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TechnoTV - Nutcracker Fantasy
![Nutcracker Fantasy]()
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List Price: $19.95
Our Price:
Your Save: $ 19.95 ( 100% )
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Manufacturer: Columbia/Tri-Star
Starring: Christopher Lee, Jack Angel, Eva Gabor, Mitchell Gardner, Joan Gerber
Directed By: Takeo Nakamura
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786300137189
Format: NTSC
ISBN: 630013718X
Label: Columbia/Tri-Star
Manufacturer: Columbia/Tri-Star
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Columbia/Tri-Star
Release Date: 1991-08-16
Running Time: 82
Studio: Columbia/Tri-Star
Theatrical Release Date: 1979-07-07
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: scary,but the best anime cartoon ever
Comment: I have been watching it since I was nine years old and I find some parts in this cartoon scary,like the ragman and the two-headed queen morphia,it took me a few months to over that one.I still have that tape my mom recorded for us.But it's not all that bad.Well,you know as they say,seeing is believing.I like to see this one on DVD also just like so many other classic anime have been put on DVD.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Amazing childhood movie
Comment: I've been looking for this movie since the internet has developed! As early as I was watching movies, I was watching this one and I LOVED it. It was on tv and my mom recorded it for me (back in 85/86 maybe?), I watched it over and over. I hated putting it away when Christmas was over, but when we brought out the Christmas stuff, I HIGHLY anticipated watching this. Somewhere along the years, we lost the video and I was sooo upset. It's a movie I've always thought about and finally came across last night! I cannot wait to own it and watch it again (and again and again).
Customer Rating:
Summary: Dark yet haunting, rarely seen (not to mention strange) Japanese stop-motion feature.
Comment: NUTCRACKER FANTASY is weird, but once you realize that this is essentially a Japanese take on the now famous ballet, boy is it fun. This rarely seen Japanese-American co-production eschews sugar plum fairies and candy canes, as well as Christmas trees in favor of a dark, dreamy (and, need I say it, trippy) tone. It's almost strange to believe that this film was made by Sanrio, the folks responsible for the more light-hearted "Hello Kitty" franchise. (Some "Hello Kitty" figures can be seen at one point of the movie!)
The plot, very loosely based on both the fabled E.T.A. Hoffman story and, to a lesser extent, Tchaikovsky's now famous ballet (snippets of the composer's famous score can be heard on the soundtrack) goes something like this: Clara (voiced by Melissa Gilbert), a pretty doll face of a girl, receives a mysterious nutcracker from her eccentric Uncle Drosselmeyer (Christopher Lee). Before long, our young heroine finds herself on a STRANGE (consider the emphasis on the word "strange" very closely) fever-induced adventure which defies explanation. The focal point of the film is Clara helping sad King Goodwin of the Dolls (Dick Van Patten) free his daughter from the sleeping spell of a wicked two-headed rodent, Queen Morphia (Jo Anne Worley). In the battle against Morphia and her army of mice, Goodwin's courageous guards-keeper, Franz (Roddy McDowall) is transformed into Clara's nutcracker doll. The last act of the film involves Clara struggling to find a way to break Franz's curse while dealing with Morphia's vengeful royal (b)rat, Gar.
What makes NUTCRACKER FANTASY interesting are its puppet animation visuals. Around the time this movie was made (1979), it was common to see stop-motion animated specials on television, most of which came from Rankin-Bass (RUDOLPH'S SHINY NEW YEAR comes to mind). The stop-motion process is complex: fragile puppets ranging from 6.3 to 11 inches high are shot on a miniature set one frame at a time, with animators adjusting each puppet slightly before the next shot. Director Takeo Nakamura and his team of 150 members total spent four years working on this movie, and their efforts are fully realized with the imaginative, and sometimes strange, results we see on screen. There are no computer-enhanced special effects in this movie; any flashy visuals are produced optically and/or through double or triple exposures. While it looks as cuddly and innocuous as a Rankin-Bass production, young viewers may be surprised to discover that the majority of the movie is photographed in shadowy darkness. There are some sequences, too, that border on the scary side, most of which involve Queen Morphia and her murky underworld kingdom. The most notably scary sequence takes place at the beginning of the movie, when a mean-looking "rag man" stalks the night streets of Minden town, searching for wide-awake children to transform into mice. (This sequence feels irrelevant to the actual story, although it does serve as a good warning for children who stay up late.) At two different points of the movie, live-action ballet segments are interspersed with the puppet-motion action; this makes for a jarring shift of visuals, but in the context of this movie, which basically sets in a dream world where nothing is supposed to make sense, it somehow works in its favor.
Just as uncanny is the soundtrack that accompanies the picture. As mentioned previously, select movements and dances from Tchaikovsky's immortal score can be heard, but the majority of the music mostly consists of Tchaikovsky-inspired compositions as well as some rather trippy 70's techno-rock synthesizers. There are even two pop songs (out of the four in this movie) sung by Marty Gwinn and Steve Bishop which seem strangely offbeat with the fairytale-like quality of the story--one of them sounds like it could be a Beatles number! Whether this was done for commercial reasons or to add another depth of bizarreness to the movie is unknown, but these abrupt shifts in musical styles could annoy purists expecting to hear an undistorted performance of the ballet score. Not that the music itself isn't beautiful. It's mostly easy on the ears and has some amusingly interesting remixes of ballet pieces. One takes place during a quirky dance sequence involving pint-sized sprites and colorful figurines dancing in a cloud-filled kingdom to a lively hybrid of the "March", "Reed Flute Dance", and "Sugar Plum Fairy" dances. It's strange, but fun.
Since the puppets in this movie were synched to the pre-recorded Japanese dialogue, there are some obvious missteps in the American dub, sync wise; some lines are either mistimed or don't match. But the English voice cast is certainly talented and deliver credible line readings (Christopher Lee is especially brilliant--he has multiple roles in the film and even sings two songs--handsomely, too); there is even a cameo by Eva Gabor as a kindly but eccentric gypsy fortune teller dubbed the Queen of Time. Michelle Lee, presumably a grown-up Clara, narrates the story from time to time.
NUTCRACKER FANTASY was theatrically released in America for a limited time in 1979, but ever since it has become one of those difficult to find anymore movies. Young children might find the pace off-putting (even at 82 minutes, there are lots of slow spots) and maybe a little too eerie, yet older kids and animation buffs should find this movie to be of interest. While its technical values aren't on par with some of today's more sophisticated stop-motion features (Tim Burton's NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS and CORPSE BRIDE come to mind), it still maintains a unique look and a strangely captivating heart for its audience. The movie itself may not be for everyone, but as an animated rarity, NUTCRACKER FANTASY might be worth checking out.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Scary? I think not.
Comment: A 15-year-old left a review saying this movie is scary and not for children. Forgive me, but I can't help but be annoyed with that. My sister and I have literally been watching this film quite often since the age of 3 (we are now ages 20 and 22), and I can guarentee that it is NOT frightening. Why else would we have kept watching it? It's an amazing fantasy story based on "The Nutcracker and the Mouseking", and implanted in it is an amazing love story that even adults can appreciate. As a matter of fact, no child can watch this film and take the idea of "love" lightly afterwards. Not to mention the acting is excellent, especially Christopher Lee (who plays about four or five different characters convincingly), and for a film made in 1979, the effects are very well done and suit the story perfectly. The only thing that never seemed to quite fit was the little bit in the beginning about the ragman; it was a mini-story that basically said if children didn't go to bed on time, they'd be turned into mice. About as frightening as "Nanny McPhee". I can guarentee that this would be an excellent movie for children, especially those that love fantasy stories, and that if you find a GOOD copy of it on tape, snatch it up right away. I can also guarentee that if it ever comes out on DVD, I'll be first in line with the best of them to nab a copy for my own children.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good, but tramautizing.
Comment: Possibly one of the scariest movies I've ever seen and I'm serious.. but its really well made.
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