Through the years there have been numerous takes on the famed Nutcracker story including ballets, movies, cartoons and more. Now Disney is bringing a new chapter to the story with The Nutcracker and the Four Realms starring Mackenzie Foy, Morgan Freeman, Jayden Fowora-Knight, Helen Mirren, and Kiera Knightly with Lasse Hallström and Joe Johnston in the director’s chair. Could this new direction bring something new to fans of the famed story or will it be a nut not worth cracking?

 

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms follows Clara who wants a one-of-a-kind key that will unlock a box that holds a priceless gift. A golden thread, presented to her at godfather Drosselmeyer’s annual holiday party, leads her to the coveted key which promptly disappears into a strange and mysterious parallel world. It’s there that Clara encounters a soldier named Phillip, a gang of mice and the regents who preside over three Realms: Land of Snowflakes, Land of Flowers and Land of Sweets. Clara and Phillip must brave the ominous Fourth Realm, home to the tyrant Mother Ginger, to retrieve Clara’s key and hopefully return harmony to the unstable world. I must admit I am not a fan of any of the Nutcracker stories, but tried to keep an open mind going in.

 

Visually this movie is stunning using bright vibrant colors and creative machinery to bring this world to life. I found myself instantly intrigued with the direction they looked to be going, but that is kind of where it began and ended for me. The story heads into an interesting direction initially, but sadly never offers all that much up for the rest of the film. It isn’t necessarily bad, but I just found myself really bored and despite the great visuals and often pretty cool uses of the steampunk style machinery. None of the characters were overly memorable outside of the use of the mice and rat king idea.

 

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