
Introduction.
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is an American fantasy adventure film directed by Lasse Hallstrom and Joe Johnston and is a reiteration of two short stories in “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” and Marius Petipa’s The Nutcracker. The story follows the magical adventures of a young girl in Klara (Mackenzie Foy) as she seeks to unravel a gift left behind by her deceased mother.

Acting & Character performances.
Mackenzie Foy’s character Clara Stahlbaum didn’t have as much of an emotional impact on me as I would have wanted especially since the plot primarily pivots on her and her journey. The girl’s ideal purpose in the film is to find a key to a box of sorts that her mother left her which bears a special gift; it’s a quest that leads her to the unknown. Clara hence has to navigate her way through the situation she finds herself in and return to her world safe and sound having accomplished her mission. Foy’s delivery from an acting point of view was notable but the character she plays lacked intrigue and seemed all too similar to another Disney character from the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ stories.
Moving on to Kiera Knightley, I just don’t understand how she managed to sign up for this role. Yes, she has done Broadway acts in the past which I think, is one of the reasons she was chosen to play Sugar Plum Fairy on here nonetheless, her appointment to this role wasn’t befitting to her Hollywood stature; just saying. I found her character quite annoying and even though we get to discover in the 3rd Act that she has a hidden plan in the film, her motivations for enforcing that agenda felt lifeless and unrelatable.

Morgan Freeman is also here as Clara’s Godfather in Drosslemeyer; basically, he was just a plot device to kickstart the main agenda of the film and barely had any screen-time. Another superstar slash legend Hellen Mirren is in the mix as well and much like Knightley, she should not be in this film; her character Mother Ginger was somewhat of a loose emotional anchor to Clara but in the grand scheme of things, she didn’t add anything substantial to the plot.

The Plot, Merits and Demerits.
If there is one thing that Disney has mastered since time immemorial, it is most definitely tailouring their famous fairy tale narratives on the big screen in a manner that meets the needs and wants of their target audience. The company, for the most part, is running out of stories to tell with their most marketable ones e.g Cinderella and Snow White having been represented in media several times over the years and thus they are seeking new ways to keep their fire burning. Even though it means buying other famous cinematic franchises and bringing their stories on board or retelling their lesser known stories like the one adapted in this film, they don’t mind as long as the money is streaming in through ticket sales, DVD releases and merchandises.
Disney know that parents who grew up loving their characters will take their kids to see such movies because the toddlers for a fact will love them whether or not the plots adapted are interesting or not. The art of imagery/visual storytelling has always been a key ingredient in Disney on-screen adaptations and this flick is no exception; they know how captivating the colourful costumes and prosthetics, unimaginable worlds, the ball dances and the beautiful creatures can be to the eye. From a critical point of view, I can indeed say that these elements did not blind me from seeing how hollow and recycled the narrative was and that was a big let-down for me.

Furthermore, *there wasn’t a definitive conflict in the film aside from the one between Clara and her father which granted was good but it could have been much better if it was given more prominence. *The pacing of events is too fast; the film doesn’t focus on one aspect of the story enough and rushes to the next way sooner than expected. *The acting in general was so ‘meeh’; there were so many instances where I felt like I was watching a play and in case you didn’t know, I don’t particularly like plays; at least the one’s I’ve sat through.
There are some things to like about this movie though; only just. *There was some comedy i.e when certain guards can’t let Clara into one of the realms before asking her a few survey questions and before she even says the a word, they cut her short by saying ‘thank you!’. * As far as the music is concerned, Disney have always had a good track record in that with their films and this one doesn’t fall short of good music *Lastly, I liked the theme of transformation; a young girl stepping up to fulfil her destiny despite her age and lack of experience.

Decree.
Well, I always knew what I was getting myself into before watching The Nutcracker and The Four Realms but there was always optimistic part of me somewhere that thought maybe this film will excite me. Newsflash! It didn’t. Nevertheless, you should at least give it a watch if you haven’t already because maybe you might have a different take on it. Feel free to air your views in the comment section below.
Cheers.
It looks like one of those overly CGI filled movie that creates a plastic and fake tone.
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Very true Nathan 😂…. very true!
Are you planning on seeing it any time soon?
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Maybe if my daughter wants to go
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Hehe😃… well, sometimes I wonder what compelled me to go watch this!
It’s the things I do for this platform🤔🤔😃
I don’t think I would have seen the movie otherwise
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As long as it’s better than A Wrinkle in Time, I don’t mind!
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Well😃… let’s just say it isn’t, and that says a lot about this Nutcracker movie.
You should give it a watch though… see things from your perspective. Maybe my judgement of it is askew; maybe.
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Oh I definitely plan to watch it for my live-action Disney blog…I’m just anxious about it, lol!
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A live action Disney blog🤔🤔🤔… that’s cool!😎… and unique.
I don’t think i have ever heard of one before.
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Oh, check it out at myliveactiondisneyproject.wordpress.com
My goal is to watch and review every theatrically-released live-action Disney film ever made (not counting like documentaries or films from companies that Disney bought like Marvel Studios or Star Wars). I update it every two weeks.
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Awesome. Really cool stuff.
Trust me… I am now your Disney blog’s number one fan coz I like live action Disney movies; the good ones of course.😎
I’ll be very interested to read your reviews.
Cheers.
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Lol, thanks for becoming my #1 fan of that blog. Hope you enjoy the reviews! There is an index at the top where you can find all the ones I’ve done.
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Awesome. I’ll check ’em out
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Good review. Personally, I felt disappointed with the movie. While it’s overall look and feel looks solid and great, the rest of the movie feels shallow. The story is rushed and the movie just simply lacks substance, which hurts the feature’s characters and events.
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Valid points Jason.
Overall, I’d say it’s this film reminds me too much of Alice in wonderland, and I and i have never particularly liked the Alice in Wonderland story. That said, I understand people who’d be fans of the various reiterations of the Nutcracker story, this latest one included.
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Excellent review! And you’re right, I’m in the wheelhouse of the target group. Haven’t seen it, wanted to, now not so much. 😇
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Hehe😃… well, I didn’t like the movie; it’s not my cup of tea.
But at least I have seen it, I think you should too. Maybe you’ll see things from a different perspective 😁……. or not!🙄
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I’ll let you know 😃
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Awesome.👌😎
And thank you very much for the compliment as well… much appreciated and be blessed!👍
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You also, fellow voyager on a sea of words 😇
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Indeed👌😎!
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One more thing, your comment about Kiera Knightley brought something to my mind. Seeing people we consider “stars” doing commercials seems odd to me, the most recent being George Clooney stepping off the screen in Knight’s armor just seems weird. Does he need money badly enough to do something like that? Just a thought 🙂
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George Clooney stepping out in Knight’s armour?🤔🤔🤔… haven’t heard of that lately!
Nonetheless, what I do know is that Clooney definately didn’t need the money that bad… he is among the highest paid actors today. I believe he get’s most his earnings these days from his wine company.
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