The Movie
This is a delightful, weird, and fascinating film. It bears re-watchng and study, and each time it does not lose its charm.
The stop motion animation is superb, the music is enchanting, and the overall look and sound of the film reinforce the professional voice acting talent assembled here.
My favorites are Christopher Lee and Michael Gough. Their mature professionalism matches perfectly the decidedly demonic goings-on on-screen. But everyone is wonderful here, and performances are enhanced by whimsical nuances of humor that will be missed if you blink at the wrong time -- which is why you need to watch this film several times.
And did you catch the Harryhausen reference? It's hard to miss.
The DVD
The best extras are the discussion of stop motion and the views of the voice actors side by side with the animated sequence. I would have liked to have seen more of that, but what we see is impressive.
Actually, it's all impressive. Tim Burton is simply a genius. After all, how many people can make a dead dog charming?
