Film
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
- Director
- Lasse Hallström, Joe Johnston
- Certificate
- PG
- Running Time
- 99 mins
A pink-haired Keira Knightley is the Sugar Plum Fairy in Disney’s lavish ‘reimagining’ of the ETA Hoffman story and Tchaikovsky ballet. The House of Mouse is no doubt hoping that the box office receipts from this one will pay for plenty of Christmas cheese, even though it’s a rare Disney live-action project that isn’t derived from one of the studio’s own animated hits.
The tweaked story has Clara (Mackenzie Foy, of Interstellar fame) dispatched on a magical journey through the CGI-enhanced four realms (The Land of Snowflakes, Land of Flowers, Land of Sweets and the Fourth Realm occupied by villainous Helen Mirren) in search of a maguffin. The cast also includes Richard E. Grant as the Snow Realm King, Morgan Freeman as Drosselmeyer and Miranda Hart as the Dew Drop Fairy. Ballet star Misty Copeland has been drafted in for the hoofing. Although Lasse Hallström directed much of this, Joe (Captain America) Johnston was drafted in for reshoots, suggesting that the production hasn’t been entirely plain sailing.
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
