The Nutcracker Prince

The Nutcracker Prince
Theatrical release poster by John Alvin
Directed byPaul Schibli
Screenplay byPatricia Watson
Based on
Produced byKevin Gillis
Starring
Edited bySue Robertson
Music byVictor Davies
Peter Illich Tchaikovsky
Production
companies
Distributed byCineplex Odeon Films[1]
Release dates
  • November 21, 1990 (1990-11-21)
(United States)
  • November 23, 1990 (1990-11-23)
(Canada)
Running time
75 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish
Budget$8.5 million[2][3][4]
Box office$1.7 million (US)[5]
$2 million (Canada)[6]

The Nutcracker Prince is a 1990 Canadian animated romance fantasy film directed by Paul Schibli based on the screenplay by Patricia Watson.[7] It is a retelling of E. T. A. Hoffmann's 1816 short story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" and Marius Petipa & Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's 1892 ballet The Nutcracker, about a girl named Clara who is gifted a special nutcracker by her uncle.[8] The gift draws her into a world of magic and wonder, and she brings about the conclusion to the legend of The Nutcracker, Prince of the Dolls: a young man named Hans who was transformed into a nutcracker by mice, and can only break the spell if he slays the Mouse King. The film stars Kiefer Sutherland as Hans (The Nutcracker), Megan Follows as Clara, Mike MacDonald as the evil Mouse King, Peter O'Toole as Pantaloon, an old soldier, Phyllis Diller as the Mouse Queen, and Peter Boretski as Uncle Drosselmeier.[9]

The Nutcracker Prince was released by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States on November 21, 1990, and by Cineplex Odeon Films in Canada on November 23, 1990. The film grossed $1.7 million worldwide against a production budget of $8.5 million. It generally received negative reviews from critics and was considered a commercial failure.[6]

  1. ^ Mazurkewich, Karen (1999). Cartoon Capers: The History of Canadian Animators. Toronto: McArthur & Company. p. 120. ISBN 978-1552780930.
  2. ^ "LACEWOOD INC. | Canadian Animation, Cartooning and Illustration".
  3. ^ "The inspiration behind Ottawa's own 'Nutcracker Prince' (page 1)". The Ottawa Citizen. November 17, 1990. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  4. ^ "The inspiration behind Ottawa's own 'Nutcracker Prince' (page 2)". The Ottawa Citizen. November 17, 1990. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  5. ^ "The Nutcracker Prince (1990)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  6. ^ a b Mazurkewich, Karen (1999). Cartoon Capers: The History of Canadian Animators. Toronto: McArthur & Company. p. 121. ISBN 978-1552780930.
  7. ^ "The Nutcracker Prince - Movie Review". www.commonsensemedia.org. June 11, 2013.
  8. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 193. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  9. ^ Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. p. 222. ISBN 9781476672939.