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) Phillips and John Davis in attendance, in which Jack Nicholson was in mind to play the Grinch. Additionally, the Farrelly brothers and John Hughes pitched their own separate versions. Universal Pictures held its pitch presentation with Brian Grazer and Gary Ross in attendance, but Geisel refused such offer. Grazer then enlisted his producing partner Ron Howard to help with the negotiations. At the time, Howard was developing a film adaptation of "The Sea-Wolf", and did not express interest in "Grinch", but Grazer talked Howard into traveling to Geisel's residence for the pitch meeting. While studying the book, Howard became interested