the audience applauded

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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 on 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 Jonathan Taylor Thomas as Hans (The Nutcracker), Mae Whitman as Clara, Roscoe Lee Browne as the evil Mouseking, Nigel Hawthorne as Pantaloon, an old soldier, Sandy Duncan as the Mousequeen, Kevin Michael Richardson as Uncle Drosselmeier and Tony Jay as the Opening Narrator. Music from Tchaikovsky's ballet rendition and Alan Menken is used at intervals throughout the film as the main instrumental soundtrack.

The Nutcracker is another Christmas story I love besides L. Frank Baum's "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus." This film (that is based on the story by German author E.T.A. Hoffman), was straight out of my childhood. The story starts at Christmas Eve, at the Stahlbaum household, Karl & Ingird Stahlbaum are enjoying the new tree with their three children Louise, Clara and Fritz. After opening their presents, guests start to arrive for the Christmas party. One guest in particular is Uncle Drosselmeir, who gives the family an intricate toy castle, and gives Clara a Nutcracker. Ah, but it is not just any Nutcracker, Uncle Drosselmeir warns her. Uncle Drosselmeir tells her that the Nutcracker used to be a human boy and his nephew named Hans, and but after Hans broke a spell the Mouse Queen had placed over a princess, he had been cursed by the Mouse Queen to become a Nutcracker Prince. At first it all seems to be just another fairy story to Clara. And though she does enjoy a good fairy story, they are just that...stories. That night, after everyone has gone to bed, Clara steals downstairs to dance with her new Nutcracker. But suddenly the Mouse King appears, intent on extracting the revenge on the Nutcracker Hans, for toppling a statue on his tail, when Hans was turned to a nutcracker and collapse. And right then, before Clara's eyes, the Nutcracker comes to life, thus starting a strange dream-like war between dolls and mice. And that's all I could tell you folks, you will have to see the film for yourself how it ends. My family used to rent the film on video for Christmas. I had watched it and I love it. Of course, years later I was lucky to found (and bought) a copy of the film at a used video/audio shop. I still watch the film near Christmas and I still love this wonderfully animated film after all these years. As I said many times, I don't have a favorite scene because I love the WHOLE film - from beginning to end. I love Clara, her kitten Pavlova and the budding romance between her and her Nutcracker Prince. I also love the music from Tchaikovsky's ballet rendition that is used at throughout the film as the main instrumental soundtrack, and as I always say I love a film with a good soundtrack.

I remember seeing this film only once when I was young on Cartoon Network, and being completely enchanted. And though it was many years later when I saw it again, I immediately remembered its charm and sweetness. It's a fun take on the classic, with an innocence that makes it continue to dazzle me even now.Now, the animation was not the quality of Disney, but I wouldn't even compare it to Disney. Because one must remember that Canada's animation budget was not very good at the time it was made. However, despite the low budget, it's very nicely done. I especially enjoyed the silly animation during Drosslemyer's story. It was silly and well done. The characters were all enjoyable, and the relationship between Hans(Nutcracker) and Clara was childlike and enchanting. Nothing too forward or out there... simple yet enjoyable. I loved how they matched the lovely Nutcracker music to scenes throughout the film, it made it so enjoyable to watch. This film definitely deserves a chance, and I strongly recommend it to families everywhere.

I saw this movie a very long time ago and I loved it. I remember I had taped it off HBO or something like that, and I watched it all the time. Just yesterday I went to see the actual ballet, and it wasn't half as good as this enchanting little movie. I was very dissapointed with the ballet, it wasn't bad, it just did'nt follow of what I remember from this movie, a lot of things were different. But since I haven't read the book, maybe the ballet was more on track than this movie. But anyway the movie was much more entertaining than the actual ballet. Even though I am not trying to compare the movie to the ballet, because they are tottaly different things.