The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

[Drunk Monk]

A post-Harry Potter steampunk CGI-magical world Alice-in-wonderland-wannabe Nutcracker. Very formulaic parsed with a few colorful surreal visuals. It works when the actual Nutcracker is playing.  When it's the soundtrack and the Nutcracker variations, it falls flat, and that's more of the film than it should be. Mackensie Foy never brings more than a pretty face - her Clara is unrelatable. Morgan Freeman's Drosselmeyer is just as you'd expect. Helen Mirren is wasted as Mother Ginger. Misty Copeland's ballerina is this odd sidestep into the ballet which should have been much more of the film.  Keira Knightley almost saves it with her hammy Sugar Plum - it's really all about her - Sugar Plum struck me as someone that would be really fun to drop molly with and go to a rave.  However, it's so overdone.  There are sword fights, and even a whip fight, but the choreo is cartoonish in a weak sitcom fight scene way.