Review of The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018) by Healingtoolbox — 18 Dec 2018

An imaginative, supper-high-production value, Christmas-fantasy movie.

This is top drawer, AAA US-UK film-craft. The swooping camera, the costumes, the 1800s Rube Goldberg mousetrap, the clockwork toys, mechanisms and gears, the set design, the behind the scenes 1800s theatrical set design insights, the hip-hop dancing to the Nutcracker music in the end credits--and--wait until you see the Mouse King for the first time.

The first 30-40 minutes of the film are like flying to anyone who who still has the innocence of an eight year old.

Despite the production troubles this did NOT feel like two movies to me, by two different directors. This is high-level directing and acting sustained thruout.

The father-daughter and mother-daughter scenes are better than most. I credit both actors and directors here.

If you are not a fan of world-class production design and CGI, and you are older than 8-9 years old, you may want more “meat” on this bone. What drags it down to 8/10 for me is the script. To the screenwriters I recommend more study of Disney’s Return to Oz (1985) imdb.com/title/tt0089908/ on the theme of a troubled girl healing herself thru fantasy.

This movie too was largely ignored by cynical critics but succeeds narratively way beyond later films in the genre of "coming of age thru healing fantasy." The Never-ending Story script may also be useful here tho I recall Return to Oz being the stronger film on this theme.

Then we have the issue of writers attempting to create a new fairy tale. This is one of the most difficult tasks in fiction writing. I imagine what usually happens in the writing process is the writer is willing to take the main character deeper into her own darkness so she can emerge Phoenix-like; however, the studio wants an "upbeat holiday treat." This is the weakness of 50% or more of all films attempting to compose and present a fairy tale which can stand with classic fairy tales in literature.