Barbie in the Nutcracker

Barbie in the Nutcracker is a 2001 animated film. It was Barbie's first film since the training video Dance! Exercises with Barbie in 1992. Barbie in the Nutcracker is the first in the series of digitally animated Barbie films, all voiced by Barbie's Kelly Sheridan. The story is loosely adapted from ETA Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" and uses music from Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker. The film includes a substantial amount of motion capture, including dances performed by members of the New York City Ballet: Charles Askegard, Maria Kowroski, Benjamin Millipied, Nora Y. Mullman, Abi Stafford, Janie Taylor. This was the highest-grossing film in the Barbie series.

On October 23, 2001, the film had a limited release in American theaters for one week. It was a success, but as of October 1, 2003 the film has not had a theatrical release again.

Original title Barbie in the Nutcracker

Year 2001

Duration78 min.

Country United States

Direction Owen Hurley

Script Rob Hudnut, Hilary Hinkle, Linda Engelsiepen (Characters: Ruth Handler) ()&nbsp ;(Story: E.T.A. Hoffman)

Music Arnie Roth

Photography Animation

Cast Animation

Producer Artisan Entertainment

Genre Animation. Childish. Musical | Stories

Groups Barbie | Adaptations of E.T.A. Hoffmann

Synopsis

Barbie and her sister Kelly practice difficult ballet steps for an important performance; However, when the little girl feels that she can't perform the dance steps correctly and wants to give up, Barbie tells Kelly a story full of the magic of Christmas.

Barbie puts herself in the shoes of Clara, a girl who is given a beautiful wooden Nutcracker by her favorite aunt and which contains the heart of a prince inside. One night, she hears a noise near the Nutcracker and discovers him fighting the Mouse King and his army. Despite wanting to help, Clara ends up being shrunk due to a spell from the Mouse King. In that way, Clara discovers that the little Nutcracker has also been bewitched, and that the only way for both of them to be free is to find Princess Sugar, the only one who can break the Mouse King's evil enchantment. To do this, they will travel to the Land of Sweets, where thousands of adventures and dangers await them.

Feature film based on the famous Mattel doll. It is directed by Owen Hurley (Casper's Christmas).

Complete plot

The story is told by Barbie to her younger sister Kelly as a way to cheer her up when she is unable to perform a ballet movement and is afraid to go on stage.

Clara lives with her grandfather Drosselmeyer and her younger brother, Tommy. On Christmas Eve, the family receives a surprise visit from the friendly Aunt Elizabeth, who comes with gifts for her nephews. Clara receives a nutcracker and Elizabeth tells her that inside it, she beats the heart of a prince. Tommy tries to take him to play with him, Clara tries to stop him and in the fight, they break his arm.

Clara manages to fix the Nutcracker and falls asleep near the Christmas tree. She wakes up startled by the noise a mouse makes while eating a cookie and sees her Nutcracker fighting the Mouse King and his army. When Clara tries to help, the mouse king shrinks her to her size, the fight continues and as the King has the advantage over the Nutcracker, Clara throws one of her shoes at him, which makes the King faint when it hits the middle of the face. . Seeing this, the army quickly retreats.

The Nutcracker reveals to Clara that he has been bewitched and tries to find Princess Sugar, the only person who can stop the Mouse King from taking over his world. Following the advice of the owl he knew about the pendulum clock, the Nutcracker suggests Clara follow her, since Princess Sugar is the only one who can make Clara return to her original size again. The owl gives Clara a heart-shaped medallion with a ballet dancer decoration. This medallion has the power to send her home after finding Princess Sugar. With this, the Nutcracker and Clara begin their journey.

The two travel to the Land of Sweets, where the locals reveal that the rightful heir to the throne, Prince Erik, has disappeared following the mouse king's attempts to conquer the world. Clara quickly realizes that her nutcracker is the missing prince, and he reveals to her that her irresponsibility is the reason he was enchanted by the Mouse King. He knows that he has to take responsibility for his past actions. He hopes to redeem himself by finding Princess Sugar and making things right again.

Meanwhile, the Mouse King tries to learn more about Princess Sugar but only finds one reference to her: She is kind, smart and brave. Furious, he transforms one of the pillars of her castle into a giant rock and orders her to go after them in hopes of stopping the Nutcracker before he can reach her.

Together with the arrogant Major Peppermint and Captain Candy, the group begins to search for Princess Sugar and to defeat the Mouse King, who is watching and trying to sabotage them along the way. After crossing the Sea of Storms, the group arrives at the island of Princess Sugar. When Clara is separated from the group, who are captured by the mouse king, she ventures alone to the Mouse King's palace to free her friends.

After being rescued, the Nutcracker fights a final battle with the Mouse King. Just as the King seemingly gains an advantage over the Nutcracker, Clara jumps between them. The king tries to make Clara smaller, but the Nutcracker uses his sword to divert the mouse king's magic back to himself. The Mouse King shrinks to the size of a mouse and flees through the sewers.

The Nutcracker has apparently been injured, and Clara kisses him, after which he is restored to his true form - he reverts to Prince Erik, and Clara, because she was able to break the spell, is revealed to be Princess Sugar. -. Her suit is transformed into a beautiful dress and Erik is crowned king. The couple, who have fallen in love with each other, dance with the citizens of the Land of Sweets to celebrate their victory. Erik asks if he wants to come home, but Clara tells him that in her heart, she is already home.

However, the shrunken Mouse King makes one last attempt to defeat Clara. He knocks Clara onto the back of her bat, steals Clara's locket-shaped heart, and opens it. A girl from the town throws a snowball at him, believing that she can help him, the Mouse falls to the ground and apparently dies. Clara begins to disappear. Erik is shocked and shouts, "I love you."

Clara wakes up in the living room, where she fell asleep. She looks for her Nutcracker, but doesn't find him. She runs to her grandfather, who denies the story as a work of her imagination. Just then, Aunt Elizabeth returns with a young man who looks like Erik. Revealing that he was a friend, she insists that she stay for dinner and takes Grandpa Drosselmeyer and Tommy away. Erik returns the medallion and the couple waltzes. Then a snow globe is seen showing Prince and Princess Sugar dancing happily in the Palace courtyard.

The story returns with Kelly and Barbie. Kelly realizes the importance of not giving up and makes one more attempt to do the ballet step she can't complete. Kelly and Barbie dance to the music, and Kelly finally gets the move right.

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