The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018) Disney/Fantasy-Adventure RT: 99 minutes Rated PG (some mild peril) Director: Lasse Hallstrom and Joe Johnston Screenplay: Ashleigh Powell Music: James Newton Howard Cinematography: Linus Sandgren Release date: November 2, 2018 (US) Cast: Mackenzie Foy, Keira Knightley, Eugenio Derbez, Richard E. Grant, Jayden Fowora-Knight, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, Matthew Macfadyen, Ellie Bamber, Tom Sweet, Omid Djalili, Jack Whitehall, Anna Madeley, Misty Copeland, Sergei Polunin, Gustavo Dudamel. Box Office: $54.9M (US)/$174M (World)
Rating: **
By way of describing the experience of watching Disney’s The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, let me paint you a mental picture. Imagine receiving a Christmas present from a loved one on Christmas Eve. It’s ornately wrapped in shiny gold paper and a silky red bow with sparkles. It’s a pretty good size so you expect to find something great inside. You open it only to find a pack of socks, one of those 10 pairs for $5 deals, from Wal-Mart. It’s like that. It comes in fancy packaging, but there’s really nothing inside. It’s as hollow a viewing experience as any of the many failed attempts at a new holiday classic over the past couple of decades. Jim Carrey as Scrooge anyone? I didn’t think so.
Based on both the ballet (“The Nutcracker”) and the short story (“The Nutcracker and the Mouse King”), The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is yet another attempt by Disney at an FX-heavy blockbuster that doesn’t bear a brand name like Star Wars, Marvel or Pirates of the Caribbean. They’ve had pretty bad luck in this area with non-hits like Tomorrowland, The BFG and A Wrinkle in Time (which barely cracked the $100 million mark). This latest effort will surely join the ranks of the undistinguished. While not the worst of its ilk, it’s certainly not worth schlepping the whole family to see.
It just wouldn’t be a Disney movie without a dead parent, right? That’s the situation our heroine Clara (Foy, Interstellar) finds herself in at the outset of the movie. It’s Christmas Eve and she doesn’t feel like celebrating. It’s the first Christmas without her mother and the whole family is feeling it. Not that she would know. It seems like all her father (Macfadyen, Pride & Prejudice) cares about is keeping up appearances at the big party at the home of her godfather Drosselmeyer (Freeman, Dolphin Tale) that night. Before they head out, he hands each of his children a gift from their late mother. Clara receives a locked golden egg-shaped box without a key. It comes with a note telling her it contains all she’ll ever need.
At the party, the kids are given threads that lead to their gifts. Clara’s leads to a magical, parallel world that could very well be Narnia. All that’s missing is the lion, witch and wardrobe. It’s in this world that she will find the key needed to open her box. Obtaining the key, however, will be tricky. You see, this world is comprised of four realms (hence the title), three of which- the Land of Flowers, the Land of Snowflakes and the Land of Sweets- are at war with the fourth, the Land of Amusements. It’s become a fearsome place ruled by Mother Ginger (Mirren, The Queen) who wants to conquer the other three realms with the help of her army of mice. The ruler of the Land of Sweets, Sugar Plum (Knightley, Pirates of the Caribbean 1-3), informs Clara that her deceased mother was the queen of this world making her a princess (another Disney trope) whose task it is to restore peace and harmony to a once-tranquil place. This means going to war with Mother Ginger. But first, Clara needs to retrieve the key from the fourth realm.
In the spirit of fairness, I must say that some of the visuals in The Nutcracker and the Four Realms are stunning. It’s pretty to look at. HOWEVER, this does little to distract the viewer from the dull, convoluted storyline. In fact, it’s hard to miss how boring this movie is. Even at 99 minutes, it still feels dragged out. There’s nothing to engage the viewer. It doesn’t stoke the imagination. It’s unfocused which I suppose is mainly due to two different directors being at the helm. Lasse Hallstrom (The Cider House Rules) was the original director, but when a scheduling conflict prevented him from returning for reshoots (with extensive CGI), Joe Johnston (Honey, I Shrunk the Kids) took over. This would explain the abrupt tonal shifts from which the movie never recovers. As for the CGI effects, they’re clearly CGI. There’s nothing special about these effects.
What really stings is that the actors don’t look like they’re having any fun. Pretty much every performance feels forced. They deliver their dialogue in a stilted manner. Foy, while an engaging presence, can’t really do a British accent. It’s iffy at best. Knightley gets points for at least trying to ham it up as the ultra-perky and super-duper-sweet Sugar Plum (love that cotton candy colored hair!) but it’s all for naught. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is a hopeless mess. It’s weird in that there’s a lot going on yet it’s not nearly enough. It drags at several points. The drama concerning Clara’s grief is hackneyed. It’s highly derivative of the first Narnia movie and Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. Nutcracker purists will be turned off by dearth of ballet save for a couple of brief sequences (including one in the end credits). Also, it only contains a few snatches of Tchaikovsky’s music. Instead, we get an instantly forgettable score by James Newton Howard).
It should be noted that it isn’t a good idea to bring small children to see The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. Some of the visuals, like the giant mouse made of hundreds of little mice, are bound to give them nightmares. On the other hand, if they’re not freaked out by The Boxtrolls, it’s probably safe to let them watch this one. Except there’s nothing to see. This is a movie that’s clearly bored with itself. It’s as soulless and empty as the Santa Land staffed by indifferent teens at the local mall. If those involved don’t care, why should we? I predict The Nutcracker and the Four Realms will be a distant memory by the time Christmas rolls around in two months.
