Movie Review: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms ** ½ / *****

Directed by: Lasse Hallström and Joe Johnston.

Written by: Ashleigh Powell suggest by the short story by E.T.A. Hoffmann and the ballet by Marius Petipa.

Starring: Mackenzie Foy (Clara), Keira Knightley (Sugar Plum), Matthew Macfadyen (Mr. Stahlbaum), Jayden Fowora-Knight (Phillip), Tom Sweet (Fritz), Ellie Bamber (Louise), Morgan Freeman (Drosselmeyer), Helen Mirren (Mother Ginger), Eugenio Derbez (Hawthorne), Richard E. Grant (Shiver), Misty Copeland (Ballerina Princess), Anna Madeley (Marie Stahlbaum).

 

When you take on a story like The Nutcracker – which has been told countless times before – you have to try and figure out what, if anything, different you can do with the story. If you’re just going to retell the same story again, than what is the point of doing it at all? Disney’s The Nutcracker and the Four Realms attempts to take the original story, and do something different with it – you have to give it that – but ultimately what it concocts it a pretty, hollow shell of a movie. It wants to be classical in its story, but also add the glossy, CGI sheen that Tim Burton has brought to movies like Alice in Wonderland, but the result doesn’t really work. There are good elements here to be sure – the costuming is mostly great and Keira Knightley is a blast as Sugar Plum Fairy, but the film never settles on what it wants to be. It is too complicated for its own good, and yet all that complication adds nothing to the depth of the film. It isn’t surprising that the film is credited to two different directors – who didn’t work on the film at the same time (the original director Lasse Hallstrom, wasn’t available for reshoots, so Joe Johnston stepped in) as the film doesn’t feel like anyone involved really had a vision of what the finished product should be.

 

The movie keeps the old time setting of The Nutcracker, and continues to focus on a little girl named Clara (Mackenzie Foy, who is quite good here). It’s Christmas, but she is sad because of the recent death of her mother. Yet, her father (Matthew Macfadyen) still insists on going to the lavish Christmas party being thrown by Clara’s godfather, Drosselmeyer (Morgan Freeman). It’s while there, that Clara is led into a magical land – that reminded me a little or Narnia – a world she discovers her mother was the Queen of. It has been split into four Realms – one for flowers, one for snowflakes, one for candy and one for amusements. It’s this last land which is the problem – led by Mother Ginger (Helen Mirren), it is in open revolt, at war with the rest of the Realms. Clara’s guide to this is Phillip (Jayden Fowora-Knight) – the Nutcracker, I guess. The story involves a complicated quest to get a key – one that will open the last Christmas gift her mother left Clara, but will also help the other Realms protect themselves from Mother Ginger. Oh, were it only that simple.

 

There is a lot of CGI in the film – the Mouse King here is literally a giant mouse made of thousands of little mice working together for example, and there are some amusing clowns in the world of Amusements, that act as Russian nesting dolls in their acts. And life sized toy soldiers come to life. They always feel like CGI though – that same high gloss, high sheen CGI looks that screams fake. The costumes look great though – you have to give the film that.

 

And you also have to acknowledge the greatness of what Keira Knightley does here as Sugar Plum Fairy. She has a high pitched, squeaky innocent voice, a wicked smile and laugh, and she’s clearly having the time of her life playing this role. And it is a great performance – in the first half, and after the twist in the second half, it gets even better (even if the transition to each half doesn’t make much sense).  This is one of those performances that almost makes the movie worth watching by itself. Almost.

 

Perhaps, I am being too hard of the film. It is made for children after all – and my two girls (seven and four) both quite liked the film (I was worried the four-year-old was too young – and she may have been a touch, but not much – no trauma has been done). There is a tribute to the ballet roots of the story in the film – and over the end credits – and that works better than the rest of the movie. So, for them, the movie worked. But it’s not really all that good either. It’s more the type of film you throw on Netflix during Christmas to distract the kids as you get the thousand things done that you need to during the season, than something you’ll actually enjoy.

Movie Review: Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain America: The First Avenger *** ½  

Directed by: Joe Johnston.

Written by: Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely based on the comic books by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

Starring: Chris Evans (Captain America / Steve Rogers), Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter), Sebastian Stan (James Buchanan 'Bucky' Barnes), Tommy Lee Jones (Colonel Chester Phillips), Hugo Weaving (Johann Schmidt / Red Skull), Dominic Cooper (Howard Stark), Richard Armitage (Heinz Kruger), Stanley Tucci (Dr. Abraham Erskine), Toby Jones (Dr. Arnim Zola), Neal McDonough (Timothy 'Dum Dum' Dugan), Derek Luke (Gabe Jones), Kenneth Choi (Jim Morita), JJ Feild (James Montgomery Falsworth), Bruno Ricci (Jacques Dernier), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury).

I was surprised how much I liked Captain America. I was fully prepared to hate the film, as more often than not, I get annoyed with gung ho, pro-America films that allow for no real subtly to come into play. I’m not against patriotism, but more often than not, films like that eliminate all grey areas, and become boring. But Captain America pleasantly surprised me. Yes, it is certainly a pro-American view of WWII, but surprisingly the two films that entered my mind while watching Captain America were Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds and Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers. No, Captain America isn’t quite in their league, but it does share some similarities. It has some of the same glorious, alternate history of the Tarantino film, and some of the same questions of American patriotism and heroism of Flags of Our Fathers. Yes, it remains steadfastly a superhero film, but it is certainly one of the best in recent memory.

The film stars Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, a skinny, 90 pound weakling, who in the days of after Pearl Harbor tries again and again to enlist in the army, and is continually rejected. He is too small, too weak, has too many ailments. And yet, he wants to fight. He considers it his job to lay his life on the line to help protect the country he loves. He gets his chance when Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) sees him on his fifth attempt to enlist. Erskine is a German scientist, who sickened by the Nazis, came to America to offer his services. He has come up with a serum that could create an army of super soldiers – it apparently amplifies everything inside the person. He sees Rogers as the perfect man for the job – because he has heart and class, and isn’t just a bully. Of course, when Rogers gets the serum, he turns into Captain America.

The enemy is Johan Schmidt (Hugo Weaving, doing a killer Christoph Waltz impression); a former colleague of Erskine’s, and the first test subject for what was still an unstable serum. He has his own unit within the Nazi science system – Hydra – and dreams of world domination. Not for Hitler or the Reich, but himself. He is developing a weapon that will allow him to do just that. And Captain America is the only one who can stop him.

As superhero origin movies go, Captain America has to be one of the best. I liked what director Joe Johnston did with the movie (he is now forgiven for screwing up The Wolf Man last year). He gives the film a wonderful, desaturated color palette, and I quite liked the art direction and costume design, which looks straight out of a 1940s movie. Surprisingly, the special effects in the movie fit in nicely with the surroundings – the blend is seamless. And Johnston also perfectly cast the film. Evans is quite good as the square jawed Rogers, who he makes a little more human than most superheroes. I loved Tommy Lee Jones as his superior officer, who is even more square jawed, and is hilarious in his humorlessness. Hayley Atwell is smart and sexy as the British agent, who functions as his love interest and more. And Hugo Weaving has a blast playing Schmidt. The supporting cast – Dominic Cooper as Iron Man’s dad, Toby Jones as Schmidt’s weak willed underling, and all of Captain America’s Allied underlings, are in fine form as well.

Oddly, I liked many of the earlier scenes – before Captain America becomes battle tested – a lot more than the actual special effects driven fight sequences that end the film. At first, the Army doesn’t know what to do with Captain America, and make him into a marketing tool – which gives us a great, comedic sequence of him travelling around the country selling war bonds, and heading to USO shows. These are the scenes that reminded me of Flags of Our Fathers, which offered a complex look at what heroism in war is all about. The special effects sequences are well handled, but I’ve seen them before. The rest of the movie was more intelligent than I was expecting.

I must say I am somewhat saddened that Captain America is now simply going to become a part of The Avengers is modern day America. I didn’t like the finale of the movie, which is essentially a trailer for next summer’s superhero extravaganza. The weakest moments in most of these Avengers themed films have been when they push too hard to set up next year’s movie. But what really bothers me is that we will never again see this Captain America in the time period – WWII – where he makes the most sense. Some superheroes update effortlessly. Captain America is not one of them. He makes sense in the 1940s, and I wish I could see him in further adventures in that time period, rather than simply bringing up to date. Oh well, at least we got this movie.

Movie Review: The Wolfman

The Wolfman **
Directed By: Joe Johnston.
Written By: Andrew Kevin Walker & David Self based on the 1941 movie written by Curt Siodmark.
Starring: Benicio Del Toro (Lawrence Talbot), Emily Blunt (Gwen Conliffe), Anthony Hopkins (Sir John Talbot), Hugo Weaving (Abberline), Geraldine Chaplin (Maleva), Art Malik (Singh).

The original 1941 film The Wolfman directed by George Waggner cannot compare to the new version in terms of special effects, make-up, leeway in terms of violence, and even acting talent (yes, Claude Rains was in the original film, but actor for actor, the people in the new version are better actors than before). And yet, 69 years after the original film came out it is still remembered and watched by many. There is something tremendously creepy about the original film. I saw the film years ago, and yet I can still remember the movie, and the effect it had on me. Just two days after watching the latest version, it has almost completely faded from memory. It is one of those films that is mildly entertaining while you are watching it, but evaporates from your mind in the parking lot. 69 years from now, no one will want to watch this film.

The story is basically the same as the original. Famed stage actor Lawrence Talbot (Benico Del Toro) is called back to his home for the first time in years. His brother has gone missing, and his fiancée Gwen (Emily Blunt) believes that Lawrence may be able to help find him. But when Lawrence returns, his brother’s body has already been found - torn to pieces by some sort of wild animal. His father Sir John (Anthony Hopkins) offers him an icy welcome. Lawrence decides to stay on and try and figure out what happened to his brother. One night, he travels to a nearby gypsy camp, and is on hand when the beast attacks. He tries to fight off the beast, but is attacked and bitten himself. An old gypsy, Maleva (Geraldine Chaplin) repairs him, and sends him home. The doctor thinks Lawrence will not recover, but he astonishes everyone with his rapid recovery. Lawrence grows closer to Gwen, while suspicion falls upon him for the murders from the representative from the Scotland Yard Abberline (Hugo Weaving). There are no real surprises as to what happens next. Lawrence has indeed been bitten by a werewolf, and when the full moon comes out, he can control himself - he transforms into a wolf man and goes on a killing spree.

The movie is directed by Joe Johnston, who obviously has a soft spot for the original movie. Not only do they follow the basic outline of the plot, he also maintains the same sort of look for the wolf man himself. Many recent werewolf movies (Twilight in particular), have turned the human characters directly into wolves, but this movie maintains the respect for the original movie. When he turns into a werewolf, Del Toro is some sort of cross between wolf and man. The transformation sequences are well handled - with Del Toro’s head snapping back, his hand seemingly dislocating, the teeth pushing forward. The special effects and the make-up are perhaps the best thing about the movie.

A big part of the problem in this movie is that Del Toro and Hopkins - who have the two most pivotal roles - seem to sleepwalk through their performances. If Del Toro meant to try to make his character more mysterious by delivering most of his lines in an almost hushed whisper (except of course when he’s yelling), then it doesn’t work. Instead he just appears to be bored by everything going on around him. There are some actors who are great in serious, dramatic work, like Del Toro is, who just cannot make it work in genre films. They take it all too seriously. This is a movie about a man who turns into a wolf and kills people. This is not the time for method acting. Del Toro just appears out of place here. Hopkins is ever worse. In the early scenes, he seems bored, and is boring to watch. As we head towards the finale however, he decides to go wildly over the top, and he throws the whole movie off course. Considering he is in the Claude Rains role, who walked away with the first movie, his performance is even more disappointing. Blunt is much better as Gwen. To a certain extent, she has a rather standard role as the damsel in distress, but at least she knows what kind of movie she is in, and plays her role the way it should be. Best of all is Hugo Weaving, who delivers his pulpy lines with verve and humor. When he is on screen - which isn’t nearly often enough - he steals it away from whoever else he is there with. He is wonderfully entertaining - if everyone had matched him, then The Wolf Man would have been a good guilty pleasure.

But the flaws in the movie go deeper than the performances. There is something to be said about black and white filmmaking adding to the creepy atmosphere of the original film. This one, which is obviously not shot in black and white, loses that atmosphere. In fact, the ability of the filmmakers to shot everything in more detail - the transformations, the violent attacks, etc take away from the atmosphere of the movie.

The Wolf Man is certainly not a bad movie. It is made with too much skill for that to be the case. But the acting and the lack of true atmosphere and suspense hurt it in the long run. As I mentioned at the top of the review, I saw the film two days ago, and already it has pretty much faded from my memory. That’s never a good sign.