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) to erect before he leaves. The mayor then shames Cindy Lou for inviting the Grinch. Since the Grinch's attack has failed to crush the Whos' Christmas spirit, he concocts a plan to steal all of their presents, decorations, and food while they are sleeping. Creating a Santa suit and powered sleigh, and dressing his dog Max as a reindeer, the Grinch descends to Whoville and steals all of the Christmas gifts. When Cindy Lou catches him stealing the tree, he tells her he is taking it to Santa's workshop for repair of a defective light. On Christmas morning, the Whos