Most of us have grown up with the music of Tchaikovsky’s
“The Nutcracker” flowing through our minds and in our ears every Christmas
season. The ballet around the music has been performed for decades and the
story filmed in different ways from filming that ballet to involving Barbie in
the mix. So to hear that a new version of the story was coming from Disney was
no huge surprise. What is surprising is that rather than retell the story
they’ve created their own based not on the ballet but on E.T.A. Hoffman’s short
story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King". From that we are presented
with THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS.
In Victorian London, England, the Stahlbaum family is
preparing for Christmas. It will be their first without Mrs. Stahlbaum who
passed away. On Christmas Eve each child is given a present that their mother
left for them by their father (Matthew Macfadyen). The gift young Clara
(Mackenzie Foy) receives is an ornate egg created by Mr. Drosselmeyer (Morgan
Freeman) with a lock but no key.
The family goes to the annual Christmas Eve party hosted by
Mr. Drosselmeyer, Clara’s godfather and stepfather to her mother. Drosselmeyer
is a tinkerer, a man who knows how things work and who created many intricate
items from clocks to toys. His home is like a museum with myriad rooms to
venture in. He has Clara help him with a problematic toy, knowing her penchant
to tinker with things much like himself. Before they can discuss the egg it
becomes time for him to present all the children in attendance with their
gifts.
Each child must follow a string from the garden tree to
their gift. As Clara follows hers she finds herself transported to another
world altogether. When she goes to take her gift, the key that she seeks, it is
stolen by a mouse. She pursues the mouse until it cross the thin ice of a
river. Clara goes to a bridge to cross as well and encounters Captain Philip
Hoffman the Nutcracker (Jayden Fowora-Knight). When she tells him who she is,
he realizes she is the daughter of Marie who was once the queen of the Four
Realms. He escorts her to the main land among the four and introduces her to
the rulers of 3 of the 4 realms.
They are comprised of the Sugar Plum Fairy of the Land of
Sweets (Keira Knightley), Shivers of the Land of Snowflakes (Richard E. Grant),
and Hawthorne of the Land of Flowers (Eugenio Derbez). They glowingly welcome
her but inform her that the ruler of the fourth realm, Mother Ginger (Helen
Mirren) is trying to dismantle everything her mother created. Only with her
help can they restart the engine that will allow them to protect themselves.
And that engine needs the same key that Clara is searching for.
The movie has a few plot twists that some will see coming an
others will be stunned by. It weaves together the original story that
Tchaikovsky created years ago along with the music he composed but in small
doses rather than centering the entire tale around it. And the one piece that
uses the most of his music tends visually to make one think of MOULIN ROUGE
rather than the typical ballet with the style in which it’s presented. It still
makes for an eye catching rendition.
But does it work? Well in many ways yes but not always. The
movie feels like one I’d have to watch a second time to fully enjoy. There is
so much to see here from the opening sequence that takes us on a flying journey
of London via CGI to the various locations of the Four Realms. And the film
moves along at breakneck speed with little time to stop and consider what is
transpiring. There is a lack of depth to the characters with the exception of
Clara which doesn’t hinder the film but leaves you wishing perhaps we had more
of several of those characters as well.
NU
With the movie coming out on disc as winter is supposed to
be dwindling some might not want to purchase the film as the holiday is past.
If you enjoyed it that would be a mistake. Or if you love having movies on hand
when the Christmas holiday rolls around it would be a mistake not to add this
one to it. It entertains and presents an opportunity to introduce the music to
children who might not be exposed to it otherwise. And it also gives the entire
family a chance to sit and watch an entertaining film together.
The themes in the film, the loss of the mother, the effect
it has on not just Clara but her father and more will be things a family can
use the film to open discussions to with their children. At the same time the
various characters will make some laugh and some cry and some learn from. It’s
a movie that is definitely worth adding to your collection.
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