The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
Gifted a locked musicbox for Christmas by her departed mother, whip smart and clever young Clara (Mackenzie Foy), is on a mission to find the key to her gift. But, when godfather Drosselmeyer (Morgan Freeman) provides Clara the key she’s looking for, little does she know she’s about to be transported into a magical world within the Christmas Tree, a parallel world of four realms, the Snowflakes, The Flowers, The Sweets and The Amusements. Within the four realms Clara will meet many fantastical people and creatures, most notably, Sugar Plum (Keira Knightley) of the realm of Sweets, Soldier Captain Phillip (Jayden Fowora-Knight), and Mother Ginger (Helen Mirren) leader of the realm of Amusements. But, the supposed good intentions of all might not be quite what they seem, unveiling the mysteries of the four realms will provide Clara with a gauntlet of challenges before she returns home.
Written by Ashleigh Powell and Directed by Lasse Hallström, and Joe Johnston this expensive suggestion based on the concepts in E.T.A. Hoffmann’s short story and the Nutcracker Ballet by Marius Petipa explores the worlds of fantasy yet moves at such a slowly metered pace it never truly reaches much of a crescendo. It’s as if art direction for the Nutcracker took notes from Oz, Willy Wonka, and Alice in Wonderland but then forgot that somewhere there needs to be a plot, and, while we’re at it, let’s not also forget the fact that James Newton Howard, one of Hollywood’s finest modern-day composers, was tapped to create the score, but is instead relegated to re-hashing the work of Tchaikovsky, not a bad gig if you can get it, but still…Bottom line, there’s a lot to look at here, just don’t anticipate your retention to be that great by the end, even with a run time of only 99 minutes. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is rated PG