The Nightmare Before Christmas light entertainment while marveling at how adept Hollywood has become at these techniques. There are songs, laughs, and a little romance. In short, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" does what it intends to: entertain." Desson Thomson of "The Washington Post" enjoyed stylistic features in common with Oscar Wilde, German Expressionism, the Brothers Grimm and "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari". Michael A. Morrison discusses the influence of Dr. Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" on the film, writing that Jack parallels the Grinch and Zero parallels Max, the Grinch's dog. Philip Nel writes that the film "challenges the wisdom of adults through
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000 film) in the character Cindy Lou Who and pitched a film in which she would have a larger role as well as a materialistic representation of the Whos and an expanded backstory of the Grinch. On September 16, 1998, it was announced that Howard would direct and co-produce a live-action adaptation of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" with Jim Carrey attached to star. It was also reported that Universal Pictures, who had acquired the distribution rights, paid $9 million for the film rights for an adaptation of "Grinch" and "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" to Geisel. Jeffrey Price and Peter S.