Read Nikki's review of The Nutcracker and the Four Realms.
All Clara (Mackenzie Foy) wants is a key – a one-of-a-kind key that will unlock a box that holds a priceless gift. A golden thread, presented to her at godfather Drosselmeyer’s (Morgan Freeman) annual holiday party, leads her to the coveted key—which promptly disappears into a strange and mysterious parallel world. It’s there that Clara encounters a soldier named Phillip (Jayden Fowora-Knight), a gang of mice and the regents who preside over three Realms: Land of Snowflakes, Land of Flowers and Land of Sweets. Clara and Phillip must brave the ominous Fourth Realm, home to the tyrant Mother Ginger (Helen Mirren), to retrieve Clara’s key and hopefully return harmony to the unstable world. Starring Keira Knightley as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Disney’s new holiday feature film “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” is directed by Lasse Hallström and Joe Johnston, and inspired by E.T.A. Hoffmann’s classic tale.
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is in theaters on November 2nd, 2018.
Halloween has just come to an end so that MUST mean it’s finally the holiday season! You may think watching ‘The Nutcracker and The Four Realms is just the movie to see to start the holiday season. Nutcracker and the Four Realms is about a girl named Clara (Mackenzie Foy) on the journey to unlock a Christmas gift that was left for her by her mother, who has recently died. I have to say I am a huge Disney fan and a sucker for all Disney movies. Having said that, I am very disappointed with this film. Not only was the pacing of the story horrible, but the film was very predictable. And to make matters worse, it only felt like a holiday movie for the first ten minutes!
For those who grew up with the classic Nutcracker story, brace yourselves for the story is different in the movie, from the one we all know and love. While at a family Christmas party Clara follows a string that leads her to a different universe where she encounters a nutcracker soldier that will accompany her on the journey to find the missing key that will open the present her mother gave her. This film reminded me a lot of a movie previously made by Disney, Oz the Great and Power. I don’t want to spoil too much, but there were some similarities. The movie was very predictable. There were many cliche scenes in which I was able to figure out where the story was leading 30 minutes in. The story was very messy. The movie shuffled in being a fantasy one minute, then turned into being creepy and then changing into being adventurous which didn’t blend well.
At times, the CGI was not great, there were a lot of green screens and the imaginary characters, like the toy soldiers, looked unrealistic. Things like that make it very hard for me to focus on the movie when it is very obvious that many of what I’m seeing doesn’t look real. There were a couple things I did like about the movie. For one, the imaginary world was visually stunning. However, there were also times it felt identical to Tim Burton’s ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ The costumes were spectacular, especially Clara’s outfits. Also, I did enjoy the beautiful ballet scene that was effortlessly performed by Misty Copeland.
This will not be going down as a Disney classic that’s for sure. But from what I saw while leaving the theatre is that the kids ate it up. Therefore, if you have children and it’s something they want to see, have a family night and enjoy the time being spent. No kids? Sit this one out and maybe redbox it.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Nikki (Contributor) is a Chicago Native who loves watching movies (some definitely more than once). Her favorite genres include Thrillers and Dramas. When she's not at the movies you can most likely find her at a live concert, singing along to a Disney classic or binge watching Netflix.Click Here to check out Nikki's Articles.