Nutcracker: The Motion Picture (1986) Review

           Nutcracker: The Motion Picture (1986) is based on the Pacific Northwest Ballet production of the infamous Nutcracker play with illustrations designed by Maurice Sendak (whose well known for children's books like Where the Wild Things Are). In case you aren't familiar with the play, let me try to inform on it with the best of my ability. The whole play is basically the story of a young girl dreaming of a nutcracker prince and a fierce battle against the mouse king (who has seven heads in some adaptations, although in this movie, there's only three).
           However, when going into this movie (as well as the play), expect a lot of ballet dancing. That's actually pretty much what the entire movie revolves around. If watching ballet dancing doesn't suit well with you, stay far away from this movie. Actually, that's the main reason why I didn't like "Nutcracker: The Motion Picture" very much. It had really beautiful sets and costumes, and I loved listening to the musical score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, but watching all of those ballet sequences were driving me crazy.
           Even if you don't mind watching a lot of ballet scenes (which admittedly the dancers do a good job here), the filming is kind of a mess. There were a lot of awkward close-ups of the dancers. I know Carroll Ballard was trying to make this feel more like a movie than a play, but seeing the performers full bodies the entire would've looked a lot better here. Also, remember that fierce battle against the mouse king. Yeah, I dare you to try to comprehend what on earth was going on in that scene. Seriously, this is perhaps the most poorly filmed action sequence I've seen in a long while.
           Alright, I give the movie some credit. The opening scenes with an illustrator sketching the sets and characters, along the dream-dancers on the bedsheets with the big sleeping girl in the background were well done. And while I overall wasn't thrilled by the dancing, I have to say I really like this one scene where somebody dresses in full costume as a fat Chinese tiger surrounded by four children. The way that tiger danced around had a personality and presence that I really enjoyed. I wish more of the sequences were like that.
           If you want to watch a film adaptation of the Nutcracker play, this isn't completely horrible, but it'll do little for everyone else who's not interested. And really, while I enjoyed the score very much, I can just easily listen to it on my laptop if I really wanted to, so there's no point in me revisiting this ever again. A few good moments just didn't stop me from finding this movie really dull.
           I give "Nutcracker: The Motion Picture" (1986) directed by Carroll Ballard a 4 out of 10.