Is The Nightmare Before Christmas movie for kids?

As Christmas inches ever closer, it is time to delve into the best movies the holiday season has to offer. After determining that yes, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas does in fact count as a Christmas movie, we can explore whether or not the film is suitable for children to watch and if so, whether it can also be enjoyed by adults.

Genres to describe the 1993 stop-motion picture include comedy, fantasy, musical and family, seemingly pointing to the conclusion that it is perfectly appropriate for young children despite reports of “extremely disturbing and macabre images.”

Before pressing play, here is a deeper look into whether or not The Nightmare Before Christmas is a movie for kids or adults. Minor spoilers ahead for a film almost 20 years old!

Is The Nightmare Before Christmas scary?

Despite the gorgeous, fantastical stop-motion animation style of the movie that could be misleading as unrealistic and therefore unscary, the opposite can in fact be claimed as true. Whilst of course The Nightmare Before Christmas is in no way a gruesome, traumatizing movie, the creative medium of stop-motion allows for some relatively creepy-crawly, disturbing imagery even for adults.

In the same way that 2009’s Coraline – intended as a children’s movie – has some dark characters and truly eerie moments, The Nightmare Before Christmas’ director Henry Selick recreates some of the same feelings induced in his directorial work on the former of the two films; the majority of the characters have some distorted bodies, and many of them engage in the removal of body parts throughout the film.

However, there is no blood or gore, simply things such as the popping off of his skull head by protagonist Jack Skellington, the unstitching of the Frankenstein’s Monster-esque Sally’s limbs, and the flipping open of Dr. Finklestein’s metal head, exposing his clay brain.

The other citizens of Halloween Town are arguably some of the most macabre imagery in The Nightmare Before Christmas, with an array of bulging eyes, monstrous teeth, and spinning heads. Arguably the most grisly moment of the film comes with the unravelling of the antagonist Oogie Boogie, a self-proclaimed “gamblin’ Boogie Man”, who is composed of a hessian sack body that is revealed to be entirely inhabited by insects and maggots. However, as stated by one parent on Common Sense Media, “since it is all clay, it isn’t graphic”, making it much more suitable for kids.

Is The Nightmare Before Christmas for adults?

As a family film, The Nightmare Before Christmas can, of course, be enjoyed by children and adults alike and some aspects of the film can certainly be enjoyed even more so by the latter. Outside of the creepy nature, adults can appreciate a Christmas movie that focuses on the reignition of joy.

Protagonist Jack Skellington discovers the festive holiday and is enthralled, sparking excitement that counters his solemn nature and boredom after years of repetitive work as Halloween’s ‘Pumpkin King’. A catalysing moment like this resonates much more strongly with working adults under a capitalist system than with young children, making it an intriguing plotline and a great relief. Morgana Santilli at Looper does an incredible of exploring more of these elements of The Nightmare Before Christmas that are only noticeable or fully appreciated by adult viewers, deeming it entirely suitable for an older watcher.

Aside from these aspects, The Nightmare Before Christmas is absolutely a film for adults. It is joyous, it is intricately created, it revives a love for the Christmas season, and it is simply a great movie to watch regardless of age. With global fascination for the movie extending to a makeover at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion for Christmas, vast arrays of merchandising, and hundreds of cosplay renditions, it is definitely clear that The Nightmare Before Christmas is for kids and adults alike.