Christmas Movie Mania: The Nutcracker Prince

Hey Guys!
Only 2 more weeks left before it’s finally Christmas. So it’s definitely time to check out some movies for the holidays. Today’s film, The Nutcracker Prince, is one of my childhood favourite. I’ve seen it so often, it’s a wonder the video cassette is still intact 😀

 

The Plot:
It’s Christmas time in Germany and the Clara and her brother receive the most wonderful gifts. Their slightly weird uncle Drosselmeier built a fully automated castle that is simply magical. However, for Clara he has one more thing in store: a nutcracker. Drosselmeier tells her a story about her gift: The Nutcracker is actually his nephew. The mouse queen cast a spell on him for saving the Princess Pirlipat from the mice.
However, it soon turns out that Drosselmeier wasn’t joking. The mouse king returns to kill the Nutcracker. In order to defeat him, Clara has to join forces with the Nutcracker in the land of dolls…

 

The Rating:
This relatively unknown animated movie features not only a famous story but also some pretty big names on the voice cast. Director Paul Schibli took ETA Hoffmann’s fairy-tale, mixed it with Tchaikovsky’s music and created something marvelous with Kiefer Sutherland, Peter O’Toole and many more joining the cast.
First of all, let me say that the animation itself is just wonderful. I’ve been fascinated by the design ever since I first saw this film. A very cute surprise is the story within the story. When Drosselmeier tells Clara about the evil Mouse King and Queen we basically get another fairy-tale but in a different design.
In general The Nutcracker Prince can be described as a heartwarming stories that will hold many surprises in store for you. Even if you already know about the nutcracker story or saw some other film about it, I promise that this one will stand out.
Not only is the animation stunning, it goes simply perfect with Tchaikovsky’s music. This is an amazing Christmas movie that not only children but also adults will enjoy!

It’s so sad that hardly anybody knows about this gem! Check it out, I promise you won’t regret it!

 

Did you see this film? Let me know in the comments what you think!