El cascanueces y los cuatro reinos

In the Victorian England, the teenager Clara (Mackenzie Foy) is a young scientist that lives with her older sister Louise (Ellie Bamber), her younger brother Fritz (Tom Sweet) and her widower father Mr. Stahlbaum (Matthew Macfadyen). The family misses their mother and wife Marie Stahlbaum (Anna Madeley), who was also a scientist and has recently passed away. On the Christmas Eve, Mr. Stahlbaum delivers a gift left by Marie for each sibling and Clara receives an egg-shaped locked box without a key to open it. The family goes to the ball promoted by Clara's godfather Drosselmeyer (Morgan Freeman), who is also a man of science, to spend the night and she asks for the key to him. When Mr. Drosselmeyer delivers his gifts for each child he is hosting, Clara crosses the boundary of a world created by her mother, where Clara is a princess, and ruled by the regents of the realms Land of Snowflakes, Land of Flowers, and Land of Sweets that protect them from Mother Ginger (Helen Mirren), who is the tyrant of the Fourth Realm in the beginning of an adventure full of fantasy and betrayal.

"The Nutcracker and the Four Realms" is a beautiful family entertainment for children. The cinematography and CGI are amazing and will certainly satisfy the target audience. The cast has names such as Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman and Keira Knightley, but the lead actress Mackenzie Foy is weak. Unfortunately, the story is silly for adults, and the film does not have any heart. Lasse Hallström is a magnificent director, but this movie is bureaucratic and shows no emotion. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Quebra-Nozes e os Quatro Reinos" ("The Nutcracker and the Four Realms")

A good movie in my opinion. I know not everyone will like it, and I know a lot of people hate it (is it just because it's live action?), but it has a beautiful atmosphere, the costumes are amazing, and I feel happy whenever I watch it. Not my favourite Disney movie, but it's not the worst.

Delightful family movie! Visually spectacular and a treat at Christmas.

Supposedly it took two directors to finish and wrap up this gorgeous fantasy movie with a lot of post-production editing. Inspired by the short Nutcracker story, this movie would never be a The NeverEnding Story (1984) movie based on Michael Ende's international best-seller nor The Chronicles of Naria: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005) based on C.S. Lewis. Nevertheless, the story outline flows together most likely because of the tight editing. From the very beginning the sweeping camera photography enwraps its audience into a delightful collage of old sites of Victorian England. The set design and amazing landscapes are brilliant. The performance captivating, even the father whose stoic face is betrayed with small poignant pauses and looks of subtle emotional despair. Somewhat predictable along with a harsh but maybe unavoidable twist, the movie seems to transform from magical, fantastic mystery along with the royal flourishes of The Princess Diaries (2001) to a more simple dichotomous clash between good and evil. Nevertheless, the simple ending surprisingly is a pleasant soft surprise with its relational bonding scene along with a delightful series of ballet dance numbers during the closing credits. This was a decent, memorable, if not top brilliant classic of a movie.

I have to write this: if you are expecting a truthful rendition of the ballet, then do NOT go see this. It is so much more....I am a dancer, and i was really worried it would an other ballet version...it actually draws back from the Hoffmann tale, which is quite dark. We still get a dose of dancing with the beautiful Misty Copeland, and we do not need more.