Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky created a ballet called The Nutcracker way back in 1892. Since then there have been a few zillion movies and an equal number of plays have been made with the same name and definitely the same or similar stories. This time around a director with an equally complicated sounding name as the creator has decided to give us the first 3D version of this famed ballet. He goes by the name of Andrey Konchalovskiy. Have we heard of this guy before? Yep. He would be the same guy who gave us those epic movies that we grew up with called “Homer and Eddie” and “Tango and Cash”. He has just added an “i” to his name which hasn’t really helped much. Surely he must go back to the numerologist who advised him to add this to his name to get his money back (Do they have money back guarantees on numerology?)
For those who are unfamiliar with the story of the Nutcracker it is about this teenage girl called Mary (Elle Fanning – yep she is Dakota’s younger sister who is a bit grown up) who is tormented most of the time by her younger brother Max (Aaron Michael Drozin) who breaks up most of her toys. Her parents (Richard E. Grant & Yuliya Vysotskaya – whats with all these tongue twisters???) don’t spend too much time with the kids really parenting. But they care a lot about their children to ensure that the kids have all the comforts in the world including a huge house replete with butlers and a nanny Frau Eva (Frances de la Tour). All seems to be well at the household till one evening around Christmas the children’s godfather, Uncle Albert (Nathan Lane) – an Albert Einstein look alike with an accent that would put most German’s to shame – comes over to give the kids Christmas gifts. He gives Mary a special wooden toy called the Nutcracker whose basic utility as the name suggests is to crack nuts. But it turns out that the toy is a very special one and is actually a Prince (Charlie Rowe) whose country has been taken over by the evil Rat King (John Turturro) and his mother, the Rat Queen (Frances de la Tour – again) who want to “RATtify” the whole world. It is now upto Mary to save the country from being converted to Rats.
The Nutcracker 3D is a fantasy. You must be aware of the love that I have for fantasies as a genre of movies but this one is very honestly not too well executed. I am sure it had the capabilities of becoming a huge hit but the 3D effects are bad and the acting very average. The special effects without the 3D seem to be quite good and the tongue twister director is able to generate excitement about the concept. However, fantasies are expected to be significantly larger than life and that doesn’t quite come through in the final product. Having said that, it would go well with kids because of the entire concept of fairies and flying and talking chimpanzees and jokers and Christmas trees that grow huge overnight etc. etc. etc. Watch it for your kids if you must. 5 on 10 is my verdict. Have seen many better fantasy movies.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3906472217/
For those who are unfamiliar with the story of the Nutcracker it is about this teenage girl called Mary (Elle Fanning – yep she is Dakota’s younger sister who is a bit grown up) who is tormented most of the time by her younger brother Max (Aaron Michael Drozin) who breaks up most of her toys. Her parents (Richard E. Grant & Yuliya Vysotskaya – whats with all these tongue twisters???) don’t spend too much time with the kids really parenting. But they care a lot about their children to ensure that the kids have all the comforts in the world including a huge house replete with butlers and a nanny Frau Eva (Frances de la Tour). All seems to be well at the household till one evening around Christmas the children’s godfather, Uncle Albert (Nathan Lane) – an Albert Einstein look alike with an accent that would put most German’s to shame – comes over to give the kids Christmas gifts. He gives Mary a special wooden toy called the Nutcracker whose basic utility as the name suggests is to crack nuts. But it turns out that the toy is a very special one and is actually a Prince (Charlie Rowe) whose country has been taken over by the evil Rat King (John Turturro) and his mother, the Rat Queen (Frances de la Tour – again) who want to “RATtify” the whole world. It is now upto Mary to save the country from being converted to Rats.
The Nutcracker 3D is a fantasy. You must be aware of the love that I have for fantasies as a genre of movies but this one is very honestly not too well executed. I am sure it had the capabilities of becoming a huge hit but the 3D effects are bad and the acting very average. The special effects without the 3D seem to be quite good and the tongue twister director is able to generate excitement about the concept. However, fantasies are expected to be significantly larger than life and that doesn’t quite come through in the final product. Having said that, it would go well with kids because of the entire concept of fairies and flying and talking chimpanzees and jokers and Christmas trees that grow huge overnight etc. etc. etc. Watch it for your kids if you must. 5 on 10 is my verdict. Have seen many better fantasy movies.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3906472217/
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