A Nutcracker Christmas

Absolutely loved the premise. It is a very relatable scenario for anybody who wants to fulfill a dream, wants to learn a new skill and hobby that makes them happy or rekindle something that you made a career of but had to stop due to unforeseen circumstances. Or even all three, speaking from personal experience. It is also hard to resist seeing a film centered around anything to do with 'The Nutcracker', one of the greatest ballets ever written with a fantastic story and even better music.

Have said more than once about Hallmark's Christmas output being hit and miss. 'A Nutcracker Christmas' is one of the hits. It's not mind-blowing amazing and some of the storytelling is easy to criticise. It does compare very favourably when it comes to ranking Hallmark's output and was executed in a way that did connect with me. So 'A Nutcracker Christmas' came over as a quite good film that far from wastes its great premise while falling short of greatness.

Could it have been better? Sure. Will agree that some of the storytelling is contrived, such as the complete out of the blue and rushed 180 attitude towards nepotism (especially when a big thing was made of it beforehand).

While 'A Nutcracker Christmas' is always pleasant and never offensive, there is very little that's unique here and it does feel too safe. It is basically your standard reconnection story with a small twist. Occasionally the dialogue is awkward.

On the other hand, 'A Nutcracker Christmas' has a lot done right. The scenery has a lovely atmosphere and is attractive to look at. The photography is never drab or garish and always looks slick and never ugly, enhancing the beauty of the scenery and decor. As well as showing how truly graceful and magical dancing is. The music evoked a lot of emotion and fits beautifully in tone and placement, one of the few Hallmark Christmas films where the music wasn't a problem. The dancing is both athletic and graceful and the choreography left me transfixed.

Likewise with the final 20 minutes, which was charming and moving. As well as different for a Hallmark Christmas film. The dialogue on the whole avoids cheese and schmaltz and while the story isn't flawless it has a warm heart and doesn't get too heavy. It is also inspiring and realistically shows dedication, determination and how difficult it can be behind the scenes. The reconnection part of the story is handled nicely. The characters were to me worth caring for and Amy Acker and Sophia Lucia give particularly appealing performances.

Quite good on the whole as said if not great. 7/10.

What can be said is Hallmark produces quality movies. I am new to the Hallmark Christmas movies and holidays in general, but most are very good.

This movie is no exception and I dare say exceptional. It's about love; love of dance and specifically ballet. The story revolves around two people who are torn by a tragedy and lose themselves, lose hope and lose each other. Through events, they meet 8 years later but can they come together and succeed where they once failed? Is a second chance at ballet, a second chance at love possible, and will they take that chance again? We know this is a Christmas movie, but it is excellent and well acted. It has dance scenes and well choreographed moves, at least to the untrained eye. I must give this movie a 10 out of 10. The characters are well played and the story in engaging. MUST SEE and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

It would take a lot to dislodge in my memory the Anne Bancroft/Shirley MacLaine portrayal of how the passion to dance opened a grand story line about deep wounds and profound regrets--life altering critical decisions. Turning Point had an indefinable sharpness and very raw edge to every part of the story line, including sub-plots. A Nutcracker Christmas doesn't even begin to shadow a remake, if that was even subliminally intended. BUT, it's almost as difficult to conceive that Hallmark would actually have the foresight to mount a production of this type. It's not quite as predictable--oh, there's still the boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl in the end--but it just didn't seem as saccharin to me as most of all other Hallmark movies. It would certainly be nice if they could branch out and come up with story lines set in other disciplines of the arts. Find some better script writers who knew what they were doing and then casting appropriately. Also, it was disappointingly lacking in the actual on-stage dancing. I'm reminded of Clare Peller's line: "Where's the Beef"? Except in this case it should be "Where's the dancing?"

This was one of the most entertaining Hallmark Christmas movies. Lily and Mark dance magically together to The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Sadie dances superbly. Beautiful story, excellent ballet dancing and sets. I will watch this movie over and over.

Headlined by Amy Acker as a ballerina who must face several emotional challenges, A Nutcracker Christmas unfolds as most popular Christmas movies with the rather superior inclusion of actual extended choreographed dance scenes. Unlike the more cult-following ice skating romance feature, The Cutting Edge (1992), a considerable amount of effort as well as physical performance undertaking was required and included in A Nutcracker Christmas with Amy Acker having plenty of opportunity to actually dance. One must assume that an actual Nutcracker cast was used for the last portion of the rousing classic ballet performances. This normally enjoyable romance Holiday movie has the added bonus of its wonderful artistic performances.