The Nutcracker and the Four Realms | Rotten Tomatoes (2025)

32% Tomatometer 203 Reviews 35% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings

Young Clara needs a magical, one-of-a-kind key to unlock a box that contains a priceless gift. A golden thread leads her to the coveted key, but it soon disappears into a strange and mysterious parallel world. In that world, she meets a soldier named Phillip, a group of mice and the regents who preside over three realms. Clara and Phillip must now enter a fourth realm to retrieve the key and restore harmony to the unstable land.

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The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

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Critics Consensus

Lacking a transporting yuletide story or dazzling dance routines, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is a hollow holiday confection that's lovely to look at -- and easy to forget.

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Critics Reviews

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The Nutcracker and the Four Realms | Rotten Tomatoes (1) Roxana Hadadi Chesapeake Family Magazine Disney's pretty-looking The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is immediately forgettable. The disparate elements of the story barely fit together. Rated: 2.5/5 Feb 7, 2019 Full Review The Nutcracker and the Four Realms | Rotten Tomatoes (2) Wenlei Ma News.com.au Younger audiences will enjoy the bright colours and fun energy but it's unlikely to leave a lasting impression. Sometimes, that's enough. But don't expect it to become an instant favourite. Rated: 3/5 Nov 25, 2018 Full Review The Nutcracker and the Four Realms | Rotten Tomatoes (3) Victoria Smith (Gloswitch) New Statesman At times it has the feel of a computer game: cross the bridge, open the gates, jump off the wall, beat the boss. Only characters in computer games tend to be more unpredictable, with more than one twist. Nov 12, 2018 Full Review The Nutcracker and the Four Realms | Rotten Tomatoes (4) Calum Cooper Source (Scotland) It has grand ambitions and a decent eye for visuals. But its presentation is soulless and unrefined, coming off less like a magical adventure of its own right, and more like the sugar free alternative to Narnia. Rated: 2/5 Jul 14, 2024 Full Review The Nutcracker and the Four Realms | Rotten Tomatoes (5) Dan Bayer Next Best Picture A film that keeps throwing production design at you to obscure the fact that nearly everything else is a bit of a mess. Rated: 4/10 May 13, 2022 Full Review The Nutcracker and the Four Realms | Rotten Tomatoes (6) Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review A 99-minute mess of stilted dialogue, wooden performances, and predictable themes. Rated: 1.5/4 Mar 8, 2022 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Steve C Nice film but like most American films poor ending leaving you in the air Just give me an ending Rated 1.5/5 Stars • Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 11/29/24 Full Review Audience Member Absolutely loved it!!🫶🏻🫶🏻 Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/19/24 Full Review John W The impression is that they changed the story half-way through and the goodies became baddies. Why was the frozen sentry in the box being called "The Nutcracker"? In the Hoffman story The Nutcracker was a prince changed into a wooden nutcracker. This story lacked a good script or decent storyboard. The fact that it was being shown at the smallest screen in a multiplex just before Christmas says how little the exhibitors though of it. Rated 1/5 Stars • Rated 1 out of 5 stars 09/10/24 Full Review Dale R A retelling of E. T. A. Hoffmann’s short story “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” and Marius Petipa’s and Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Nutcracker”. There are several things that I appreciate in this film. First, they included some of the music from Tchaikovsky’s ballet in the film, which was a great nod to one of the sources of inspiration for the film. Second, the design for the castle in the four realms was based on Russian architecture, another great nod. The costume design was also on point here! The writing, editing and direction are the real problems in this movie. Weird jump cuts in montages, poorly written conflict and a villain that was obviously a villain from their first scene. The CGI fest was also hit or miss. I’d say skip this film. Rated 1/5 Stars • Rated 1 out of 5 stars 07/07/24 Full Review Darren G This is awful movie!! 😭😭🍿🍿 Rated 0.5/5 Stars • Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 06/04/24 Full Review Gorptholemew T 🍀 5.3/10I like the scene where they role-play, in Clara turns into the Nutcracker. Clara is so pissed off. This whole film and I find it hysterical. The villain in this movie is literally Eric Cartman I guess the real message is society against gingers. Getting real here the set pieces and visuals are pretty great I don't mind the characters but they're nothing really that special still good enough just nothing really new. This movie exists it's out there go watch it maybe or don't it doesn't matter. Grade C+ Rated 2.5/5 Stars • Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/23/24 Full Review Read all reviews

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Cast & Crew

Lasse Hallström Director Joe Johnston Director Keira Knightley Actor Mackenzie Foy Actor Helen Mirren Mother Ginger Morgan Freeman Drosselmeyer
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The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms: Behind the Scenes - The Costumes The Nutcracker and the Four Realms: Behind the Scenes - The Costumes 1:10 The Nutcracker and the Four Realms: Behind the Scenes - Building the Sets The Nutcracker and the Four Realms: Behind the Scenes - Building the Sets 1:38 The Nutcracker and the Four Realms: Behind the Scenes - All About Misty The Nutcracker and the Four Realms: Behind the Scenes - All About Misty 1:18 The Nutcracker and the Four Realms: Final Trailer The Nutcracker and the Four Realms: Final Trailer 2:02 The Nutcracker and the Four Realms: Trailer 1 The Nutcracker and the Four Realms: Trailer 1 1:30 The Nutcracker and the Four Realms: Teaser Trailer 1 The Nutcracker and the Four Realms: Teaser Trailer 1 1:42 View more videos

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The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018) The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018) The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018) The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018) View more photos

Synopsis Young Clara needs a magical, one-of-a-kind key to unlock a box that contains a priceless gift. A golden thread leads her to the coveted key, but it soon disappears into a strange and mysterious parallel world. In that world, she meets a soldier named Phillip, a group of mice and the regents who preside over three realms. Clara and Phillip must now enter a fourth realm to retrieve the key and restore harmony to the unstable land.

Director
Lasse Hallström, Joe Johnston

Producer
Mark Gordon, Larry J. Franco

Screenwriter
Ashleigh Powell

Distributor
Walt Disney

Production Co
The Mark Gordon Company

Rating
PG (Some Mild Peril)

Genre
Kids & Family, Holiday, Fantasy, Adventure

Original Language
English

Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 2, 2018, Wide

Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 29, 2019

Box Office (Gross USA)
$54.8M

Runtime
1h 39m

Sound Mix
Dolby Atmos

Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.85:1)
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