My Movie Review on The Nutcracker and the Four Realms · 2:39pm Dec 20th, 2019

I'll be honest about this:

Before I saw this film, I was expecting to have one of the worst times of my life, largely after reading the amount of negative feedback it got. I prayed to the Lord that my worst fears wouldn't be confirmed.

And you know what?

My prayers were answered!

If I hadn't seen this movie, I wouldn't be making my 94th film review and 13th installment of my "Christmas Craze" series by reviewing the flawed but surprisingly underrated "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms".

Here's the summary of this film:

Young Clara is the second eldest of 3 children who had lost their mother a while back. On Christmas Eve, though, she is given a present that was left to her by her mother: an egg-shaped box. The only problem is...the key to it is missing.

During a party hosted by godfather Drosselmeyer, though, she discovers a parallel world, where she not only finds the key to her egg, but comes across more about her mother and meets a whole host of characters, including Captain Philip Hoffman the nutcracker, Mother Ginger, and the Sugar Plum Fairy.

What more will Clara discover in this mystical world? Will she also find out more about herself?

There were tons of positives that I enjoyed in this movie. But, before I get to them, I'd like to first take note of the mixed bags the film had.

On the subject of the acting, characters, and character development, there were some that did impress me and some that didn't.

The performance I was less than moved by was Keira Knightley and her portrayal of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Nothing against Knightley, she's a terrific actress. Her performance as the Sugar Plum Fairy, though, was too cartoony, cringy, and over-the-top. The voice she gave her character was likewise more annoying than anything else.

Other performances I found myself cringing at were from Eugenio Derbez and Richard E. Grant as Hawthorne and Shiver, as they too seemed irritatingly exaggerated.

The rest of the entertainers, though, gave some rather enjoyable performances. Morgan Freeman gave an astoundingly calm and powerful presence as the character of Drosselmeyer, and Jack Whitehall and Omid Djalili were the surprising scene-stealers as Harlequin and Cavalier despite how minor their characters are in this movie.

Likewise, Mackenzie Foy and Jayden Fowora-Knight gave extremely heartwarming and believable performances as Clara and Philip. The developments of their characters and how lovable they were was spectacular too.

The direction by Lasse Hallstrom and Joe Johnston, and they stor by Ashleigh Powell and (uncreditably) Tom McCarthy, weren't flawless. In some ways, the film felt slow. It seemed to even carry a sense that it borrowed from some films and wasn't the most creatively inspired, despite it being an original film from Disney.

However, I enjoyed the fact that everything managed to tie together nevertheless, and there was a surprisingly vast amount of wit and emotion that gave the film heart. There was even a great moral that people of all ages could take to heart, which is that when you put your mind to something, the real magic can come from within rather than out.

And now, for the true positives:

The music score by James Newton Howard was what I considered to be one of the best parts of the film. He was very faithful to the songbook by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and the new melodies he made himself were fun as well. The thing I admired the most about his work in the film, though, was how he was able to deeply throw himself into it all. It takes a brilliant composer to be able to work with an obviously flawed script, and Howard has shown himself to be among those composers.

The special effects and production designs were additionally impressive. Yes, they did show signs that they weren't real, but unlike other films where that's the case...the effects and designs were all created with clear passion and commitment. The teams behind them clearly knew what they were doing and didn't mess around, and the results were ones that I found to be pleasing. The best elements done by special effects, in my opinion, came from the mice and owl.

In the end, "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms" isn't the most edible candy cane made by Disney. But, it does have its edibly sweet sides, and in a time where Disney seems to be reducing itself to always making live-action remakes of its animated filmography, it's at least something different. It may even be worth watching every now and then for the Christmas season.

So, I rate "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms" 3 1/2 out of 5 stars. Hate me all you want for the positive notes I gave it, but I don't think it's a complete loss.