The Nutcracker in 3D (released on DVD as The Nutcracker: The Untold Story) is a 2009 British-Hungarian 3D Christmas musical fantasy film adapted from the ballet The Nutcracker, directed by Andrei Konchalovsky. It stars Elle Fanning, Nathan Lane, and John Turturro with Charles Rowe and Shirley Henderson as the Nutcracker. It was met with universally negative reviews from critics upon its release, and was a box office bomb, losing the studio $81 million.
The Nutcracker in 3D | |
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Directed by | Andrei Konchalovsky |
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Screenplay by |
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Based on | The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E.T.A. Hoffman (uncredited) |
Starring |
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Music by | Eduard Artemyev |
Cinematography | Mike Southon |
Edited by |
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Running time | 110 minutes |
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Language | English Hungarian |
Budget | $90 million |
Box office | $16.2 million |
Screenplay
This article needs an improved plot summary. (October 2015) |
Mary's (Elle Fanning) seemingly dull Christmas is suddenly filled with excitement and adventure following the arrival of her Uncle Albert (Nathan Lane), who gives her a Nutcracker as a gift. Later that night, Mary dreams that the Nutcracker – called N.C. (Charlie Rowe) – comes to life and takes her on a wondrous journey. They discover that the Nazi-like Rat King (John Turturro) has usurped the Nutcracker's kingdom.
When Mary and N.C. go to the top of the Christmas tree, they meet a fairy and, as she begins to sing, N.C. looks at his hand, as it begins to turn human. Worried about this he runs into the sleigh, but leaves his human hand revealed, and Mary sees this. Mary, seeing this, goes to N.C. and rubs his hand as we see that he is in fact a human crying with tears of joy that he is human again. The snow fairy begins to sing and toys appear and begin to ice skate around the tree.
N.C. takes Mary to the top to show her his city. The two come up with a plan to shut down the smoke factory. Suddenly N.C. is starting to turn back in to a doll. Then the tree is shaking and Mary falls off, only to awake to being in her room.
Mary trys to tell her mother and farther about it but they think she is not telling the truth. Later on in the movie N.C appears to have been killed, but Mary's tears and declaration of love restore him to life and transforms him into a prince, his true form. The rats are all defeated and overthrown, but now Mary must reluctantly awaken from her dream. Before she's fully awake, N.C. promises that they'll meet again. After she does so, she goes to Uncle Albert's workshop, where she meets his new young neighbor, who is the exact image of the Nutcracker Prince and who asks to be called N.C. The two become close friends, and the last shot of the film shows them ice skating together.
- On screen
- Elle Fanning as Mary
- Nathan Lane as Uncle Albert
- John Turturro as Rat King
- Charlie Rowe as N.C. / The Prince
- Frances de la Tour as Frau Eva / Rat Queen
- Aaron Michael Drozin as Max
- Richard E. Grant as Mary's father
- Julia Vysotskaya as The Snow Fairy / Mary's mother
- Jonathan Coyne as Gnomad
- Peter Elliott and Daniel Peacock as Gielgud
- Africa Nile as Sticks
- Hugh Sachs as Tinker
- Richard Philipps as Dr. Freud
- Fernanda and Kriszta Dorogi as Dr. Freud's nieces
- Stuart Hopps as butler / The Rat Queen's servant
- Attila Kalmár as Screech the Bat-Rat
- Ferenc Elek as Lethal the Bat-Rat
- Dániel Mogács as Trolley Bus Orchestra conductor
- Andrea Tallós as Nervous Lady Rat
- György Honti as Rat Captain
- Péter Takátsy as Proud Rat Shoulder
- Barna Ilyes as Slave
- Lilla Károlyi as Little Girl
- Verner Gresty as Little Girl's Father
- Béla Gados, Jácint Hergenröder, Zoltán Hetényi, László Keszég, Gyula Kormos, Ferenc Kovács, Zsolt Sáfár Kovács, Krisztina Moskovits, Gábor Nagypál as the Rat Soldiers
- Voice roles
- Shirley Henderson as the voice of the Nutcracker
- Alan Cox as the voice of Gielgud
- Robert Creighton as the voice of Screech the Bat-Rat
- Jason Harris Katz as the voice of Lethal
Development
Director Konchalovsky stated that the film had been his "dream project" for over 20 years. He was inspired to adapt it into 3D for several reasons; he believed that the format would be useful in conveying the fantastical nature of the material, capturing the emotions of CGI characters, and appealing to a family audience. At the same time, he opted to adapt it with no ballet sequences because, according to him, "ballet cannot work in cinema very well."
Konchalovsky gave the rats who try to take over the fantasy kingdom Nazi-like qualities in his production, one of the many elements in the adaptation which alienated both critics and audiences.
Filming
The film was announced at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and principal photography took place primarily in Budapest, Hungary that summer, before the set was moved to the Stern Film Studio in Pomáz.
Soundtrack
The film's score is derived from Tchaikovsky's original music for The Nutcracker, the ballet version of the E.T.A. Hoffmann story, and lyricist Tim Rice wrote lyrics for it. Many of the songs are based on the ballet's dances. Others are based on Tchaikovsky's other compositions, such as his Symphony No. 5.
The film was first screened at the European Film Market on 5 February 2009. It was released in Hungary on 8 December 2012 and United Kingdom on 28 December 2012.
Box office
The film brought in a total of $16,178,959 worldwide, making it a box office bomb with a loss of $73,821,041.
Critical reaction
Upon its release in North America, the film was widely panned by critics. It managed a 0% "rotten", or 2.8/10 rating, on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 28 critics' reviews. The site's consensus was: "Misguided, misconceived, and misbegotten on every level, The Nutcracker in 3D is a stunning exercise in astonishing cinematic wrong-headedness." It achieved a score of 18/100 "overwhelming dislike" on fellow aggregate Metacritic. Metacritic would later rank it the "Worst Limited Release" film of 2010. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it one out of four stars and asked, "From what dark night of the soul emerged the wretched idea for The Nutcracker in 3D?" Ebert went on to claim it as "One of those rare holiday movies that may send children screaming under their seats."
Claudia Puig of USA Today accused the film of being "contrived, convoluted, amateurish and tedious," and panned it for lacking any trace of ballet, unlike several previous versions of The Nutcracker. Entertainment Weekly reviewer Lisa Schwarzbaum gave it its only positive review from a professional film critic, awarding it a B+ and remarking "Attention, university film clubs: Here's your cult-ready midnight-movie programming."
Ceremony | Category | Recipients | Outcome |
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Worst Limited Release Film of 2010 | The Nutcracker in 3D | Won | |
Worst Eye Gouging Misuse of 3D | The Nutcracker in 3D | Nominated | |
Best Young Actress | Elle Fanning | Nominated |
- List of biggest box office bombs
- The Nutcracker