The Nutcracker and the Four Realms 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 19, 2019

Recently, Disney has made live-action adaptations of several of its classic and most cherished fairy tales (Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella) a staple of its film output. Directors Lasse Hallström and Joe Johnston's The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is another, but it's also distinct because, unlike the others, it was never an animated Disney tale (minus a segment in Fantasia), allowing, perhaps, greater liberties to be taken with the story without the shadow of a favorite animated Disney film hanging over the production. Indeed, the film doesn't allow tradition of any kind to interfere with its construction, refusing a straight retelling of the tale and instead bending components of both The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E.T.A. Hoffman and Tchaikovsky’s iconic ballet to its own whims, or perhaps better said into a colorful and visually dense but otherwise fairly rote and routine sight-and-sound film that is content to mooch off of other visually grandiose films and assemble a picture that perhaps more than any other epitomizes the idea of "style over substance."

Clara Stahlbaum (Mackenzie Foy) and her siblings Louise (Ellie Bamber) and Fritz (Tom Sweet) are preparing for their first Christmas since their mother's death. On Christmas eve, their father Benjamin (Matthew Macfadyen) gives each of them a gift their mother left for them. Clara receives a locked, silver egg. When the family leaves to attend a Christmas party at the home of a man named Drosselmeyer (Morgan Freeman), who is Clara's godfather, she approaches him, anxious to discover what her mother has given her, and why. Clara receives only a few words of wisdom but is given much more when she follows a trail towards her Christmas gift from Drosselmeyer which leads her out of the house and into a magical world known as “The Four Realms.” Clara quickly discovers that her late mother was queen of the land and that she is its princess. With the help of Captain Phillip Hoffman (Jayden Fowora-Knight), the Nutcracker, Clara must gather her inner strength to try and keep peace in the land and unite the kingdom under its four regents: The Sugar Plum Fairy (Keira Knightley), Mother Ginger (Helen Mirren), Hawthorne (Eugenio Derbez), and Shiver (Richard E. Grant).

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms constructs an interesting, if not immediately obviously unoriginal, mishmash of fantastical delights and plot contrivances and conveniences borrowed from and influenced by other, similar genre stories and films in which a character or characters suddenly appear in another world where down is up and the path back home is goes straight through some magical, dazzling, or otherwise (usually ridiculously colorful and weird) unfamiliar world populated by oddball characters. Much of the Four Realms is most obviously influenced by Tim Burton's vision for Alice in Wonderland, as are many of this film's essential plot points. Components from The NeverEnding Story, The Wizard of Oz, and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe are all in evidence. Though by bullet point the film may claim to be original, it's unmistakably, at the macro level, a colorful and cool yet clearly crude and calculated reshaping of been-there-done-that story points and visual stylings.

Ultimately, the film boils down to telling a story of a girl coming to terms with her mother's death. The plot revolves around an egg that her mother left her and follows Clara's journey to discover its significance. One can probably guess with confidence what that significance is ultimately revealed to be considering that the film refuses to go anywhere or do anything beyond its embrace trite narrative details, but the balance between a personal, inward journey and the fantastical outer journey Clara takes throughout the film at least lends it a sense of purpose and proportion that perhaps the audience can get behind and cheer for. Clara's inner growth is not immediately obvious, but the film does outwardly depict her as more than capable -- she's a mechanical genius and, as she comes to learn, something of a tactician, too -- in an era when females were often considered incapable of performing tasks beyond gender-typical roles. The film makes no overt commentaries to that point but is a plainly defined characteristic that resonates throughout the film.

Costuming and set design are resplendent, and anything less from a major production of this scope and style would be a disservice to the audience at best and a death sentence for the film at worst. Victorian England is depicted as slightly dreary, seemingly in order to both emphasize the sorrow felt for Mrs. Stahlbaum's recent death and to better showcase the contrasting wonders and colors of The Four Realms, which is made from a seamless combination of practical set pieces and intricately detailed and effortlessly inserted digital backdrops, foreground constructs, and fully realized characters. Unfortunately, all of it -- even the film's lone ballet scene -- rings hollow, offering viewers a scrumptious outer shell with little substance inside. The filmmakers have carefully assembled the film's these-and-those tidbits but almost conveniently forget the importance of the story within all of it.

The film is a victim of excess, but it's also a victim of lack. This take on the story removes the Beauty and the Beast-like love story in which Clara meets and falls for The Nutcracker, who is actually a prince. This key plot line is all but abandoned in the film; The Nutcracker is merely a guard who stands by Clara's side through various adventures, and if there's a romantic spark between them it's a hint of one at best. Regardless of what's here and what isn't, what's been reworked and what hasn't, there's no mistaking the film's purposeless, box office returns-driven construction that might have played better with audiences a decade or two ago when visual excess seemed a little more en vogue and a production of this scope might have felt a little more novel.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms was shot on film (and reportedly finished at 2K), a rarity these days but the format adds a textural elegance to this movie that, even with the many complex digital inserts and effects, feels just right for the material. The 2160p UHD release maintains a tight, fine, and consistent grain structure that positively accentuates the picture, which boasts very impressive fine detail and broad-scope clarity. The companion 1080p Blu-ray handled the content just fine, but Disney's higher resolution UHD allows for more finesse, a greater feel for the world and the small details within it. Skin textures enjoy a slight increase in sharpness, allowing more intimate characteristics to be revealed with greater clarity. Take a look at the tassels on Captain Philip Hoffman's uniform at the 21:44 mark. A direct comparison between the image on the two formats shows a slight, but critical, increase in individual clarity, allowing the viewer to better appreciate the ornate intricacies thereof. Such extends through the whole picture. Fine upticks in core and support details give the image more life, stability, and accuracy. None of them are necessarily vital; the UHD isn't a game changer compared to the Blu-ray, but the improvements are there nevertheless and most welcome on the whole.

The HDR10 color enhancements likewise reveal a slight improvement over the Blu-ray. The color palette is a bit less punchy in favor of greater color depth and accuracy. HDR tightens colors without fundamentally changing them, adding improvements to saturation that carries to flesh tones and black levels, both of which are better than on the Blu-ray, the former featuring more lifelike nuance and the latter finding a level of true black immersion that even the wonderful Blu-ray cannot quite match. Whites -- snowy locales, formalwear at the Drosselmeyer party -- enjoy improved crispness and brilliance. As with the Blu-ray, there are no immediately obvious problems with source wear or encode artifacts. The image looks terrific, even if it's not a vast departure from the Blu-ray.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Unlike its Blu-ray counterpart, which features a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack, Disney's UHD release of The Nutcracker and the Four Realms contains a Dolby Atmos soundtrack. The Atmos track isn't a radical departure from the DTS track, offering much the same fundamental listening experience with a bit more immersion thanks to the additional top layer channels. The overhead speakers don't offer anything of note in terms of grand discrete effects, but the extra channels do help create a fuller, more seamless sense of immersion, which for a track that's as active as this one only enhances the presentation. Indeed, Disney's track is not shy about implementing every speaker at its disposal, ensuring envelopment in most every scene. Music and effects alike spill from every speaker with prominent output. But the track maintains a sense of balance, maintaining a front end priority while using additional speakers to offer both detailed and distinct elements and a general wrap that more properly draws the listener into the film's fantastical world. As with most recent Disney tracks, an upward volume adjustment is necessary to fully enjoy it, but from there the track is fairly strong. The low end could stand a little more depth and detail but the subwoofer does support some of the more prominent effects and music, such as heavy soldier footfalls, big churning machinery, or less prominent but no less impressive moments, such as when large, heavy doors rumble open. Dialogue is delivered with careful attention to clarity and front-center placement, expanding as any given scene demands.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

All of the supplements for The Nutcracker and the Four Realms can be found on the included Blu-ray disc; there's nothing to be found on the UHD disc. This release also includes a Movies Anywhere digital copy code. This release ships with an embossed slipcover.

• On Pointe: A Conversation with Misty Copeland (1080p, 4:36): Professional ballerina Misty Copeland discusses her role as the Ballerina Princess, the differences and similarities between dance and acting, and working with the other dancers in the film.
• Unwrapping The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (1080p, 7:08): Cast and crew discuss set design, the qualities the various sets added to the film's themes, and how the costumes compliment the story.
• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 4:04 total runtime): Included are The Stahlbaums Arrive; Follow Your Ribbon; Clara Asks About Her Mother; Left, Left, Left, Left, Left; and Out With the Old.
• Music Video (1080p, 4:23): "Fall On Me" Performed by Andrea Bocelli Featuring Matteo Bocelli.
• Music Video (1080p, 4:06): "The Nutcracker Suite" performed by Lang Lang.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is perfectly watchable and perfectly forgettable. The film boasts some star power and seamlessly integrated practical and digital constructs and delights, but those mean nothing without a substantial story to match. The film does not offer that story, favoring a reworking of a classic tale into unnecessary spectacle that feels like Burton's Alice in Wonderland reworked to The Nutcracker. UHD video and audio are terrific, but the movie? Blah. Rental.