The Nutcracker: The Untold Story
Deadline reports that the script is by Darren Lemke (Lost, Jack the Giant Killer, Shrek Forever After) and that his script uses the 1815 story by E.T.A Hoffman, The Nutcracker and the Rat King, as the primary source. That was the inspiration for the libretto for the famous Tchaikovsky ballet, and because it is a children's story from 1815, it is a little bit crazy, too. But not quite as crazy as the 3D realization from last year. (Again: see The Nutcracker: The Untold Story.)
The Nutcracker: The Untold Story
Peter Hartlaub is The San Francisco Chronicle's culture critic and co-founder of Total SF. The Bay Area native, a former Chronicle paperboy, has worked at The Chronicle since 2000. He covers Bay Area culture, co-hosts the Total SF podcast and writes the archive-based Our SF local history column. Hartlaub and columnist Heather Knight co-created the Total SF podcast and event series, engaging with locals to explore and find new ways to celebrate San Francisco and the Bay Area.
From the imagination of acclaimed Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky, the cherished story of The Nutcracker will be brought to life in spectacular 3D this holiday season. THE NUTCRACKER IN 3D follows nine-year-old Mary (Elle Fanning) whose dull Viennese Christmas is suddenly filled with excitement and adventure following the arrival of her beloved Uncle Albert (Nathan Lane) and his gift of an enchanted nutcracker.
Based on the story that inspired acclaimed Russian composer Piotr Tchaikovsky to create the music for the iconic ballet, the film includes eight exciting new songs penned by Oscar-winning lyricist and librettist Sir Tim Rice (The Lion King, Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar).
Widely considered to be one of the worst The Nutcracker adaptations of all time, The Nutcracker: The Untold Story attempts to weave a Christmas tale with persecution, genocide, and the Nazi regime. The whimsical story of a girl stumbling upon a magical dreamland is instead traded for a Rat King whose goal is to oppress children.
With a stunning 0% on the review-aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, the film is largely despised by both audiences and critics alike. While the interpretation of the film is undoubtedly unique, nobody wants to see one of the darkest parts of human history combined with a magical fairytale.
The orphan children find holiday cheer in a Christmas tree they name Mrs. Hopewell, but Mavilda threatens to cut it down. Throughout the story, the special also features odd jump cuts in its animation, voice actors who misread their lines, and a random side plot about one of the children getting lost. For a story that seems relatively simple, the end product is a jumbled mess.
In this bizarre spin-off of the Air Bud franchise, The Search for Santa Paws combines an unfocused plot with awkward CGI talking animals. Despite what should seem like a charming holiday movie for children, the story is oddly depressing. After a stuffed dog named Paws is brought to life, he gets lost in a New York City orphanage.
While Grumpy Cat may have been an internet meme that was amusing for a bit, it definitely isn't a strong enough concept to warrant a feature-length film. Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever has minimal effort in its storytelling and relies entirely on people's love for a passing online craze.
Alexandra Phillips is a freelance and full-time writer for entertainment and business news. She is an avid fan animation, but since she has debatable talent with a sketchbook, she hopes to make her mark through her love of storytelling.
The film, which felt to be around five hours long, opens with the young Mary (Elle Fanning), who decides to start writing a Christmas card to her father but is interrupted when her brother begins burning an ornament, because he is apparently the Christmas version of Sid from Toy Story except less creepy and more of just an annoying child who has no place in this story. Mary is sad because her parents are leaving on Christmas Eve to do whatever it is that rich couples do in family films to leave their rich children in incredibly expensive adventurous mansions. Enter Albert Einstein (Nathan Lane, sporting a horrible wig and tragically trying way too hard), who has literally no reason for being in the movie as a character, brings the children a large dollhouse with dolls that each have their own little story and will probably be characters later in the movie (spoiler alert! They do!). He gives the children the Nutcracker doll (because a movie based on the original story legally has to include the actual Nutcracker) and sings a song about relativity. This is approximately fifteen minutes into the movie.
Battements become backspins in this revamped ballet, which takes Tchaikovsky and Hoffman to 1980s Brooklyn. The traditional score may be accompanied by a DJ, an electric violinist, and even legendary MC Kurtis Blow, but the story and the holiday spirit remain the same. 041b061a72