The Nutcracker Prince
Encyclopedia
The Nutcracker Prince is a 1990
animated romantic fantasy
film made by Lacewood Productions
and released by Warner Bros. Pictures
. The film was directed by Paul Schibli
and based on the story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King
by E.T.A. Hoffmann
as well as influenced by its ballet adaptation The Nutcracker
.
The film centers around a young man named Hans who is transformed into a nutcracker by mice, and can only break the spell if he slays the Mouse King and wins the heart of a girl named Clara. The film features the voice talents of Kiefer Sutherland
as Hans (The Nutcracker), Megan Follows
as Clara, Peter O'Toole
as Pantaloon, an old soldier, and Peter Boretski as Uncle Drosselmeier. Music from Tchaikovsky's ballet rendition is used at intervals throughout the film as the main instrumental soundtrack.
In revenge, the Mouse Queen cast a spell on Perlipat, causing her to become hideously ugly. Drosselmeier was once again given the task of figuring out how to cure her. He eventually learned that the fabled Krakatooth Nut can cure her, on the condition that it is cracked open in the teeth of a young man who has never worn boots. The King commanded all the princes and noblemen to apply, with the promise of marrying Perlipat once she is cured. However, the Krakatooth is so hard that all the men's teeth shatter upon trying to crack it.
Drosselmeier is about to be punished for being unable to cure Perlipat when Hans steps in. He manages to crack the nut open between his teeth and gives it to Perlipat, breaking the spell. The angered Mouse Queen then casts a spell on Hans, turning him into the Prince of the Dolls. Hans collapses and transforms into a Nutcracker. During the ruckus, the Mouse Queen is crushed by a falling statue and her son's tail is caught and bent. He survives and declares himself the Mouse King. Drosselmeier is exiled from the kingdom for trying to pass a "Nutcracker as a son-in-law", while the King and Queen celebrate with their now-cured daughter.
The next night, the Mouse King returns, angry about what Clara has done. Before he can go after the Nutcracker once more, Clara tricks him, briefly trapping him in her room. However, when she retrieves the unawakened toy, the Mouse King has escaped and threatens to harm her kitten, Pavlova, if she doesn't hand the Nutcracker over. Suddenly, Drosselmeier reappears and the toys awaken once more. The Nutcracker and Mouse King fight one another on the Christmas tree. The Mouse King is supposedly defeated when he is stabbed in the chest and falls off the tree to his death. The leaderless army of mice run away amid the cheering toys. When everyone see that Pantaloon has been injured in the fight, they have to return to the Land of the Dolls to revive him. Clara is then shrunken down to doll size thanks to Drosselmeier's magic and they enter the Land of the Dolls through the toy castle. As they leave, Pavlova goes to inspect the Mouse King's body, but is frightened away by a sudden growl.
1990 in film
The year 1990 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* CGI technique is expanded with motion capture for CGI characters, used in Total Recall .* The first digitally-manipulated matte painting is used, in Die Hard 2....
animated romantic fantasy
Fantasy film
Fantasy films are films with fantastic themes, usually involving magic, supernatural events, make-believe creatures, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered to be distinct from science fiction film and horror film, although the genres do overlap...
film made by Lacewood Productions
Lacewood Productions
Lacewood Productions was an Canadian animation studio based in Ottawa, Ontario. It produced a television series, Katie and Orbie, as well as specials based on For Better or For Worse, and the 1990 feature The Nutcracker Prince...
and released by Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
. The film was directed by Paul Schibli
Paul Schibli
Paul D. Schibli is a Canadian animator, storyboard artist, director, painter and writer. He directed The Raccoons series as well as the feature film The Nutcracker Prince. Schibli wrote and illustrated the children's book Monsters Don't Count...
and based on the story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King
The Nutcracker and the Mouse King
The Nutcracker and the Mouse King is a story written in 1816 by E. T. A. Hoffmann in which young Marie Stahlbaum's favorite Christmas toy, the Nutcracker, comes alive and, after defeating the evil Mouse King in battle, whisks her away to a magical kingdom populated by dolls...
by E.T.A. Hoffmann
E.T.A. Hoffmann
Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann , better known by his pen name E.T.A. Hoffmann , was a German Romantic author of fantasy and horror, a jurist, composer, music critic, draftsman and caricaturist...
as well as influenced by its ballet adaptation The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King". It was given its première at the Mariinsky Theatre in St...
.
The film centers around a young man named Hans who is transformed into a nutcracker by mice, and can only break the spell if he slays the Mouse King and wins the heart of a girl named Clara. The film features the voice talents of Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer Sutherland is an English-born Canadian actor, producer and director, best known for his portrayal of Jack Bauer on the Fox thriller drama series 24 for which he has won an Emmy Award , a Golden Globe award , two Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Satellite...
as Hans (The Nutcracker), Megan Follows
Megan Follows
Megan Elizabeth Laura Diana Follows is a Canadian/American actress. She is most known to international audiences for her role as Anne Shirley in the acclaimed 1985 Canadian television miniseries Anne of Green Gables and its two sequels.-Biography:Follows was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada as the...
as Clara, Peter O'Toole
Peter O'Toole
Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
as Pantaloon, an old soldier, and Peter Boretski as Uncle Drosselmeier. Music from Tchaikovsky's ballet rendition is used at intervals throughout the film as the main instrumental soundtrack.
Plot
Clara's family are celebrating on Christmas Eve. Clara is jealous because her sister, Louise, has a boyfriend, leaving her feeling sad and wondering about growing up. She immediately cheers up when the eccentric Uncle Drosselmeier arrives at their home with special gifts: a fully automated toy castle for everyone, and a Nutcracker for Clara. Upon giving her the Nutcracker, Drosselmeier tells her a story about how the Nutcracker came to be the Prince of the Dolls.The story of the Hard Nut
In a faraway kingdom, there was a King and Queen who had a beautiful (though selfish) daughter named Princess Perlipat. To celebrate the King's birthday, the Queen ordered a special cake made out of blue cheese, the King's favorite. However, the scent of the cheese drew out all the mice, who ate and destroyed the cake. The King was enraged and commanded his inventor, whose name happened to be Drosselmeier, to capture all the mice. Drosselmeier and his nephew Hans were successful in capturing all the mice except the Mouse Queen and her only son.In revenge, the Mouse Queen cast a spell on Perlipat, causing her to become hideously ugly. Drosselmeier was once again given the task of figuring out how to cure her. He eventually learned that the fabled Krakatooth Nut can cure her, on the condition that it is cracked open in the teeth of a young man who has never worn boots. The King commanded all the princes and noblemen to apply, with the promise of marrying Perlipat once she is cured. However, the Krakatooth is so hard that all the men's teeth shatter upon trying to crack it.
Drosselmeier is about to be punished for being unable to cure Perlipat when Hans steps in. He manages to crack the nut open between his teeth and gives it to Perlipat, breaking the spell. The angered Mouse Queen then casts a spell on Hans, turning him into the Prince of the Dolls. Hans collapses and transforms into a Nutcracker. During the ruckus, the Mouse Queen is crushed by a falling statue and her son's tail is caught and bent. He survives and declares himself the Mouse King. Drosselmeier is exiled from the kingdom for trying to pass a "Nutcracker as a son-in-law", while the King and Queen celebrate with their now-cured daughter.
Revenge of the Mouse King
Clara is upset by the story for its unhappy ending, but is consoled when Drosselmeier tells her that the spell can be broken if he defeats the Mouse King and wins the hand of a fair maiden. While playing with his toy soldiers, Clara's brother Fritz breaks the Nutcracker. Clara is heartbroken but Drosselmeier promises to fix it for her. That night, when everyone has gone to sleep, Clara ventures into the sitting room to dance with her Nutcracker and introduces him to her dolls, Trudy, Marie and Pantaloon, an old general in Fritz's toy soldier army. Suddenly the Mouse King and his army of mice arrive, intent on getting his revenge on the Nutcracker for his injured tail. Drosselmeier appears on the grandfather clock and brings the Nutcracker and all the dolls and soldiers in the room to life. The Nutcracker, who has no memories following being transformed, battles the Mouse King while the soldiers fight the mice. Clara saves the Nutcracker from the Mouse King by throwing her slipper at him. The first battle comes to a halt, though, when she slips on a cannonball and crashes into the clock, losing consciousness for the rest of the night. The next morning, she awakens in her own bed and tries to tell her mother about the battle, only to be told to rest. Drosselmeier visits with the repaired but now lifeless Nutcracker, giving only vague answers to Clara's questions about the previous night.The next night, the Mouse King returns, angry about what Clara has done. Before he can go after the Nutcracker once more, Clara tricks him, briefly trapping him in her room. However, when she retrieves the unawakened toy, the Mouse King has escaped and threatens to harm her kitten, Pavlova, if she doesn't hand the Nutcracker over. Suddenly, Drosselmeier reappears and the toys awaken once more. The Nutcracker and Mouse King fight one another on the Christmas tree. The Mouse King is supposedly defeated when he is stabbed in the chest and falls off the tree to his death. The leaderless army of mice run away amid the cheering toys. When everyone see that Pantaloon has been injured in the fight, they have to return to the Land of the Dolls to revive him. Clara is then shrunken down to doll size thanks to Drosselmeier's magic and they enter the Land of the Dolls through the toy castle. As they leave, Pavlova goes to inspect the Mouse King's body, but is frightened away by a sudden growl.
Land of the Dolls
The Nutcracker, Clara, Pantaloon, Trudy and Marie arrive at the Land of Dolls on flying swans, passing forests of Christmas trees and arriving at a palace made of sweets. Once they are there, Pantaloon is cured. The Nutcracker is given a royal welcome as the Prince of the Dolls amid many cheering toys. Clara shares a romantic dance with the Nutcracker, who asks her to stay with him. Clara is ready to embrace her childhood fantasies and her beloved companion but sadly refuses; she wishes she could, but the adventures of growing up are still waiting for her. The dolls start to turn back into inanimate toys, and a dying Mouse King suddenly arrives for one last chance at revenge. The Nutcracker tries to save her but slowly turns back into a toy himself. Clara tries to keep the Mouse King at bay, but he corners her on a balcony. As he strikes, he falls off the castle to his death in the river below, almost taking Clara with him. Clara pulls herself back up and finds the castle is completely abandoned. She tearfully cries out for her Nutcracker as mist fills the lonely palace.Home again
Clara wakes up to find herself back home. There is no sign of the events that she has experienced except her brother's statement that Pavlova discovered a large dead mouse with a crooked tail near the castle. Clara rushes downstairs to find the Nutcracker missing. She runs to Uncle Drosselmeier's workshop where he seems to be expecting her. She begs him to tell her whether the fairytale he told her was true. Clara is suddenly silenced when a young boy enters the room, carrying a clock. Drosselmeier introduces the boy as his nephew Hans, whom Clara recognizes as her beloved Nutcracker in his human form.Voice cast
- Kiefer SutherlandKiefer SutherlandKiefer Sutherland is an English-born Canadian actor, producer and director, best known for his portrayal of Jack Bauer on the Fox thriller drama series 24 for which he has won an Emmy Award , a Golden Globe award , two Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Satellite...
as Hans (The Nutcracker Prince) - Megan FollowsMegan FollowsMegan Elizabeth Laura Diana Follows is a Canadian/American actress. She is most known to international audiences for her role as Anne Shirley in the acclaimed 1985 Canadian television miniseries Anne of Green Gables and its two sequels.-Biography:Follows was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada as the...
as Clara - Mike MacDonald as The Mouseking
- Peter O'ToolePeter O'ToolePeter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
as Pantaloon - Phyllis DillerPhyllis DillerPhyllis Diller is an American actress and comedian. She created a stage persona of a wild-haired, eccentrically dressed housewife who makes jokes about a husband named "Fang" while pretending to smoke from a long cigarette holder...
as The Mousequeen - Peter Boretski as Uncle Drosselmeier
- Lynne Gorman as Trudy
- George Merner as Dr. Stahlbaum
- Stephanie MorgensternStephanie MorgensternStephanie Grace Morgenstern is a Swiss-Canadian actress, filmmaker, and screenwriter for television and film. Born in Geneva, Switzerland and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Morgenstern began her acting career when she was 15. She has worked extensively on stage, film, and television in both English...
as Louise - Christopher Owens as Erik
- Diane Stapley as Mrs. Ingrid Stahlbaum (voice)
- Mona Waserman as Princess Perlipat
- Noam ZylbermanNoam ZylbermanNoam Zylberman is a voice actor best known for the voice of Split Kit from Garbage Pail Kids and also the voice of Bentley Raccoon in the popular animated series The Raccoons from 1988 to 1990....
as Fritz - Len CarlsonLen CarlsonLen Carlson was a Canadian voice actor on many animated television series from the 1960s onward, an occasional live-action TV actor, and a Kraft Canada TV pitchman during the 1970s and 1980s...
in multiple roles: King, Mouse, Court Attendant, Band Member #2, Spectator, Soldier - Marvin GoldharMarvin GoldharMarvin Goldhar was a Canadian actor, best known for his voice work in animated programs and in made-for-TV movies.Among his voice credits include Cedric Sneer on The Raccoons, Mr...
in multiple roles: Mr. Schaeffer, Mouse, Guest #3, First Guard, Soldier, Band Member #1, Contestant, Spectator - Keith HampshireKeith HampshireKeith Hampshire is an English-born Canadian popular singer of the 1970s, famous in Canada for three top ten hits , and the successful television show Music Machine...
in multiple roles: Mouse, Guest, Second Guard, Contestant, Spectator, Soldier - Elizabeth HannaElizabeth HannaElizabeth Hanna is a Canadian film and television actress, most notable for her voice acting work in animated films. She later complemented her voice acting skills by becoming a Speech-Language Pathologist.-Early history:...
in multiple roles: Marie, Mrs. Schaeffer, Doll, Guest #4, Spectator - Susan RomanSusan RomanSusan Roman is a Canadian voice actress best known for voice acting the role of Lita/Sailor Jupiter in the North American DiC dub of the anime, Sailor Moon. She is one of the few voice actors to remain throughout the entire run of the series...
in multiple roles: Mouse, Mrs. Miller, Guest #1, Doll, Spectator - Theresa Sears in multiple roles: Queen, Mouse, Guest #2, Doll, Spectator
DVD release
The film has been released on DVD several times. It was initially released by Hollywood DVD on October 14, 2001 in the United Kingdom. A Region 1 DVD was released by Good Times Video on November 9, 2004. On April 2, 2007, it was released in on DVD for the second time in the United Kingdom by Boulevard Entertainment. Both releases have no extras besides animated menus and a theatrical trailer.External links
- The Nutcracker Prince at Keyframe - the Animation Resource
- Trailer at Warner Bros.' site
- Review by Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
' s Valerie Monroe