The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

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D82
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Re: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

Post by D82 »

I completely agree with both of your replies, Sotiris. As for that tagline, I'm sure they will say the same of Mary Poppins Returns too.

Here's the still version of the motion poster from Disney France: https://www.facebook.com/disneyfrance/p ... =3&theater
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Re: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

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Sotiris wrote:Disney's calling the film "The most magical movie event of the season". I'm surprised; I thought they were going to reserve that kind of claim for Mary Poppins Returns.
I wouldn't put too much weight into that. It's not like they're going to promote it as the second most magical movie event of the year.
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Re: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

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I decided to look at the other major studios' FYC websites in order to compare with Disney's.

Warner Brothers only has A Star is Born, Crazy Rich Asians and Ready Player One listed. No Smallfoot and Teen Titans Go! To The Movies, but WB still submitted those to the Best Animated Feature category.
Sony Pictures only has White Boy Rick and The Front Runner. I imagine they will add Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse later. Both that and Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation were submitted to Best Animated Feature.
Universal Pictures only lists First Man, The Grinch, Green Book and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.
20th Century Fox lists Bad Times at the El Royale, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Hate U Give and Widows.
Paramount Pictures has the loneliest awards website, with only A Quiet Place listed. Sherlock Gnomes was nonetheless submitted for the Best Animated Feature category.

Of course, this isn't even getting into the studios' arthouse and independent divisions (Sony Pictures Classics, Focus Features, Fox Searchlight), which have their own awards pages.

Since there's been some concern over Disney not listing Nutcracker on their FYC website, I wanted to show what other studios are focusing on in their awards pages. At the moment, Disney is actually the major studio with the most feature films included on their awards page.
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Re: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

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• New clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TTgeZjNjGQ

• More featurettes: • Several promos: • And scans from "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms Official Collector's Edition": http://mackenzie-foy.com/gallery/thumbn ... ?album=526

estefan wrote:I decided to look at the other major studios' FYC websites in order to compare with Disney's.
Good idea, estefan! It's interesting to see what the other studios are promoting to have a better perspective on how this works in the industry. Yes, Disney is not doing it too differently from the rest of studios.
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Re: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

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D82 wrote:More featurettes.
Misty Copeland is so sweet! She started welling up at the end. I hope this movie, and book, encourages little girls of color who wanted to become ballerinas but didn't think it was possible due to their race or skin color. Ballet has a history of racism and exclusion so having a Black ballerina in a mainstream, family film is a big deal. Hopefully, it will influence people's perception of what a ballerina can look like.
D82 wrote:Several promos.
I can't believe Mackenzie loves Atlantis: The Lost Empire! Way to go! :thumb: This girl is full of surprises.

Did they really need to promote the movie with The Real Housewives? :roll: It was so cringe-worthy and beneath the film's caliber.
D82 wrote:And scans from "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms Official Collector's Edition".
I didn't know Clara had an older sister named Louise and a younger bother named Fritz. I wonder why they weren't featured in any of the film's promotional material.
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Re: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

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Sotiris wrote:I hope this movie, and book, encourages little girls of color who wanted to become ballerinas but didn't think it was possible due to their race or skin color. Ballet has a history of racism and exclusion so having a Black ballerina in a mainstream, family film is a big deal. Hopefully, it will influence people's perception of what a ballerina can look like.
It's true, I don't remember having seen black ballerinas before. It's great that they've cast Misty for this role.
Sotiris wrote:I can't believe Mackenzie loves Atlantis: The Lost Empire! Way to go! :thumb: This girl is full of surprises.
That surprised me too. Atlantis is not one of my favorite Disney movies, but I liked she mentioned it because it's true that it's an underrated film.
Sotiris wrote:I didn't know Clara had an older sister named Louise and a younger bother named Fritz. I wonder why they weren't featured in any of the film's promotional material.
They appear in the trailers, but are only in the background. I didn't know Clara had an older sister either. I thought Ellie Bamber's character was a nanny or something. By the way, this character is a new addition, isn't it? If I'm not mistaken she doesn't have an older sister in the original story.
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Re: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

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D82 wrote:
Sotiris wrote:I didn't know Clara had an older sister named Louise and a younger bother named Fritz. I wonder why they weren't featured in any of the film's promotional material.
They appear in the trailers, but are only in the background. I didn't know Clara had an older sister either. I thought Ellie Bamber's character was a nanny or something. By the way, this character is a new addition, isn't it? If I'm not mistaken she doesn't have an older sister in the original story.
Louise was actually a character in the original story as was Fritz. Fritz is the one who breaks the Nutcracker's jaw. If I may make a recommendation for a film version of the Nutcracker that's somewhat close to the source material, it would be The Nutcracker Prince with the voices of Megan Follows, Keifer Sutherland, and Peter O'Toole. It's not a great version, but if you're looking for something that gives a general idea of what the original story was like before it became a ballet, that's the closest you can get.
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Re: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

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Tristy wrote:Louise was actually a character in the original story as was Fritz. Fritz is the one who breaks the Nutcracker's jaw. If I may make a recommendation for a film version of the Nutcracker that's somewhat close to the source material, it would be The Nutcracker Prince with the voices of Megan Follows, Keifer Sutherland, and Peter O'Toole. It's not a great version, but if you're looking for something that gives a general idea of what the original story was like before it became a ballet, that's the closest you can get.
So I actually rewatched this for the first time since childhood a few months ago and was absolutely shocked how lopsided the original story is. It’s 3/4 in the real world, and just a battle between the mouse king and nutcracker, and then the last quarter they go to the Nutcracker’s realm and adventure for a tiny bit before returning and Clara meeting Drosselmeyer’s nephew, aka the nutcracker as a human.

I find it funny that Disney has caught so much flack for altering the story so heavily, but if they hadn’t, there really wouldn’t be any story beyond what amounts to another toy room showdown between a nutcracker and mouse. The part everyone remembers and looks forward to are the adventuring in the Nutcracker’s worlds... the sugar plum fairy, the geese, the snowflakes, etc. That’s literally all I remember being excited about, and when I went back, I realized it was only the tiniest part of the story. Disney gets criticized way too heavily when they stick too close to the original or when they deviate too far. I get people loving the ballet, but if the ballet were straight up adapted into a movie, it would be just as wooden (pardon the pun) as The Nutcracker Prince movie. From what I’ve read, this may not be the most original new story they spun into it, but I’m glad they at least took a risk.

Either way, tomorrow night we’ll see reviews start rolling in. Also, for anyone who is interested, theaters are actually starting screenings Thursday at 6:00pm, instead of the regular 7:00/7:30pm showings.
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Re: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

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nomad2010 wrote:Also, for anyone who is interested, theaters are actually starting screenings Thursday at 6:00pm, instead of the regular 7:00/7:30pm showings.
I wish I could see it sooner, but my mom and I have tickets for Sunday at 12pm!!
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Re: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

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• A couple of articles: • New stills: • And images and interviews from the film's premiere:
Tristy wrote:Louise was actually a character in the original story as was Fritz. Fritz is the one who breaks the Nutcracker's jaw. If I may make a recommendation for a film version of the Nutcracker that's somewhat close to the source material, it would be The Nutcracker Prince with the voices of Megan Follows, Keifer Sutherland, and Peter O'Toole. It's not a great version, but if you're looking for something that gives a general idea of what the original story was like before it became a ballet, that's the closest you can get.
OK, thanks for clearing it up. I've never read the book, I just read a summary of the story on a website and there her little brother appeared, but not her sister. Thanks also for the recommendation. I almost watched that film on Youtube last Christmas after the teaser trailer of the Disney adaptation came out and I was curious to know the Nutcracker story. Finally I didn't do it then, but maybe I'll still watch it now before the film's release.
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Re: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

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Thanks for the pics and featurettes and articles D82 and Sotiris. And thanks for the info Tristy. And yeah nomad2010, Disney is probably making a more sense-making and interesting movie than the Nutcracker Prince and the original story.
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Re: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

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Music video of The Nutcracker Suite performed by pianist Lang Lang.
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Re: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

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D82 wrote:As we feared, the reviews are not good.
Ouch! Even the Grinch is taking a jab at it. I hope the movie fares better at the box office.
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Re: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

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Wow, the reviews are really bad. I knew they wouldn't be good but I thought they'd be more middling like Oz the Great and Powerful's. Even the few good ones aren't really that positive either lol.

A few of my favorites though.
This Nutcracker dies of asphyxiation after having the formula that once worked in Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland cynically shoved down its throat.
Is it possible for a film to be entirely composed of filler? Pick up those tickets to your local ballet show instead, and dodge this bullet of mediocrity while funding the (actual) arts.
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Re: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

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I saw it today. I was lucky this time; it was released in Spain even a bit earlier than domestically. I think it's an enjoyable movie; though like A Wrinkle in Time or Christopher Robin, it feels like a minor one. I liked Clara and the lessons she learns during the course of the film, and also Phillip. The rest of characters weren't bad either, but some could've been developed a little more. Visually, as expected, the movie was stunning. The story, however, was a bit predictable; or more than that, it felt like everything was too planned and not natural enough. In the third act things improved a bit. The villain twist is not something unexpected by now, but in my opinion it made the story more interesting on this occasion.

Regarding the faithfulness to the original materials, I didn't mind they took some liberties, but some new additions/changes didn't work in my opinion. The explanation for how Clara's mother created the realms (through "science", if I understood it well) wasn't believable. It would've been better if she had just discovered a magical world instead. And I would've liked they had kept the original ending with Philip being revealed as Drosselmeyer's nephew. I also think the movie would've benefited from a bit more runtime. Some characters didn't have enough screen time and I would've liked they had explored the realms a bit more.

Anyway, despite having several flaws, in my opinion the film is not as bad as critics say.
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Re: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

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Thanks for sharing your review! I wish you hadn't likened the film to A Wrinkle in Time and Christopher Robin though since I was not a fan of either of these two films and the former was a box office disaster while the latter was for all intents and purposes a flop. It doesn't help that I wasn't pleased with the takes on their respective source materials either, much like how I feel about Disney's take on The Nutcracker.

I was hoping that Clara's mother creating the realms would make more sense in the movie since I didn't really comprehend it from reading the book but I guess not. It can be difficult to merge science and magic and that's an issue I have with The Secret of NIMH as well which I could never get into despite the love it gets from almost everybody else.Can you confirm if there is or is not a relationship between Clara and Philip? I still find it suspicious that the first time that the male hero is black (or any person of color), the heroine does not engage in a romance. I've heard amazing things about Mackenzie Foy though so I'm glad you confirmed that.
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Re: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

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JeanGreyForever wrote:I wish you hadn't likened the film to A Wrinkle in Time and Christopher Robin though since I was not a fan of either of these two films and the former was a box office disaster while the latter was for all intents and purposes a flop.
Well, trying to be objective, I think this film is better than A Wrinkle in Time, but more or less on par with Christopher Robin.
JeanGreyForever wrote:Can you confirm if there is or is not a relationship between Clara and Philip?
I think they hinted at it a bit at times, but to me it seemed more a friendship than a romance.
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Re: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

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Honestly, I enjoyed the movie. Yes, it follows a similar fantasy story template as the likes of Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz and The Chronicles of Narnia (fitting since Joe Johnston is/was supposed to direct a Narnia movie at some point), which I think explains the critical dismissal. However, I'm not tired of the template and was able to be caught up in the film's magic. I thought the movie was visually stunning, although it's interesting how many reviews are dismissing the film's production design as a bunch of CGI when in actuality, a lot of the sets were physically built. That aspect gave the movie a very old-fashioned charm. It really struck me as the kind of fantasy movie MGM would have produced in the 1940s, although I imagine with more musical numbers for their contract stars to perform in. There are no song numbers here, but the two ballet sequences performed by Misty Copeland are excellent.

I thought the music was used excellently throughout the film and Keira Knightley is particularly having a ball of a time. I know some people were weirded out by her voice in the trailer, but her manner of speaking actually makes a lot more sense in context. The pacing is also really good. They get straight to the point and send Clara to these other worlds. Would I call it a great film? No. As I said, there is a fantasy film formula to it, although I appreciate they just straight up made Clara the Queen's daughter and avoided the whole "prophecy" angle so common in the genre lately. But I was utterly charmed by the film and smiled plenty of times.

Honestly, if you're interested in the movie, go see it and form your own opinion. This is just my own, but you may have your own thoughts. I hope it does well, although audiences may have more interest in The Grinch next week, holiday movie wise. I don't know how popular The Nutcracker is in the rest of the world, so maybe the international numbers will make the difference if the movie underperforms domestically.
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