This movie has a few redeeming qualities. The effects are decent, the visuals are impressive, and most of the adult actors play their part well. The story, though convoluted and somewhat confusing, isn't particularly boring, and for the most part manages to keep the audience interested.
But, with that said, these still do little to salvage the film.
This movie is perhaps the most cruel, bad-taste, tone-deaf film I have ever seen in my life, mixing a distorted version of the Nutcracker story with allegories to Nazi Germany, genocide, and the Holocaust. The antagonist Rat King and his rat soldiers wear Nazi-style uniforms and proclaim the foundation of a "thousand-year empire" - an obvious allegory to Adolf Hitler's "thousand-year Reich".
But the Nazi-esque rat imagery isn't a simple "bad guy" motif. No, they go the whole way and have the Rat King declares that, in due time, he will exterminate all non-rats and toys as part of his "RATification" policy (again, an obvious reference to the "Final Solution").
And if that wasn't bad enough, the Nazi rats actually round up toys by the thousands, pile them in the city square, and burn them in ovens - smokestacks, slave laborers and all - while dancing and singing to renditions of Tchaikovsky's music.
Talk about bad taste! I think my jaw hit the floor when I saw that scene! I've seen movies that are tone-deaf, but this is something on a whole different level!
And that's not to mention the other disturbing visuals, such as the rats ripping off someone's head and playing catch with it, or the grotesque rat-teeth effects (which would surely frighten any young child unfortunate enough to watch this film) or the fact that one of the main protagonists has a disturbing and borderline-psychotic habit of breaking and burning toys for no discernable reason.
Way too dark and way too disturbing for any kid's movie - let alone a Christmas movie and especially the Nutcracker story.
In short, "Nutcracker: The Untold Story" should have really stayed true to its name and remained untold.
But, with that said, these still do little to salvage the film.
This movie is perhaps the most cruel, bad-taste, tone-deaf film I have ever seen in my life, mixing a distorted version of the Nutcracker story with allegories to Nazi Germany, genocide, and the Holocaust. The antagonist Rat King and his rat soldiers wear Nazi-style uniforms and proclaim the foundation of a "thousand-year empire" - an obvious allegory to Adolf Hitler's "thousand-year Reich".
But the Nazi-esque rat imagery isn't a simple "bad guy" motif. No, they go the whole way and have the Rat King declares that, in due time, he will exterminate all non-rats and toys as part of his "RATification" policy (again, an obvious reference to the "Final Solution").
And if that wasn't bad enough, the Nazi rats actually round up toys by the thousands, pile them in the city square, and burn them in ovens - smokestacks, slave laborers and all - while dancing and singing to renditions of Tchaikovsky's music.
Talk about bad taste! I think my jaw hit the floor when I saw that scene! I've seen movies that are tone-deaf, but this is something on a whole different level!
And that's not to mention the other disturbing visuals, such as the rats ripping off someone's head and playing catch with it, or the grotesque rat-teeth effects (which would surely frighten any young child unfortunate enough to watch this film) or the fact that one of the main protagonists has a disturbing and borderline-psychotic habit of breaking and burning toys for no discernable reason.
Way too dark and way too disturbing for any kid's movie - let alone a Christmas movie and especially the Nutcracker story.
In short, "Nutcracker: The Untold Story" should have really stayed true to its name and remained untold.