Der Nussknackerprinz

I saw this movie a very long time ago and I loved it. I remember I had taped it off HBO or something like that, and I watched it all the time. Just yesterday I went to see the actual ballet, and it wasn't half as good as this enchanting little movie. I was very dissapointed with the ballet, it wasn't bad, it just did'nt follow of what I remember from this movie, a lot of things were different. But since I haven't read the book, maybe the ballet was more on track than this movie. But anyway the movie was much more entertaining than the actual ballet. Even though I am not trying to compare the movie to the ballet, because they are tottaly different things.

The Nutcracker Prince follows Clara during Christmas where she receives the gift of a nutcracker from her godfather, Uncle Drosselmeier. After her Uncle regales her with a story of how the nutcracker came to be, Clara finds herself involved in the confrontation between the nutcracker prince and the vengeful rat king.

Released in 1990 to poor reviews and box office failure, The Nutcracker Prince was an attempt by Canadian TV animation studio Lacewood Productions to make a feature length theatrical film. While the animation can look nice (at times), the movie never maintains a consistent tone and struggles with pacing and story structure. But despite the movie's many faults, it is probably the most faithful and complete telling of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King that served as the source material for the endearing ballet.

The movie makes a decent enough impression with some decent character designs who are competently animated, but as the movie goes on the movie's usage of flat blurry backgrounds and barren environments become very obvious. The movie has numerous scenes that are eerily empty, even when that shouldn't be the case. To make up for this, the movie haphazardly integrates the Nutcracker suite as part of the soundtrack, and while it can sometimes work, often times it feels like a way to add life to the scene to make up for a lack of life in the animation. The movie also takes an abrupt style change around the 15 minute mark when it tells the Nutcracker's backstory, and in an attempt to soften the darker moments from the source material the animation style mimics a simplistic more geometric style one associates with something like Jay Ward's Fractured Fairy Tales which completely takes us out of the story and just calls attention to itself. The sequence goes on for a while dealing with characters who have no bearing on the rest of the movie and no real purpose, and the actual plot of the movie doesn't start until around 48 minutes into this 68 minute movie (not including 5 minutes of credits).

The Nutcracker Prince just doesn't work. It doesn't have plot, characters, or stakes strong enough to carry itself to feature length, and its technical aspects seem more suited for television than a cinema (save for some individual moments here and there). I do give the movie credit for avoiding contemporaneous dialogue and trying to approach the Nutcracker from a different direction, but the movie just doesn't come together.

It's about time E.T.A. Hoffman's tale of The Nutcracker and The Mouse King got a faithful adaptation. As one of the what, three people that have actually read the story - it's delightful to see the tale faithfully told, and told for children. In keeping with the tradition started with the Tchaikovsky ballet, it keeps the story light and suitable for children, without leaving out the main themes of the tale. The Hoffman story can be pretty gruesome at places, but this film manages to keep all the details (down to the Krakatuk nut!) in place, without taking away from the charm. They've managed to take some of the ugliest parts and present them comically - which is not an easy task. Good for them! A very good script, wonderful voicework (hey, I didn't know Megan Follows can sing) and just an overall sweet movie. Yes the animation isn't the greatest, but oh, who really cares? It's still a great movie.

When I was a kid, this was one of my childhood favourites, I loved it. Watching it again, I still do, it is a really sweet and charming film, that is perfect for Christmas time.

I have read critical reviews, though not on IMDb, that said that the animation was shoddy, and I wholeheartedly disagree. Sure I have seen better animation, but I do think people need to remember when it was made(1990), and that it is lower in budget to other animated gems like Beauty and the Beast. The colours weren't too bad and the backgrounds were nice to look at.

One of the main things I like about The Nutcracker Prince is the story. The timeless story by ETA Hoffmann is a truly wonderful one, and out of all the adaptations of the story I've seen, including countless productions of the ballet, short cartoons, and the Barbie movie(which I admit I really like, despite the fact I am 17), The Nutcracker Prince is actually the most faithful to the story, having the story of Princess Pirlipat and all that. Yes, there are one or two gruesome scenes, but the story version I have has a very malevolent description of the Mouse King, so that is forgiven. Plus this Mouse King was one I enjoyed watching, funny and scary at the same time, and a character who got so much abuse from his mother.

My favourite aspect of the movie was the music by Tchaikovsky, the sparkling motifs from his beautiful ballet score are bound to stay with you forever. What I liked about it was how they used it in the film, it was very clever, and very appropriate. Tchaikovsky is one of my favourite composers, and a very important one in the development of ballet, but he brought staggering contributions also to symphony, concerto and opera. I am so thankful that they didn't miss out the music entirely, otherwise this gem of a film wouldn't have such an effect on me. Just for the record, this was actually the film, that introduced me to Tchaikovsky's music, and that is the reason why it is so special to me.

The voice cast was terrific, especially Kiefer Sutherland as the Nutcracker Prince, and Megan Follows is lovely beyond words as Clara. Also worth of note is Peter O'Toole as Pantoloon, I thought he was excellent, almost certainly one of the best voice actors involved in the movie. Everyone else was very good too, particularly Peter Beretski in a perfect performance as Drosselmeir and they were further advantaged by a very good script, that is surprisingly faithful to Hoffmann's story.

Overall, a beautiful gem. 10/10 Bethany Cox.

It's a pity that this film didn't have the consideration it merites. The plot and the beautiful Tchaicovsky music are so well armonized I found it a piece as enjoyable for adults than for children. It's a nice movie full of sentiments and emotions. It's not the classical adventure movie you forget immediately it ends. This one really makes you feel emotions you keep long ago the movie has ended. I'll give it a 10.