Review of The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018) by Joseph D — 02 Nov 2018
No, this isn't Jeff Foxworthy's Summer home movies. (Shoutout to anyone who gets that reference).
The Nutcracker & the Four Realms.
As an adaptation, this under 2 hour film is....less entertaining than the Care Bears Nutcracker movie, but as a visual & musical spectacle, it works well enough. It did drag through the 1st half, but picked up later.
The main cast did quite well. They were mostly British, so not too much emoting, but they were confident in their actions, which helped the performance. The young star is clearly going place, I hope she continues to perfect her craft. Kiera Knightly kinda stole the show as a manic pixie, she's always enjoyable to watch. Helen Miriam as the villain is....complicated. I can't get into it without spoilers, let's just say, she was fun to watch. The nutcracker guy felt like he was in over his head, but was willing to do the right thing every time, he was cool, too. And the background characters did their job, make the background less boring.
The effects were a good mix of practical & CGI, although some parts looked like a stage production, a nice call back to this story's roots as a ballet.
The music was right outta the ballet, & used quite effectively to punctuate the plot.
Overall, I'd call The Nutcracker & the 4 Realms unremarkable, but harmless. It doesn't break new ground, but it looked beautiful & it wasn't terrible. 3 stars outta 5.
This review of The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018) was written by Joseph D on 02 Nov 2018.
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms has generally received mixed reviews.
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