The Nutcracker in 3D

The Nutcracker in 3D (also released The Nutcracker: The Untold Story) is a 2010 3D Christmas musical fantasy film adapted from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's 1892 ballet The Nutcracker. Directed, co-written and produced by Andrei Konchalovsky, the film stars Elle Fanning, Nathan Lane, John Turturro, Frances de la Tour, Richard E. Grant and Yulia Vysotskaya, with Charlie Rowe and Shirley Henderson as the Nutcracker. Set in 1920s Vienna, the plot follows a young girl who receives a magical doll that is revealed to be a prince and embarks on an adventure to save his kingdom from the Rat King. An international co-production of the United Kingdom, Russia and Hungary, the film was panned by critics upon release, and was criticised for its story, deviations from the ballet, performances, twisted visuals, the decision to adapt Tchaikovsky's score into lyrical musical numbers, and allusions to World War II, Nazism and the Holocaust. It was a box office bomb, grossing $20 million against a $90 million budget. Plot In 1920s Vienna during the Christmas season, Mary lives with her parents Joseph and Louise, and younger brother Max. She is upset that her parents are attending a party that night, as she wants the whole family to be together for Christmas. Uncle Albert arrives and gifts both her and Max a dollhouse and a nutcracker doll nicknamed NC, whom Mary immediately takes a liking to. That night, NC comes to life in front of Mary and grows to human height. He tells her that he must talk to his friends in the dollhouse, which is in the sitting room by the Christmas tree. They go downstairs and Mary finds that the sitting room has grown to an enormous size so that they appear to be the height of toys. In the dollhouse, Mary meets NCs friends; Gielgud, a gentlemanly chimpanzee; Tinker, a pernickety opera singer; and Sticks, a drummer boy. After climbing the Christmas tree, Mary meets the Snow Fairy, who resembles her mother. The Snow Fairy tells Mary that NC is in fact a prince who had his kingdom taken over by the anthropomorphic Rat King and his cruel mother, The Rat Queen, who was also the one that turned him into a nutcracker. She manages to temporarily turn him back into a boy due to Mary's belief and the two briefly dance before finding his city.