‘The Nutcracker in 3D’: The Strangest Version Of The Classic Christmas Tale

Most nutcrackers look creepy. This version's titular Nutcracker has dead bug-eyes. It also has a flapping jaw, like Canadian caricatures on.South Park.Main character Mary, played by Elle Fanning, seems unlikely to follow this mess. This animation earned the film a Razzie nomination.Razzie nomination.The film received a Razzie nomination for "Worst Eye-Gouging Misuse of 3D."

The disturbing Nutcracker, or “NC,” is a human boy. This makes the Rat King’s plan to burn him horrifying.

When asked about changing the mice to rats, filmmaker Andrei Konchalovsky said.Andrei Konchalovsky said, “Humans have this resentment of rats, so I thought rats would be much better for the film.” He claims their militarism came from Pink Floyd’s album and film, The Wall., but the effect looks like imagery from the Third Reich.The Third Reich..

John Turturro's Rat King mixes Andy Warhol and a Third Reich leader. He performs jaunty music while plotting to destroy humans and toys.

Konchalovskyclaimed his casting.of funny guy Turturro balanced the movie's dark tone: “I didn’t want to make the film repulsive. I had to make [the Rat King] a tongue-in-cheek character.”

The Nutcracker in 3D.adds silly lyrics to the Tchaikovsky score, which many find unpleasant. Tim Rice of Evita wrote the lyrics.Evita.andThe Lion King.fame.

Early in the film, Uncle Albert (Nathan Lane) and the children perform a song like "Spoonful of Sugar" called “It’s All Relative,” set to the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.”

The Rat King ends his first big number by electrocuting a giant shark in a tank behind him. This gruesome display seems pointless, a waste of a shark.

Mary’s Uncle Albert is meant to be Albert Einstein. The character often says Einstein quotes and speaks with a German accent.

Konchalovsky saidone reason he set the movie in 1920s Vienna was to feature Einstein.

The Rat King rips off the head of the Drummer Boy toy—played by real child Africa Nile—and throws it around before bringing the toy back to life.

A clown resembling John Wayne Gacy watches in the background, making the scene scarier.

This uncomfortable scene seems like a heavy-handed reference to the Holocaust gas chambers. The Rat King sings an upbeat tune as toys are ripped from crying children and burned in a “smoke factory.”

The filmmakers show something disturbing and inappropriate in this scene.

The rats' mouths stretch to triple size. Their teeth bulge from their heads in a nightmarish special effect.

A child seems delighted by this aggression. A real child would probably run away from the terrible sight.

The rats' faces appear from Nutcracker in 3Dlook eerily like the Whos from 2000'sHow the Grinch Stole Christmas

This parallel seems minor. It brings to mind that, besides the big front teeth and whiskers,NutcrackerThe furless creatures look nothing like rats.

Protagonist Mary leaves her world through a looking glass, entering another world. This differs from the original "Nutcracker" ballet. It happens in another children's classic.Alice in Wonderland

In another nod, several rats use flying devices to obey their master, just like the flying monkeys inThe Wizard of OzOne of the Rat King's lines copies another Christmas story almost exactly fromHome Alone

The film sets itself in 1920s Vienna, not 19th-century Russia. The children speak with American accents; their parents sound vaguely British. Only Uncle Albert, meant to be Einstein, speaks German.

Konchalovsky claimed he moved the settingto add futurism, Gustav Klimt's art, and appearances by Einstein and Sigmund Freud.