The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
3 stars
Directors: Lasse Hallström, Joe Johnston
Stars: Mackenzie Foy, Keira Knightley, Morgan Freeman
Duration: 99 mins
Class: 12
KRS Releasing Ltd

German Romantic author E.T.A. Hoffmann’s short story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, written in 1816, eventually inspired the 1892 ballet which featured Tchaikovsky’s seminal music.

Decades later, the ballet continues to be a traditional element of many families’ Christmastime celebrations.

The filmmakers behind The Nutcracker and the Four Realms have decided to add their own twist to the tale, resulting in neither a sequel nor a prequel, but a story ‘suggested’ by Hoffmann’s original and written for the screen by Ashleigh Powell.

This new telling of the story introduces us to Clara Stahlbaum (Mackenzie Foy), a 14-year-old girl in Victorian London who is trying to get to grips with celebrating the first Christmas without her beloved mother Marie, who passed away a little while ago.

Clara is a curious, intelligent, resourceful child with a penchant for science. When she is given a locked, egg-shaped box, a gift prepared for her by Marie before her death, Clara is determined to find the key to open it.

She is led on the path to finding the key by her eccentric godfather Drosselmeyer (Morgan Freeman), only to realise that the path takes her to a mysterious parallel world. Here, not only does she discover extraordinary things about her mother and herself, but is soon caught up in a conflict between the titular realms.

As is always the case when popular stories are tinkered with, how well this will go down with audiences depends greatly on said audiences’ love of the original story.

Casual fans will recognise many of the characters and be happy to go along for the ride, while purists may be less tolerant and, in all likelihood, be especially horrified at the villainous turn taken by one of the story’s most beloved characters. 

Powell’s storyline is rather thin and short on drama and excitement, while the characters are for the most part rather thinly drawn

Personally, The Nutcracker that I recall is a tale of magic, whimsy, imagination, adventure and colour. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms does have a good dose of adventure as Clara sets off on her journey, and the film is certainly awash with colour.

The production and costume designs by Guy Hendrix Dyas and Jenny Beavan, together with the extensive VFX, create a rich and vibrant world. And yet, stunning visuals do not a complete movie make and, as the story unfolds, a lot of its potential gives way to the pedestrian.

The end result is not as enchanted a tale as it may have seemed on paper. Powell’s storyline is rather thin, and short on drama and excitement, while the characters are for the most part rather thinly drawn.

As the Sugar Plum Fairy, Keira Knightley channels the eccentricities often displayed in movies by Helena Bonham Carter, yet doesn’t quite nail it. Her flighty, ditzy, high-pitch-voiced rendition of the character getting to be quite annoying after a while.

Richard E. Grant and Eugenio Derbez as, respectively, Shiver, the regent of the Land of the Snowflakes and Hawthorne the regent of the Land of Flowers barely register while Morgan Freeman does Morgan Freeman with an eyepatch and an unruly hairstyle. 

There are some good moments and, those for whom the season to be jolly can’t come soon enough it should be a good enough start to Christmas.  Although rather earnest at times, Foy is a pleasant enough heroine; a young woman with a sharp mind, no fear, and game for some adventure while Helen Mirren turns up as the enigmatic Mother Ginger and has some fun with the role. The Mouse King, a monster figure made out of thousands of mice that allow it to fluidly change shape and form, is rather scary; and there is something a tad disturbing about the tin soldiers that come to life to cause havoc at the end.

Furthermore, James Newton Howard’s score builds effectively upon the tiny interludes of Tchaikovsky’s immediately recognisable music that feature throughout; while the balletic sequences, featuring the American Ballet Theatre’s Misty Copeland, are highly enjoyable, yet serve as a stark reminder of what could have been.

Also showing

Smallfoot: Migo is a friendly Yeti whose world gets turned upside down when he discovers something that he didn’t know existed – a human. He soon faces banishment from his snowy home when the rest of the villagers refuse to believe his fantastic tale.

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