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 Ghosts Stole Christmas not used for awhile. However, Carter, wanting to keep the haunted house motif, decided to set the episode in a haunted house and asked Kaplan to design a mansion set that was "bleak, but not too bleak [...] decrepit, but not too decrepit," and "deserted, but not too deserted." At the time, "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" featured the smallest cast in "X-Files" history, with only David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, and the two guest stars interacting. Lily Tomlin, who played the part of Lyda, had originally approached "The X-Files" producers several seasons prior and asked to be cast in an