The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

The holiday season is abundant with classic tales many families and Christmas admirers enjoy but the story that's often changed around the most is The Nutcracker. It originally started out as a dark tale in 1816's The Nutcracker and the Mouse King before Alexandre Dumas retold it 1844 into a family friendly format many are familiar, which was used for the 1892 ballet that became iconic and memorable. This has been used in media (TV or mainstream movies) more than a dozen times (incarnations that involve either Mickey Mouse, Tom & Jerry, Barbie, Care Bears, etc.), which brings us here to yet another adaptation of this from Disney, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. The marketing campaign left something to be desired as it appeared to be as if the studio was on autopilot with something that felt like a throwaway feature. Upon its release after its late review embargo (which is never a good sign), the film was critically bashed by critics and I felt like seeing how much of the criticisms were valid (whether if they were holding back because it's a holiday family movie or if it wasn't negative enough). After watching it, my frustration in how empty and dull it felt was matched by that of the viewing families in the auditorium.

Behind the scenes problems: This project has behind the scenes problems with the directors as Lasse Hallstrom (A Dog's Purpose) becoming absent in the middle of filming. As a result, Joe Johnston (Captain America First Avenger) was called in direct reshoots for 32 days, which was scripted by Tom McCarthy (Spotlight, Christopher Robin) and added to the production budget this is struggling to make back.

Plot: The story follows a young girl who sets out to find a key in a fantasy world left by her deceased mother to unlock her last gift. On paper, this can be something nice and fun that feels engaging for its audiences. In execution, however, it falls apart hard as it  follows what Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland did: for those of you unfamiliar with it, it takes a female protagonist whose personality is described by everyone in poorly delivered exposition, gives her an object to find that leads to a magical land, meets other people who share some kind of connection with her, a conflict arises that leads to an uninspired war with a bland CGI army, and she finds a way back home with resolution that feels unearned. Everything feels hastily rushed in terms of trying to fulfill some kind of obligation instead of delivering something that embraces the proper holiday spirit. Just to add to the incoherent nature, Disney's latest trend of twist villains in their recent projects rears its ugly head here that's even worse than that of Incredibles 2.

One minor aspect that does look nice is the art direction. There are a few moments where you can see where the priority of the set design went to the point where you can press the mute button and just observe the environment without a care about the story.

Characters: The people to focus on are Clara (Mackenzie Foy), Philip (Jayden Fowora-Knight), and the Sugar Plum Fairy (Kiera Knightley). Clara is a young girl who finds herself in the Four Realms as she looks for a key to unlock her deceased mothers gifts. Mackenzie's performance suffers from the bland direction she's given as she feels unrealistic in how she interacts with almost everything in terms of wide-eyed wonder, in addition to dealing with green screen sets that might be out of her comfort zone for an actress as young as she is. Philip is a nutcracker who helps Clara on her adventure. Jayden is incredibly miscast here as his terrible acting is the worst in the film since not only is his actor career is still new but he's also delegated to a role with less of a personality than the female lead, which was done to make her look better. The best way to summarize these two when together is imagining Finn and Rey from the Star Wars sequel trilogy but much more dull while lacking any chemistry.

The Sugar Plum Fairy is the regent of the realm of sweets and Kiera gives what might be one of her most bizarre portrayals as she speaks with a squeaky voice in this role, which gets worse when a twist comes out of nowhere for her character. An honorable mention goes to Drosselmeyer (Morgan Freeman) for giving the best and only genuine performance for at most 3 minutes of screen time. A dishonorable mention goes to Mother Ginger (Helen Mirren) for talents being misused in this mess of a production.

Overall Consensus: The Nutcracker & the Four Realms only shines through its production design as it fails with its rushed script, unlikable bland characters, tired useless Disney cliches, and lack of spirit worth holding onto. ⭑1/2💻 Runtime: 1 hour 34 minutes PG

Reasons to watch it: You like any of the aforementioned actors. You enjoy stories that are exactly like Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. You want to see a different version of this tale.

Reasons to avoid it: You dislike any of the aforementioned actors. You aren't a fan of environments that remind you of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. You hate naive protagonists that don't behave realistic and lack any emotional investment. You despise modern Disney cliches.