A beautiful shell, but something’s off inside
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
K (out of 4) Starring Mackenzie Foy, Keira Knightley, Helen Mirren and Morgan Freeman. Directed by Lasse Hallstrom and Joe Johnston. 109 minutes. Opens Friday at major theatres. G Take a revered holiday classic, add a dash — make that a double scoop — of Disney magic, and ta-da!, you’ve got The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, the Mickey Mouse corp’s latest effort to enchant while cashing in at the box office.
There’s something a little cynical about the whole exercise, although it is a truly visual feast from start to finish. Young kids are going to love it. Others, especially adults — well, we’ll just have to wait and see.
The screenplay by Ashleigh Powell borrows some of the details from the famed ballet (based on an even older children’s story), including the names of Clara and the Stahlbaum family as well as other characters, including the Mouse King, the Sugar Plum Fairy and Mother Ginger, and sets the story — like the original — on Christmas Eve.
After that, it goes off pretty much on its own to tell a very different story set in London where the Stahlbaums attend a lavish party hosted by Drosselmeyer (Morgan Freeman). Clara, in pursuit of a Christmas present, enters a fantasy-land composed of the four realms. It turns out her late mother (yes, the family is mourning her recent loss) was once queen there, and Clara’s arrival signals yet another crisis in the land.
It barely matters what that crisis is except that it involves intrigue, and Clara, accompanied by the nutcracker soldier, has to demonstrate plenty of pluck to overcome the traitor who’s bringing war to an otherwise peaceful land.
It’s all rather dull, and annoying in its cloying sentimentality. But every frame glistens with CGI splendour. There is nary a sign of strife or social discord in the snow-dappled London of the 19th-century portrayed, which also seems rather cynical since it was, as were most cities of its time, riddled with filth, smog and poverty.
The performances are certainly capable, including Mackenzie Foy as dauntless heroine Clara. Keira Knightley gets to ham it up as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Helen Mirren brings a sturdy competence to the role of Mother Ginger.
There’s no doubt it’s a film that will delight very young audiences but one wonders how much that enchantment will extend to the older ones. It’s the sort of film that one can imagine will send toddlers happily drifting off to the realm of dreamland. It’s likely to have the same impact on their bored caregivers.