The Nutcracker and The Four Realms

The Nutcracker and The Four Realms

The film opens with Clara and her younger brother in the attic experimenting on Christmas Eve. This is the Hoffmann’s first Christmas without their mother who passed away, which makes it a very hard time for the family because Christmas was their mother’s favorite time of the year. Their father is doing the best he can during this Holiday season to make the kids happy and continue their traditions. Before their mother passed away she had chosen gifts to give the children on Christmas Eve, the eldest daughter received one of her mother’s favorites gowns, the younger brother received toys but Clara received a beautiful egg shaped music box that had a key hole but no key. This movie doesn’t wait around to get into the adventure, I enjoyed that the movie started off exciting and maintained that excitement throughout the movie.

Due to Clara’s cleverness and determination she figures out who might have the key. Clara and her family go to a Christmas party where everyone dances and celebrates the holiday. Later in the night all the kids are to find their Christmas present by following gold thread throughout the entire house. I enjoyed this part of the movie because it kept you wondering and engaged with the film while Clara is exploring the house. Clara is lead to a dark hallway which then leads into the four realms. This is where she finds herself and also discovers her mother’s secret of being the Queen of the four realms.

When she enters the magical and mysterious new world she meets a Nutcracker soldier named Phillip, a mouse and the three Realm regents. The Nutcracker soldier helps Clara chase after the mouse that has stolen the key to her egg shaped music box so she can unlock it. Little does Clara know the key has more power than just that. The Sugar Plum Fairy shows Clara around the castle and expresses how they need her help to fix the Engine, Clara’s mothers invention to change toys into humans. The missing piece to the machine is the lost key. Clara adventures out to find the missing key so she can return harmony to this new world.

Overall, I enjoyed the film. From the characters to the wardrobe and the special effects, everything was magical. Throughout the film I noticed how they incorporated a whimsical theatre feel by having the characters portray a prim and proper ballet feel when they walked, talked and danced. Lastly, the story sends a positive message to children or families that watch this. While Clara is going through a hard time due to the passing of her mom she almost felt lost and she felt that she needed to be like her sister girly and proper. The film allows Clara to become this great leader that is completely different from anyone else which is okay. Clara shows that it is okay to be different and to embrace who you are.

Video:

The Nutcracker is presented in 2160p Ultra High Definition Widescreen which is also considered 4K Ultra HD. This video quality transferred seamlessly, without issues or problems. It is also presented in Blu-ray which is 1080p High Definition which also transferred really good without issues or problems.

Audio:

The audio is presented in two ways depending on the DVD. In the 4K video the audio is presented in 2.0 Descriptive Audio and in Blu-ray it is presented 7.1 DTS-HDMA. Both audios sound great and makes you feel as if you are experiencing everything with Clara.

Features:

Some cool extras on the Blu-ray disc that I really enjoyed. These special features are great if you are really into the Nutcracker ballet because they give some behind the scenes of what goes on when producing something theatrical like this movie.

• On Pointe: Misty Copeland
• Unwrapping The Nutcracker and The Four Realms
• Deleted Scenes
• Music Videos: “Fall On Me” by Andrea Bocelli ft. Matteo Bocelli “The Nutcracker Suite” by Lang Lang
• Sneak Peek into Disney’s new Dumbo movie