The Nutcracker And The Four Realms

(PG, 99mins)

Based on the gothic fairytales of E.T.A. Hoffmann, this frothy Disney production drastically lacks dramatic vigour but is very nice to look at. Victorian teenager Clara (Mackenzie Foy) is grieving her mother’s death when a posthumous gift leads her into a hidden, enchanted land riven by a war between mice and toys. This charming story is clumsily told, and though Keira Knightley’s Sugar Plum Fairy is nicely brittle, Helen Mirren’s Mother Ginger is an empty role. But the design of this film, from costumes to fantastical sets and giant tin soldiers, is splendid, and makes it watchable.