's capstones tilts down a bit with a smooth motion through at least a few dozen frames of this stop-action film.
- When the Mayor greets the musicians outside of Jack's place, the upper right corner of the background becomes lighter as a shadow suddenly disappears.
- When Dr. Finkelstein is making the skeleton reindeer and discovers the skull, the skull isn't really near him, as you can tell by the shadows on the back wall (the skull doesn't have a shadow). It suddenly pops into existence as the camera lowers itself (the skull's shadow is now visible).
- Oogie Boogie has a snake for a tongue. There are some scenes when you can't see it inside his mouth when he opens it, especially in his final scene, when he is revealed to be literally a sack full of insects and falls apart - only insects are seen, no snake.