The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
Starring: Mckenzie Foy, Keira Knightley, Jayden Fowora-Knight, Helen Mirren
Directed by: Lasse Hallström, Joe Johnston
Rated: PG
Remember the Nutcracker? Of course you do. It‘s the perfect Christmas-time ballet with an intriguing story of a young girl transported to a fantasy world with the help of a Nutcracker who has been brought to life. The entire ballet is set to beautiful choreography and iconic music. Well, Disney has decided there’s no longer a need for ballet in the nutcracker. Oh, and that storyline everyone is so used to seeing? No need for that either.
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is more like a combination of Alice and Wonderland and The Chronicles of Narnia than The Nutcracker. It's as though Disney wanted to cash in on the Christmas season so they slapped the Nutcracker's name on the title of the movie. In this version of the story, Clara (Mackenzie Foy) visits the 4 realms thanks to a present from her godfather, Drosselmeyer (Morgan Freeman, in a two minute cameo). When she gets there, the realms are at war and she must unite them.
As you can tell by that synopsis, Screenwriter Ashleigh Powell has completely changed the basic story of the Nutcracker and sadly, it's not even interesting. I kept waiting for a scene from the ballet, but the film changes every premise to make it generic and dull. None of the central characters even dance. If you're a big fan of The Nutcracker, like I am, that's a huge disappointment. (The Sugar Plum Fairy should dance!) There's a five minute ballet scene placed randomly in the middle of the movie and that's it!
The costumes may be impressive, but the characters wearing them aren't very interesting. Unfortunately, none of the acting is particularly memorable because the characters are so poorly written. The best performances of the film are from Helen Mirren (as Mother Ginger) and Matthew McFadyen (as Clara's father). Kiera Knightley gives one of the strangest performances of her career as the Sugar Plum Fairy who talks in a baby voice. It's certainly one of the more memorable aspects of the film, but I'm not sure if it's memorable in a good way. If you want to see Keira Knightley and Matthew McFadyen in a good movie together, just watch Pride and Prejudice or Anna Karenina.
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is an eye catching mess. Everything that's good about the Nutcracker has been stripped away and turned into a soulless cash grab.
My Rating: 4/10