The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

[Disney Duster]

I would like Nutcraker to win but I also have to say the Wrinkle in Time costumes for the three W's were astounding. I guess I prefer Nutcracker, but I think I'm biased for bustle gowns and fairies, lol.

[Sotiris]

New clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvBvnTJRQ_E

[Patricier21]

If anyone could please tell me if The Nutcracker's Digital Exclusive Extra Unwrapped: The Visual Effects of The Nutcracker and the Four Realms contains any b-roll/new footage and or is more or less the same as the following video, its would be truly gratefully appreciated

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf2UyOIQc4A

[Disney's Divinity]

Maybe I was in a good mood because I enjoyed this, surprisingly. I mean, I wouldn’t say it was a great film, but at least I didn’t outright hate anything about it. If I had any expectations going into it at all, they were negative; I expected something along the lines of Alice in Wonderland, which was mostly a dud barring how pretty most of it was and HBC as the Red Queen. I think The Nutcracker and the Four Realms’ similarity to Alice in Wonderland is probably the main reason it flopped, not to mention that mouthful of a title. I think audiences did not enjoy AiW going by how extremely poor Alice Through the Looking Glass performed, and resented the bait of the gorgeous visuals that turned out to be hiding a bad film. TN&tFR came across like the same deal being served from Disney. A Wrinkle in Time probably drew similar comparisons in most people’s minds, unfortunately. This film was gorgeous—even more than AiW, imo, which had some hideous 3D characters—and I liked most of the characters and the actors. I thought Macfayden did a really good job with the thankless role of the “mean, overbearing” parent. Mackenzie Foy really is beautiful, and so is Jayden Fowora-Knight (he doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page yet). Although there was no outright romance between them, there was definitely some chemistry there. They should’ve explored it.

I think the only thing I’d criticize is the villain reveal. I don’t know, I didn’t think Knightley pulled it off. Both the dialogue and the delivery was too OTT and ridiculous. By the time Sugar Plum Fairy was defeated, I’d come around to her as a villainess a little more at least. I never minded the idea of her as a villain on paper. This was more a case of the execution being the problem. As far as the SPF’s motivation, it wasn’t clearly defined beyond she was grieving over the absence of Clara’s mother as much as Clara was in the real world—almost a reflection of Clara ofc, one who couldn’t move beyond the grief. They should’ve had her want to revert all the life Clara’s mom created back to unfeeling objects because she felt as if, what’s the point if Marie’s not there with them all, or that SPF just didn’t want to feel anything anymore because the grief was all-consuming—something in that vein. There’s something about SPF’s dislike of Mother Ginger, too, perhaps because Ginger’s not much like their real ‘mother’ who is gone or some kind of symbolic representation of Clara’s own emotions as often happens with these storylines—a hatred of mother for “leaving” her—which is in contrast to Ginger’s maternal hug with Clara at the end post-conflict, after Clara’s let her grief go.

As for other things, I wish we’d learned more about the different realms, and that Helen Mirren had got more to do. Also, I didn’t really get the purpose of Morgan Freeman’s character…

Checking if there were new book covers for this film, I found this synopsis. It's from the book The Nutcracker and the Four Realms: The Secret of the Realms: An Extended Novelization. Do you think the part about Clara's mother (in bold) is part of the story of the movie, or it's just for this book given that it's an extended novelization?

When Clara Stahlbaum receives a beautiful yet mysterious egg-shaped box from her late mother, she wonders what it means. Searching for answers, Clara soon finds herself in a magical world-the Four Realms-where she meets a host of colorful and curious new friends and discovers the fascinating link between the Realms and her dear mother. But when she learns that the Realms are in danger of being destroyed, Clara vows to help.

Years earlier, Clara's mother, Marie, is a lonely orphan adopted by an eccentric inventor. She stumbles upon an unbelievable place and decides to apply her mechanical skills in magical ways. But as time passes, Marie finds she must make a choice between the real world and this magical world of her dreams.

Follow the incredible adventures of an inventor on a journey through a wondrous world and her daughter determined to protect it.

Source: https://www.amazon.es/Nutcracker-Four-R ... our+realms

I'm glad you had posted this. Now I understand who he is. I guess his character is sort of like the professor in The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe in a way? Btw, was the Owl the Mouse King in another form? The only reason I thought that was because the room she goes through to get to the other world had one of those weird visual effects where the wallpaper first shows nothing but owls then slowly becomes rats.

Keira Knightley Explains Why Her Daughter Can't Watch 'Cinderella' and 'The Little Mermaid'
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ ... ms-1152741

I don't really blame her, although I personally don't feel there's anything wrong with showing those films to a child as long as they have films with better role models at the same time and that you talk with the child about the film / the takeaways at their level of understanding. Not everyone allows their love of the films they grew up with to trump real world concerns though. Sometimes there are more important things.

Maybe every generation has their own Nutcracker? The doll represents Clara's mom's Nutcracker, and Philip is Clara's?

Just watch Clara’s dad ends up being the original nutcracker... Would not be surprised one bit.

I would've loved if this had been the case, and then she'd brought Philip back with her at the end of the film.

The biggest issue in the movie is Mother Ginger. She’s seen on screen for a whole 2 minutes before we realize she isn’t a bad guy. Even more so though is the fact that there’s no explanation how she was banished, how Sugar Plum convinced everyone she was bad, or how any of the fourth realm came to collapse and rot away.

I would've liked for more exposition on exactly how Sugar Plum Fairy managed to malign Mother Ginger, too. I imagine SPF tried (unsuccessfully) to take over Mother Ginger's realm and then gaslit the other two regents either at the same time or after she failed by claiming Ginger acted first and SPF responded in defense. And, of course, everyone would be more likely to believe SPF because of her sweet exterior over someone more abrasive like Mother Ginger.

[Thumper_93]

I saw the movie last week and I have to say that I enjoy it more each time that I see it.
I agree about that Keira beeing the villain was not a great choice. I didn't like it at all not because of her but because in my mind SPF is a very magical and pure character and transform it into a villain was not a good idea. I also didn't like the trick of the surprise villain. They used this trick before in Frozen and Zootopia and it was not a good choice in any of these movies.
A King Mouse would have been a better choice as a villain. SPF and Mother Ginger could have their war thinking that the other one is the villain and Clara could have made them realize that the real villain is the Mouse. I think that it would've been more emotive and they could have mantain SPF as a good character, something similar to Glinda form The Wizard of Oz.
Mackenzie is adorable as Clara. Her characterization was amazing and the wardrobe that they created for her is magical. The purple gown from the beginning is just stunning, it can look simple but it has lot of details on it.
The rest of the characters are ok, Hellen could have had more scenes but I think that the ones that she had are effective and works all right.
The backgrounds in the film are also very beautiful. In some parts the CGI looks cheap but it is something that uses to happen with LA films. One of my favourite things is the wallpaper from the hall that goes from the mansion to the magic land. How the birds transforms into mice, it's great and it gave me Haunted mansion feelings.
I honestly think that Disney should make more movies like this instead of LA that nobody asked for.