The Nutcracker (1993)

Hello & welcome back to our Christmas musical celebration here. Today, we are doing something a bit different.  Let me ask you,  conjure up an image of a Christmas time ballet and what comes to mind?  You most likely answered The Nutcracker and you'd be right.  Alright, one more question,  think of a Macaulay Culkin Christmas movie and what do you think of?

You most likely thought of Home Alone, right?  Well, three years after this movie was released, Culkin would star in a filmed production of The Nutcracker released by Warner Brothers Family Entertainment.   And now unlike some other oddball adaptions based on The Nutcracker....

(You would not believe how weird that one gets), this is more just a straightforward production of the famed ballet featuring Culkin at the height of his popularity in the titular role.  Having said that,  I will still briefly lookover the plot.



Narration


Narrator - Kevin Kline


Kline provides narration for this movie and I'm two minds about this as this is a ballet and the dance should tell the story but the same time, this is aimed at a younger audience.   Now, there is something else that needs to be brought up in regards to the narration.  You see, Culkin had a bit of a showbiz dad and his dad did not want the narration in the movie as he thought it would take away from his son being in the movie.

Narration recorded by Kevin Kline was a last-minute addition that was heavily protested by Macaulay Culkin's father, Kit Culkin, who vowed that his son would do no publicity for the movie until the narration was dropped. Reluctantly, producer Arnon Milchan dropped the narration to appease the Culkins. Kit Culkin then returned with a list of other demands which so incensed Milchan that he reinstated Kline's narration, losing the use of the Culkins' publicity.

Yeah,  that isn't too shocking if you much about how Culkin grew up. 




The Plot




This 1993  film adaption of The Nutcracker is based on George Balanchine's staging of The Ghostbusters in which the characters of The Nutcracker/Prince and Marie (Clara in the original) are played by children.  So, the dancing isn't as rigorous as other productions of The Nutcracker.   


Now, the plot here is what you would expect from a production of The Nutcracker but there are just some odd decisions here and there.   Such as The Rat King having multiple heads.

And something else that was kind of odd was that after this big battle, Marie faints and her bed flies her to the other land.   And this is perhaps one of the big issues with this version of The Nutcracker as The Rat King is taken out so early and that, when they meet up with The Sugar Plum Fairy, it becomes nothing more than a dance party after The Prince tells The Sugar Plum Fairy, what happened and afterwards living candies perform.   So, that does make it feel a little slow. Though, I do like how it ends with Marie and The Prince flying off in a sleigh.

You may have noticed that I'm not going much in-depth here, even though I am covering certain aspects of the film.  And that's in part because this production of The Nutcracker is rather simplistic.





Cast


The large group of the dancers came from The New York City Ballet.  This was Culkin's only onscreen ballet role.  And I'm not going to go into much detail here once again as the dancers put on a decent performance, save for Culkin. Who,I must agree with other reviewers that it felt as though,he was just a guest star.




Music



Once again,   I am using a a YouTube playlist as that is the easiest way to find all the music here.   And unlike our other reviews,  I won't be covering all the music.  That is the one huge aspect that everyone knows from The Nutcracker.     The music here was brought to life by the New York City Music Orchestra and Conductor, David Zinman.




The music here is given the respect that it deserves and is not dumbed down or watered down for the younger audience watching this movie.   And it works as a way to introduce children to a piece of classical music. 




My Final Thoughts

This movie,when it came out didn't receive get very good reviews. It was mixed at best and I can understand that as while the music wasn't watered down,  you could see that with the material. Even still, I think that this works as a perfectly serviceable introduction to The Nutcracker.  It may not be the best adaption but I think it is fun for young kids and if nothing else,  the music is always great.   Peace!