It’s that time of year again. The time that of year when we get bombarded with Christmas movies. I went and saw one of these Christmas movies over the weekend. I saw, the Nutcracker and the Four Realms. This movie is pretty much the Wizard of Oz with a Christmas theme.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I love the Wizard of Oz. So, this movie was actually and I’ll watch it again once I can buy it to make sure I caught all of the Wizard of Oz stuff.
I thought this was funny, because it’s so obvious that Disney wants to remake the Wizard of Oz, but can’t. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the book the Judy Garland film is based on is actually in the public domain. The film rights however, are not. MGM still has the rights to any film adaptations of the novel. This means that as much as Disney wants, they can’t make a direct adaptation of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
This is actually Disney’s own fault too. The Disney Corporation has gone to a lot of trouble to get laws changed and extend copyrights. They don’t want Mickey Mouse to fall into the public domain. If that happens then anyone can do whatever the hell they want with Mickey Mouse and Disney isn’t in to that. So, they’ve worked hard to keep it from happening, which means that everyone else also gets to hold onto their properties for an extended period of time.
MGM also doesn’t seem interested in selling, so Disney is out of luck.
Now, Disney is stuck only being able to make movies set in the Wizard of Oz universe, or movies like the Nutcracker that heavily borrow elements from the Wizard of Oz, but they can’t make a direct adaptation of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
All that aside, I actually enjoyed the Nutcracker movie. It’s not amazing by any means, but it’s silly and fun. The movie also seems to acknowledge that it’s ridiculous and over the top and just runs with it. It’s also a really pretty movie. The costumes and sets look gorgeous and they have actual ballet performances scattered throughout which are great.
I think that since I like consuming children’s media I am more inclined to like this film. If kid’s shows and movies aren’t your thing, you might not like this movie. It’s silly, over the top, and the plot twist is super easy to figure out. If you like kid’s stuff or have a kid, this might be worth seeing. I don’t have kids and it’s been awhile since I was a child, so I can’t guarantee your kids will like it, but it might be worth a shot.
If you’re going to take your kids though, I don’t recommend taking them to an evening showing.
I went to a 7pm showing and someone in the theater had brought their kid. The child was not happy and kept making a fuss. I think they ended up leaving the theatre. Children are cranky when they’re tired and a showing that late was probably a little too close to bedtime. So, there was some screaming and crying. I would definitely recommend daytime showings if that’s a thing you want to avoid.
And the Hero is 