“The Nutcracker” has been adapted so many times into various formats over the years that it’s almost shocking that it took this long to find its way back into theatres in 3D. With every film trying to balance it’s budget by being released in 3D, even if it wasn’t shot in the format and is merely a cheap conversion, it shouldn’t be all surprising that The Nutcracker in 3D would be hitting theatres right in time for the holidays. It’s also not too surprising that this version of it seems like a cash-in on the 3D craze because that’s exactly what it is: a cheap stunt of a film designed to cash in on the elevated box offices of the third dimension.
Based off both the play and the story of the same name, the film centers around a precocious child named Mary (Elle Fanning) who falls into a war between rats and their king (John Turturro) against the toys and their prince, the Nutcracker (Max Rowe). He likes to go by “NC,” to keep it hip apparently, and appears as both an animated nutcracker as well as a young child throughout the film based on circumstance. As the Rat King kidnaps the young Prince for an execution, it’s up to Mary and her newfound toy friends to rescue him and save the day from the evil rats and thus save the world.
The concept behind “The Nutcracker” is supposed to be one of an epic, imaginative tale from a young girl’s imagination about the fight of good and evil. The rats are clad in pseudo-Nazi gear, looking like they’re about to invade Poland, while the toys are normal human beings in rags out of a Dickens novel. It doesn’t get more polarizing than that and it’s a nice touch in a way; it’s easily identifiable and keeps in line with stage productions, et al, that the film cribs from significantly. This film is well aware of the history behind “The Nutcracker” and doesn’t stray too far from the source material in terms of story and structure.
And that’s kind of the problem: The Nutcracker in 3D doesn’t have any emotional power or dramatic heft to it. At best the film becomes an interesting viewing, if only because this is what the ballet could look like if given a lot of money and a couple notable stars scattered throughout. The $90 million of production costs was well spent because this is a beautiful-looking film and it shows on the screen; there’s a hint of magic in the air as the film begins as the film has some luscious cinematography to feast on. If one were to eliminate the dialogue and make this a film about grand sequences and music, The Nutcracker in 3D would be an aesthetic’s dream. And that’s kind of a problem considering that there’s nothing beyond that.
When the film has to actually engage with characters, instead of merely be a visual feast, it gets to be remarkably tedious. Perhaps easier to do with a ballet, which requires different things in story-telling than a movie does, The Nutcracker 3D tries to use that similar manner of story-telling in a cinematic manner in a cinematic format. While the setting and CGI has certainly developed the look of it significantly further than a staged performance could, the rest of the play hasn’t been developed accordingly. With wafer-thin characters, and what’s really a two act story being put into three, there isn’t anything to lure you in besides the visual artistry. This is a film that needs the viewer to get behind the toys and root against the rats but doesn’t do anything to really deserve it; it’s easy to give us pseudo-Nazis and merely point to them as bad guys. Beyond their physical appearance there isn’t much to root against, nor is there much to root for with Mary and the toys. The film’s climatic finale feels perfunctory and doesn’t have a grand purpose, other than for closure, and thus leaving the finale a bit anti-climatic.
Setting up in a platform release by starting with a limited release, the intent behind The Nutcracker in 3D is to develop a word of mouth to build buzz for the film. The only buzz that should be emanating from it is a foul one because it’s one of the worst films of the year.
Director: Andrey Konchalovskiy
Notable Cast: Ellen Fanning, Nathan Lane, John Turturro, Charlie Rowe, Shirley Henderson
Writer(s): Andrey Konchalovskiy and Chris Solimine based off of “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” by E.T.A Hoffman and “The Nutcracker” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
