Episode 69 – The Nutcracker Prince

The Nutcracker Prince. Few things invoke the feeling of Christmas quite like the music of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker suite. We thought that the animated version would be a great addition to our December Holiday episode run this year. But this version has several styles of animation, odd pacing, and a highly edited and chopped up soundtrack. How did they wrangle Peter O’Toole and Kiefer Sutherland into doing this little remembered, nearly straight to VHS animated version of a ballet? Your guess is as good as ours, but what really matters is was it good right? Join us see what we thought!

From Wikipedia:

The Nutcracker Prince is a 1990 Canadian animated romantic fantasy film made by Lacewood Productions and released by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was directed by Paul Schibli. The film was based on the story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E. T. A. Hoffmann and also influenced by its ballet adaptation The Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky‘s music to that ballet is used as the main instrumental soundtrack. The film centers on a young man named Hans who is transformed into a nutcracker by mice, and can only break the spell if he slays the Mouse King and wins the heart of a girl named Clara. The film features the voice talents of Kiefer Sutherland as Hans (The Nutcracker), Megan Follows as Clara, Mike MacDonald as the evil Mouseking, Peter O’Toole as Pantaloon, an old soldier, Phyllis Diller as the Mousequeen, and Peter Boretski as Uncle Drosselmeier.

Highlights:

E.T.A. Hoffmann, Edgar Allen Poe, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Alexandre Dumas, Patricia Watson, Kevin Gillis, The Raccoons, Paul Schibli, Victor Davies, Problem Child, Transit of Venus, Lacewood Productions, Ren & Stimpy, Savage Dragon, Monster Force, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Super Mario Bros., Kiefer Sutherland, Jack Bauer, 24, Lost Boys, Stand by Me, Young Guns, Three Musketeers, Nightmare on Elm Street, Designated Survivor, Megan Follows, Reign, Mike MacDonald, Peter O’Toole, Lawrence of Arabia, Academy Award, Phyllis Diller, Bug’s Life, Peter Boretski, Lynne Gorman, George Merner, Magneto, X-Men, Stephanie Morgenstern, Sailor Moon, Noam Zylberman, Len Carlson, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, The Legend of Zelda, Marvin Goldhar, Keith Hampshire, OK Blue Jays, Elizabeth Hanna, Beetlejuice, Dog City, The Wizard of Oz, Susan Roman, Rock and Rule, William Shakespeare, Richard III, King John,

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