Alright, controversial opinion time: I actually really liked the movie. I mean, a lot. The performances, especially from John Turturro as the Rat King who is clearly having a ball playing this part, and Elle Fanning as always does a pretty good job. The movie would completely fall apart if anyone else were cast in the role.
The special effects are done I think the right way; lots of CGI, lots of practical effects, often working in conjunction, and the $90 million budget shows.
Now, yes, this is a musical. Based on the tunes of the Nutcracker, as well as other pieces from Tchaikovsky (the theme for the Rats, for instance, came from Symphony No.5, for example). Roger Ebert criticized this in his review, even though this is hardly the first time something like this has been done. Disney’s Sleeping Beauty did it, for Pete’s sake. The songs, I’ll it, are a weakness on the film. Not because they’re bad, necessarily; the lyrics were written by Tim Rice of Lion King fame; he’s no slouch in songwriting. My problem is, they’re too short! I think the longest sing is only just below two minutes. The best songs, to me, are the ones John Turturro sings. It’s not everyday you see a musical where The Jesus sings a song hering in a “Stygian era”, backed by the Dance of the Mirlitons–in Dixieland jazz style. Odd, but Dixieland jazz suits the Rat King’s character. Then you have his second song, the tune from Symphony No.5 remixed into a dramatic bombastic military march, fitting for a scene which is essentially a Nazi rally.
Yeaaaaaaaah. Let’s address the elephant in the room. Yep. The Rats are Nazis. They changed all the symbols to suit them being rats, but they’re so obviously Nazis. And they don’t sugarcoat a single thing about what the Nazis did. Oh yeah, they go the full monty, and address the Holocaust.The Holocaust. In a family picture. In general, the film, once the Rats show up, it becomes a completely different movie. Much darker, bleaker; more like a Grimm fairy tale than anything like the Nutcracker ballet.
And now, I’ve got the impossible task of defending why the Nazis and the Holocaust works in this movie. Hoo boy. Here goes.
The film is set in the 1930s, in Vienna , no doubt before the Nazi Party rose to power. The main character, Mary, dreaming of an evil bunch that are obviously Nazis, I think Mary was having a prophetic dream about the dark times to come–and how, even in the face of such great evil, light and goodness will still triumph.
The Grimm fairy tale comparison was made earlier for a reason. The original story that the Nutcracker ballet was based on, Nutcracker and Mouse King by E.T.A. Hoffmann, was the major inspiration on the movie. The book and the ballet are two very different creatures. The book is a much darker thing than the ballet it inspired. Now, a Grimm fairy tale, its major function, is not to entertain, but rather, to prepare children for the evils of the real world. I think the director/writer/producer, acclaimed Russian filmmaker Andrei Konchalovsky, was making a Grimm fairy tale for the modern age. An anti-totalitarian fable, with all the wrappings and trimmings of The Nutcracker.
Oh, and the Holocaust imagery? Very tame. The way Roger Ebert’s review made it sound, I imagined living breathing toys being shoved into the furnaces against their will. That’s NOT how it is in this movie. The toys are just plain old toys, not living breathing things. And I think the imagery is there for a grand total of five, ten minutes tops.
Forgive my long rambling essay post. I firmly believe the movie got a bum rap by critics who didn’t understand what it was trying to go for on a single viewing. Honestly, I see their confusion. My first time watching the film, I felt…complicated. “I don’t hate this like I thought I was going to. I’m just not sure what led to this movie being made in the first place.” It’s a bit of a steep request, but I implore anyone who is interested, buy the DVD or Blu-ray (it’ll be very cheap, I promise) and WATCH THE MAKING-OF. The Making-Of goes a long way towards explaining some of the more bizarre decisions made during the production, and makes sense of them. For example, in the climax is a pod-shaped helicopter-like flying machine, with mechanical chicken legs attached. Weird, right? Not only is the design taken directly from an actual helicopter design from the 1930s-40s, the chicken legs are a reference to the tale of Baba Yaga, another fairy tale.
I would give the film 7 out of 10, maybe 8 depending on my mood. It’s not a very typical Nutcracker adaptation in any way shape or form–but it’s a fine family film. As someone who misses when these family films could be dark, moody, even scary, that doesn’t talk down to its audience? It’s refreshing. Perfect? Hardly. The songs are too short and some of the lyrics are spotty. Some of the Prince’s aides, which are meant to be the comic relief, aren’t very funny. I like the chimpanzee butler, Gielgud, but the rest of them range from occasionally funny to…not very funny. The tone of the film might be too dark for some tastes, and I freely it, it’s not for everyone. I just implore the people who go to the stream, give it a chance. It just might be a pleasant surprise, like it was for me. No matter what you think, it sure as Hell is NOT a 0%. Worse than Eight Crazy Nights?! In what bull-cockamaymee world is that the case?
@Cyborg_pony
roger ebert hates this more than eight crazy nights. rotten tomatoes gave this movie an absolute zero percent. eight crazy nights has an actual score.
I HAVE NOT RECOVERED FROM THAT NIGHTMARE YET! I’M NOT REASY FOR A HELL LIKE THIS! good thing I’m not filling in tonight.
@Jarkes
i don’t even think livestream can do that unless the chat was being recorded. i can see if i can find anything though. also, when would you recommend to post? it makes more sense to me to post it an hour before. I can’t always get free time so it’s puts everything around me on a time crunch to get things out of the way before i can get ready for film nights.
You know, you have REALLY got to post these earlier than “1-2 hours before the stream starts.” Would give us a lot more time to prepare and know what’s coming in advance.
While you’re at it, try to fix the archiving system so that it actually keeps the chat from the stream, because archiving it without that makes archiving it pointless.
@Cyborg_pony
i’ve looked at the reviews. roger ebert hates this more than eight crazy nights. rotten tomatoes gave this movie an absolute zero percent. eight crazy nights has an actual score.
The special effects are done I think the right way; lots of CGI, lots of practical effects, often working in conjunction, and the $90 million budget shows.
Now, yes, this is a musical. Based on the tunes of the Nutcracker, as well as other pieces from Tchaikovsky (the theme for the Rats, for instance, came from Symphony No.5, for example). Roger Ebert criticized this in his review, even though this is hardly the first time something like this has been done. Disney’s Sleeping Beauty did it, for Pete’s sake. The songs, I’ll it, are a weakness on the film. Not because they’re bad, necessarily; the lyrics were written by Tim Rice of Lion King fame; he’s no slouch in songwriting. My problem is, they’re too short! I think the longest sing is only just below two minutes. The best songs, to me, are the ones John Turturro sings. It’s not everyday you see a musical where The Jesus sings a song hering in a “Stygian era”, backed by the Dance of the Mirlitons–in Dixieland jazz style. Odd, but Dixieland jazz suits the Rat King’s character. Then you have his second song, the tune from Symphony No.5 remixed into a dramatic bombastic military march, fitting for a scene which is essentially a Nazi rally.
Yeaaaaaaaah. Let’s address the elephant in the room. Yep. The Rats are Nazis. They changed all the symbols to suit them being rats, but they’re so obviously Nazis. And they don’t sugarcoat a single thing about what the Nazis did. Oh yeah, they go the full monty, and address the Holocaust. The Holocaust. In a family picture. In general, the film, once the Rats show up, it becomes a completely different movie. Much darker, bleaker; more like a Grimm fairy tale than anything like the Nutcracker ballet.
And now, I’ve got the impossible task of defending why the Nazis and the Holocaust works in this movie. Hoo boy. Here goes.
The film is set in the 1930s, in Vienna , no doubt before the Nazi Party rose to power. The main character, Mary, dreaming of an evil bunch that are obviously Nazis, I think Mary was having a prophetic dream about the dark times to come–and how, even in the face of such great evil, light and goodness will still triumph.
The Grimm fairy tale comparison was made earlier for a reason. The original story that the Nutcracker ballet was based on, Nutcracker and Mouse King by E.T.A. Hoffmann, was the major inspiration on the movie. The book and the ballet are two very different creatures. The book is a much darker thing than the ballet it inspired. Now, a Grimm fairy tale, its major function, is not to entertain, but rather, to prepare children for the evils of the real world. I think the director/writer/producer, acclaimed Russian filmmaker Andrei Konchalovsky, was making a Grimm fairy tale for the modern age. An anti-totalitarian fable, with all the wrappings and trimmings of The Nutcracker.
Oh, and the Holocaust imagery? Very tame. The way Roger Ebert’s review made it sound, I imagined living breathing toys being shoved into the furnaces against their will. That’s NOT how it is in this movie. The toys are just plain old toys, not living breathing things. And I think the imagery is there for a grand total of five, ten minutes tops.
Forgive my long rambling
essaypost. I firmly believe the movie got a bum rap by critics who didn’t understand what it was trying to go for on a single viewing. Honestly, I see their confusion. My first time watching the film, I felt…complicated. “I don’t hate this like I thought I was going to. I’m just not sure what led to this movie being made in the first place.” It’s a bit of a steep request, but I implore anyone who is interested, buy the DVD or Blu-ray (it’ll be very cheap, I promise) and WATCH THE MAKING-OF. The Making-Of goes a long way towards explaining some of the more bizarre decisions made during the production, and makes sense of them. For example, in the climax is a pod-shaped helicopter-like flying machine, with mechanical chicken legs attached. Weird, right? Not only is the design taken directly from an actual helicopter design from the 1930s-40s, the chicken legs are a reference to the tale of Baba Yaga, another fairy tale.I would give the film 7 out of 10, maybe 8 depending on my mood. It’s not a very typical Nutcracker adaptation in any way shape or form–but it’s a fine family film. As someone who misses when these family films could be dark, moody, even scary, that doesn’t talk down to its audience? It’s refreshing. Perfect? Hardly. The songs are too short and some of the lyrics are spotty. Some of the Prince’s aides, which are meant to be the comic relief, aren’t very funny. I like the chimpanzee butler, Gielgud, but the rest of them range from occasionally funny to…not very funny. The tone of the film might be too dark for some tastes, and I freely it, it’s not for everyone. I just implore the people who go to the stream, give it a chance. It just might be a pleasant surprise, like it was for me. No matter what you think, it sure as Hell is NOT a 0%. Worse than Eight Crazy Nights?! In what bull-cockamaymee world is that the case?
Now, let the “tl;dr” comments flow.
I HAVE NOT RECOVERED FROM THAT NIGHTMARE YET! I’M NOT REASY FOR A HELL LIKE THIS! good thing I’m not filling in tonight.
i don’t even think livestream can do that unless the chat was being recorded. i can see if i can find anything though. also, when would you recommend to post? it makes more sense to me to post it an hour before. I can’t always get free time so it’s puts everything around me on a time crunch to get things out of the way before i can get ready for film nights.
That bottle is too small.
Gonna need the strong stuff to forget this one.
The archiving system I believe is like that from how livestreamn does it, they can’t fix it.
While you’re at it, try to fix the archiving system so that it actually keeps the chat from the stream, because archiving it without that makes archiving it pointless.
i’ve looked at the reviews. roger ebert hates this more than eight crazy nights. rotten tomatoes gave this movie an absolute zero percent. eight crazy nights has an actual score.
make sure to bring your card board, ear slicing 3d glassses.