Jayden Fowora-Knight « We Are Movie Geeks

February 1, 2019

WAMG Giveaway – Win THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS on Blu-ray

Filed under: Blu-Ray Giveaway — Tags: Jayden Fowora-Knight, KEIRA KNIGHTLEY, Misty Copeland, Morgan Freeman, THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS — Tom Stockman @ 9:43 am

Disney’s dazzling adventure THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS —inspired by E.T.A. Hoffmann’s classic tale and the beloved ballet “The Nutcracker”—carried audiences along with 14-year-old Clara (Mackenzie Foy)to a magical, mysterious world with breathtaking performances by Misty Copeland plus sweets, snowflakes, soldiers, scurrying mice… and no shortage of surprises.Destined to become an annual viewing tradition for adventurers of all ages,the film arrived home instantly with never-before-seen extras and deleted scenes on Digital and Movies Anywhere,and on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray™and DVD this week.

Now you can win the THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS Blu-ray. We Are Movie Geeks has 2 copies to give away. All you have to do is leave a comment answering this question: What is your favorite movie with Morgan Freeman in it? (mine is UNFORGIVEN!). It’s so easy!

Bonus features include a discussion with American Ballet Theatre’s Misty Copeland about her role as the enchanting Ballerina Princess,her personal history with “The “Nutcracker” ballet, and her inspirational and historic rise within the world of dance.Extras take viewers on the set of“The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” to meet both new and reimagined characters, and discover how the Land of Sweets, Land of Snowflakes, Land of Flowers and mysterious Fourth Realm were created to such dazzling effect. Deleted scenes provide a look at magical moments that didn’t make the final version of the movie.In “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms,” Clara travels along a golden thread, presented at Drosselmeyer’s (Morgan Freeman) annual party, eagerly searching for a one-of-a-kind key that will unlock a music box that holds a priceless gift. When she enters a mysterious parallel world, Clara encounters a Nutcracker soldier named Phillip (Jayden Fowora-Knight), a gang of mice and three Realm regents, including the Sugar Plum Fairy (Keira Knightley). Ultimately, she must brave the ominous Fourth Realm, home to the tyrant Mother Ginger (Helen Mirren), to retrieve the key and return harmony to the unstable world.

The stunning feature film will be packaged and released in several different formats, giving families the flexibility to watch it on a variety of different devices. Viewers can instantly watch the film in Digital HD, HD and SD, and bring home a physical copy of the film as the Ultimate Collector’s Edition(4K UHD, Blu-ray and Digital Code), Multi-Screen Edition (Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Code) or a single DVD.

Bonus features include*: BLU-RAY:

On Pointe: A Conversation with Misty Copeland-Copeland shares the thrill of portraying one of herfavorite characters in a whole new way.
Unwrapping “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms”-Dive into the production design, sets, costumes and more that helped transform a beloved ballet into an adventurous movie.
Deleted Scenes–

-The Stahlbaums Arrive-As the Stahlbaums enter the Christmas Eve ball, the butler attempts to announce them to the assembled guests.

-Follow Your Ribbon-Drosselmeyer encourages a reluctant Clara to go find her gift.

-Deleted Scene: Clara Asks About Her Mother-Sugar Plum gives Clara a tour of her mother’s bedroom.

-Left, Left, Left, Left, Left-Wandering lost in the forest, palace guards Cavalier and Harlequin quarrel about which way to go.

-Out with the Old-Sugar Plum makes sweeping changes to the palace decor.

Music Videos-“o“Fall on Me” Performed by Andrea Bocelli Featuring Matteo Bocelli-Experience superstar tenor Andrea Bocelli and his son Matteo Bocelli performing their first duet together in this uplifting song.
“The Nutcracker Suite” Performed by Lang Lang-Getswept up in a series of images from the movie, set to Tchaikovsky’s music and featuring world-renowned pianist Lang Lang.ON DIGITAL:
Unwrapped: The Visual Effectsof “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms”-View a reel that explores the layers of effects in sequences of the film.

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November 2, 2018

THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS – Review

Filed under: Review — Tags: Ballet, children's fantasy, Disney, Helen Mirren, Jayden Fowora-Knight, KEIRA KNIGHTLEY, mackenzie foy, Misty Copeland, Morgan Freeman, Tchaikovsky, THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS — Cate Marquis @ 7:12 am

Mackenzie Foy is Clara and Jayden Fowara Knight is Phillip in Disney’s THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS.

Tchaikovsky’s classic The Nutcracker Ballet is a perennial holiday favorite, particularly for little girls for whom visions of sugarplum fairy ballerinas dance in their heads. With Tchaikovsky’s beautiful music, Hoffman’s magical Christmas fantasy story, The Nutcracker seems a natural for Disney.

Best of all, THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS features dancing by prima ballerina star Misty Copeland, the first African American principle dancer with the American Ballet Theater, With Copeland in the cast, Nutcracker fans can’t be blamed for expecting something like a lush big screen version of the holiday-favorite ballet. But THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS is a far different story, with much less of Misty Copeland’s thrilling dancing and much less of Tchaikovsky’s famous music than one would expect or hope.

The result is pretty but disappointing. The film had a lot of promise, with Copeland dancing and a cast that includes Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren and Keira Knightley.

Indeed, the best parts of THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS are the sequences that feature Copeland’s dancing, which are simply thrilling and shot in a heart-pounding energetic style. Sadly, we only see Copeland dance in one part of the story and then over the end credits. Likewise, while The Nutcracker Ballet has a number of famous, beloved Tchaikovsky pieces, we only hear snippets of a few of them, and mostly one theme repeated.

Of course, it is not too surprising that Disney would make some changes to a story where the Mouse King is the villain, in order to create a new adversary. The famous ballet abbreviates the ETA Hoffman story and Disney’s wish to keep a PG rating which might had made using more of Hoffman difficult. Still, surely the Disney writers could have come up with a more interesting story that also preserved more of the delights of the beloved ballet.

Like the ballet, THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS is about the adventures of a girl named Clara (Mackenzie Foy), which begin with a Christmas party and a gift from her Uncle Drosselmeyer (Morgan Freeman). There is a nutcracker shaped like a soldier but that is a gift for Clara’s little brother while Clara receives a key that leads her into the magical Four Realms. There she meets The Nutcracker (played by Jayden Fowora-Knight) as well as Sugar Plum (Keira Knightley), Mother Ginger (Helen Mirren), and others of this magical land called the Four Realms.

Changing the fantasy from a dream to an Alice In Wonderland-like magical realm seemed like a reasonable change but then story from there feels uninspired and routine. Drawing on elements from Lewis Carroll, the Wizard of Oz and other classics, the story never really picks up much steam. This is despite the dazzling visual world and the best efforts of the cast, particularly Helen Mirren as the spooky-looking Mother Ginger. Keira Knightley does more scenery-chewing than one usually sees and other character seem flat. Matthew MacFadyen struggles to breathe some life into the role of Clara’s father, who is still mourning Clara’s mother Marie (Anna Madeley) but the part seems under written.

The story is changed substantially in the quest to create a new villain, and in this version the mice are more comic relief, as befits the House that Mickey built. That would be fine except the story Disney comes up with is rather dull, lacking much energy or excitement. The film looks fabulous of course but will it has the appearance of an epic adventure tale, it certainly does not have an epic film. A few scenes try for excitement but much of the film is rather static, like a pretty picture of an adventure tale.

THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS is mostly worth seeing for Copeland’s dancing but it is too small a part of this rather dull if pretty tale. Better yet, take the kids to a live performance of The Nutcracker Ballet.

RATING: 2 1/2 out of 5 stars