The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

Starring Mackenzie Foy, Jayden Fowora-Knight, Keira Knightley, Helen Mirren

Directed by Lasse Hallstrom & Joe Johnston

The Story:
After her mother's death, young Clara (Mackenzie Foy) receives a gift from her on Christmas Eve - a porcelain egg that has a keyhole, but no key.  At a Christmas party thrown by her godfather (Morgan Freeman), he offers the key to her, but it lies in a hidden realm that her mother created.

Arriving in this new world, she's befriended by Nutcracker Captain Philip (Jayden Fowora-Knight), and the key is taken by a mouse to the evil Mother Ginger (Helen Mirren).  Clara meets the leaders of the other three realms - the Sugar Plum Fairy (Keira Knightley) who rules the Land of Sweets, Hawthorne (Eugenio Derbez), who rules the Land of Flowers, and Shiver (Richard E. Grant), who rules the Land of Snowflakes.  The Sugar Plum Fairy tells Clara that Mother Ginger ruled the Land of Amusements, but tried to take over all four realms and was banished, but the other realms fear she will return, and they need the key to start a machine that will give the land toy soldiers to protect it, and Clara goes back to the Land of Amusements to retrieve it.

The Pros:

The film follows a slew of different ideas from the varied history of the famed Nutcracker story - mostly from the short story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" by E.T.A. Hoffmann, along with the novel by Alexandre Dumas, which was the inspiration for the famed ballet by Marius Petipa.

The CGI was beautiful, providing some lavish set pieces for the Four Realms, creating a fanciful, delightful landscape that our characters venture through.

The costume designs were impeccable, provided by two-time Oscar winner Jenny Beavan, that will probably receive another nomination this year for this film.

There's a moment when Clara is introduced to the story of the Four Realms told through the ballet, and it's absolutely spellbinding.  Misty Copeland gives a terrific performance as the Ballet Dancer, and if the film was her dancing throughout it would've been perfect.

The story has a strong emotional core, delivered by relative newcomer Mackenzie Foy, who expresses herself beautifully not just through her voice, but her innocent looks and gazes that really pull you into her story and make you feel the pain she also feels with loosing her mother.

The concept for the story centers around finding the inner strength in yourself to be able to do anything you want to do, and gives an empowering theme that you have everything you need inside of you to face any obstacle.

The Cons:

I can't help but think that this concept was used before, mostly in films like "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Chronicles of Narnia," and both of them were more memorable than this.

The film takes a generic Disney-centric view of the classic story, with princesses and the power of believing in yourself that's become a bit tiresome and predictable.

Speaking of predictable, the story was so bare-bones it was almost laughable.  There's supposed to be some twists and turns, but to me it seemed more of a straight shot with a few winding curves between that even the most novice of drivers could've seen coming miles away.

Keira Knightley plays the Sugar Plum Fairy with such outlandish style that it's borderline caricature, with a high-toned squeaky voice that could almost shatter glass if it was only a few octaves higher, but it does provide a bit of humor in her very adult double entendres she gives.

Helen Mirren seems to have totally phoned in her performance, and her role as Mother Ginger could've been something more profound and three-dimensional, but as it was, she just seemed to exist merely as a plot point.

The action in the film suits its PG-rating, but in doing so offers no real suspense.  The toy soldiers are laughably inept, and the film relies mostly on people kicking or hitting other people in ways that wouldn't knock anyone over, let alone cause permanent damage.  It's simple, much like the film as a whole.

The tone of the film shifts so drastically it comes out of nowhere, and the film doesn't really rebound from it.  This more than likely has to do with trying to incorporate all the versions of the Nutcracker story, as well as the differing views from directors Lasse Hallstrom and Joe Johnston.

The editing also was off-putting, with some parts not making sense, and others seemingly added for some sort of effect that I didn't understand - and for such a linear movie, that's not a good thing.

The Summary:
While providing beautiful CGI and stunning costumes, "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms" serves as the cinematic equivalence of receiving a pair of socks for Christmas, wrapped in the most elegant decorative box imaginable.

The Score: B-