''Barbie in the Nutcracker'' is a 2001 computer-animated fantasy film directed by Owen Hurley and written Linda Engelsiepen and Hilary Hinkle from a screenplay by Rob Hudnut. Featuring the voice of

Kelly Sheridan Kelly Sheridan is a Canadian voice actress best known for being the voice for Barbie in the ''Barbie'' film series from 2001 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2015. She had also voiced in numerous animations and English-language dubs of Japanese animati ...

as Barbie, it marked the first film starring the fashion doll since the 1987 television specials; '' Barbie and the Rockers: Out of This World'' and '' Barbie and the Sensations: Rockin' Back to Earth''. Loosely adapted from E. T. A. Hoffmann's 1816 short story, "

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" (german: Nussknacker und Mausekönig) is a Short story, story written in 1816 by Prussian author E. T. A. Hoffmann, in which young Marie Stahlbaum's favorite Christmas toy, the Nutcracker doll, Nutcracker, come ...

", and featuring music based from

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

's 1892 ballet, ''

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaiko ...

'', the film was released on VHS on 2 October and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

on 23 October 2001. On television, it first aired as a condensed one-hour preview on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

on 22 November 2001. The full-length film eventually aired on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

on 21 March 2004. The film sold more than 3.4million units on DVD by 2002, and grossed in total sales. It won the Video Premiere Award for Best Animated Video Premiere Movie.

Plot

The story is told by Barbie to her younger sister, Kelly, who is having trouble rehearsing a ballet solo and fears going onstage. A girl named Clara lives with Drosselmeyer, her stern grandfather, and Tommy, her younger brother. On Christmas Eve, they receive a surprise visit from their Aunt Elizabeth. Clara receives a Nutcracker from her aunt who claims it contains the heart of a prince. Clara falls asleep by the Christmas tree and awakens to see her Nutcracker suddenly alive and fighting an army of mice led by the wicked Mouse King. The Mouse King shrinks her down to his size, though he is unable to defeat them and temporarily retreats. The Nutcracker explains that he needs to find the Sugarplum Princess, the only person who can defeat the Mouse King's magic. The wise owl of the

grandfather clock A grandfather clock (also a longcase clock, tall-case clock, grandfather's clock, or floor clock) is a tall, freestanding, weight-driven pendulum clock with the pendulum held inside the tower or waist of the case. Clocks of this style are common ...

reveals that the Sugarplum Princess is also the only one who can make Clara her original size again. The owl gives Clara a

locket A locket is a pendant that opens to reveal a space used for storing a photograph or other small item such as a lock of hair. Lockets are usually given to loved ones on holidays such as Valentine's Day and occasions such as christenings, wedding ...

from an ornament figurine that will send her back home when she opens it. Through a portal in a mouse hole, The Nutcracker and Clara land in an ice cave. They escape with the help of a group of snow fairies and enter the Nutcracker's home of Parthenia. The two journey to a gingerbread village, where they meet two children and the horse Marzipan. The children tell them that the rightful heir to the throne, Prince Eric, has gone missing. The group narrowly escapes the Mouse King's army when they are saved by Major Mint and Captain Candy, who lead a small group of villagers in hiding. Mint reveals that Prince Eric's careless attitude led the former king to pronounce the Mouse as temporary ruler until Eric accepted his responsibilities. Clara realizes that the Nutcracker is the missing Prince Eric; when the Mouse decided he wanted to be king permanently, he turned Eric into a Nutcracker. Eric hopes to redeem himself and make things right again. Clara and the Nutcracker, joined by Mint and Candy, set off on a journey to reach the Sugarplum Princess. While Mint and Candy prepare a boat, Clara and Nutcracker manage to free a group of flower fairies who had been trapped in a well by the Mouse King. The group is suddenly attacked by a rock

giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fr ...

, sent by the Mouse King to stop them from reaching the Princess. The snow fairies arrive and freeze the sea, followed by Marzipan pulling a sled, allowing the group to cross. The Nutcracker uses his sword to crack the ice, causing the rock giant to sink into the sea. The group reaches the Princess's island, but it is revealed to be a trap and the Nutcracker, Mint, and Candy are caged and carried off by the Mouse King's bat henchman Pimm, leaving Clara behind. The flower fairies help carry Clara off the island and to the Mouse King's castle where she frees her friends. The Nutcracker battles with the Mouse King who has his own spell reflected back at him, shrinking him to the size of a real mouse and causing him to flee. The Nutcracker is severely injured and Clara kisses him whereupon he is restored to his true form as Eric. Clara, because she was able to break the spell and save her friends, is revealed herself to be the Sugarplum Princess. Eric is crowned king and the couple, who have fallen in love,

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

as the citizens celebrate. The shrunken Mouse King returns riding on Pimm's back, snatches Clara's locket and opens it, but is knocked out of the sky with a snowball. Clara disappears and is magically transported home. Clara wakes up where she fell asleep. The Nutcracker is missing, and she runs to her grandfather, who dismisses the story as her imagination. Just then, Aunt Elizabeth returns with a young man who is revealed to be Eric, whom she introduces to Clara. Eric asks her to dance. A

snow globe A snow globe (also called a waterglobe, snowstorm, or snowdome) is a transparent sphere, traditionally made of glass, enclosing a miniaturized scene of some sort, often together with a model of a town, neighborhood, landscape or figure. The sph ...

shows Prince Eric and the Sugarplum Princess dancing happily in the palace. As the story ends, Kelly realizes the importance of not giving up, and she and Barbie finally manage to dance the solo perfectly.

Voice cast

Production

''Barbie in the Nutcracker'' was choreographed by the

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company' ...

master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

-in-chief

Peter Martins Peter Martins (born 27 October 1946) is a Danish ballet dancer and choreographer. Martins was a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet and with the New York City Ballet, where he joined George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and John Taras as ...

. The film's music, based on

's score for ''

'', was performed by the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

. The film's ballet sequences feature the movement of New York City Ballet dancers

computer animated Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes ( still images) and dynamic images ( moving images), while computer animation re ...

through motion capture imaging. The film was animated over four months by 22 artists at

Mainframe Entertainment Mainframe Studios is a Canadian computer animation company owned by Wow Unlimited Media and based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Founded in 1993 as Mainframe Entertainment Inc. by Christopher Brough, Ian Pearson, Phil Mitchell, Gavin Blair and ...

, using

Softimage Autodesk Softimage, or simply Softimage () was a 3D computer graphics application, for producing 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling, and computer animation. Now owned by Autodesk and formerly titled Softimage, XSI, the software has been predomi ...

and

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a popul ...

for some of the visual effects. All the non-human characters were keyframed, while the humans were motion-captured with the Motion Analysis system (including

Filmbox MotionBuilder is a 3D character animation software produced by Autodesk. It is used for virtual cinematography, motion capture, and traditional keyframe animation. It was originally named Filmbox when it was first created by Canadian company Ka ...

and

Eva Eva or EVA may refer to: * Eva (name), a feminine given name Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Eva (Dynamite Entertainment), a comic book character by Dynamite Entertainment * Eva (''Devil May Cry''), Dante's mother in t ...

software) to achieve a rotoscopic look. The animators spent one week working with the New York City Ballet at Acclaim Motion Capture Studio in

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, taking three days to motion-capture the dancers. According to Jennifer Twiner McCarron, CGI producer at Mainframe and a co-producer on the film, Mattel wanted a "very soft and stylized look" for Barbie, and did not want the character to appear or move like a doll, as she had in her brief appearance in ''

Toy Story 2 ''Toy Story 2'' is a 1999 American computer-animated film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The second installment in the ''Toy Story'' franchise and the sequel to '' Toy Story'' (1995), it was directed by John ...

''. McCarron stated, "We did lots of lighting tests and lots of lighting and hair shader development. We used Eddie, a softer add-on that gets around the blurriness." One animator's job was dedicated to animating the movement of Barbie's hair. McCarron stated, " arbie'shair is always down on her neck, not braided like nowiki/>Princess_Fiona.html" ;"title="Princess_Fiona.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Princess Fiona">nowiki/>Princess Fiona">Princess_Fiona.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Princess Fiona">nowiki/>Princess Fionain ''Shrek'', so we had to keep it down. A hair rig was built so that when she moved it wouldn't intersect with her. Her hair was like a separate character, what with all the attention and care it received." Sound post-production was done at Vitello Productions in Hollywood.

New York City Ballet dancers

Charles Askegard Charles Askegard is an American ballet dancer and ballet master at Pennsylvania Ballet. Early life and education Askegard was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and began his dance training at the age of five with Loyce Houlton and the Minneso ...

(Prince Eric) *

Maria Kowroski Maria Kowroski is an American ballet dancer. She is a principal dancer at the New York City Ballet. Early life Kowroski was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She started ballet at the age of five. In 1992, she entered the School of American Ballet ...

(Barbie/Clara) *

Benjamin Millepied Benjamin Millepied (; born 10 June 1977) is a French dancer and choreographer, who has lived and worked in the United States since joining the New York City Ballet in 1995, where he became a soloist in 1998 and a principal in 2002. He has also ...

* Nora Y. Mullman * Abi Stafford * Yue Nhice Fraile with the dancing princess

Release

''Barbie in the Nutcracker'' was released on VHS on October 2, 2001, and released on DVD on October 23, 2001. The film was televised on

in the United States on November 22, 2001, edited down to a one-hour special. It was later broadcast on

on March 21, 2004. It was also televised in Germany, France, Italy, Hong Kong, South Korea and Australia. The DVD includes both wide-screen and pan-and-scan versions of the movie. Bonus features on the DVD include a documentary following several girls training to be ballet dancers as the

School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the most renowned ballet school in the United States. School of American Ballet is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New ...

in New York, and an "Act with Barbie" feature teaching children about positive role playing. The new DVD version of the film (with lower-toned audio) was released on October 5, 2010.

Reception

Commercial reception

''Barbie in the Nutcracker'' had a 94%

sell-through Sell-through refers to the percentage of a product that is sold by a retailer after being shipped by its supplier, typically expressed as a percentage. Net sales essentially refers to the same thing, in absolute numbers. Sell-through is calculated ...

rate and sales of over 3.5 million units on video and DVD. It grossed US in total sales, including associated merchandise. It was the second most popular children's video of 2001 in the United States.

Critical response

''Barbie in the Nutcracker'' holds a score of 20% on

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

site

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on 5 critic reviews. Caryn James of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote, "the film works well enough according to the undemanding rules of Barbie. With its adventures in fairyland and magical transformations, this is a diverting, inoffensively sweet tale for very small children." Marylin Moss of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' praised the film as wholesome entertainment for young girls, writing "Barbie is all gentle and generous and not afraid of a villain or two. The story is strong, the animation splendid and the music and choreography delightful. The entire production is first-rate." A review in ''

Parenting Parenting or child rearing promotes and supports the physical, emotional, social, spiritual and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood. Parenting refers to the intricacies of raising a child and not exclusively for ...

'' noted the film "explores how self-confidence and kindness can enable girls to realize their dreams". Peter Dobrin of ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'' called ''Barbie in the Nutcracker'' a "smart effort" with a "compelling story". R. Pitman of ''The Video Librarian'' wrote, "the colorful animation, kid-friendly script, and excellent "highlights" score ..all make for pleasant family viewing, and the fairy dances (clearly inspired by sequences in ''

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythi ...

'' and ''

Fantasia Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcore ...

'') truly sparkle." Calling the film "a perfect dream", Remi Sklar of '' Video Store Magazine'' noted educational benefits to children from the classical music and ballet, and wrote that the battle scenes and male characters could make the film appealing to young boys as well as girls. Rating it 4 out of 5 stars, Rob Lowing of the '' Sunday Age'' called it "unexpectedly charming." Scott Hettrick of the '' South Florida Sun-Sentinel'' praised the film's story, voice cast and ballet performances, and wrote, "It's hard to imagine any other 76-minute program, let alone any other version of ''The Nutcracker'', that delivers as much adventure, fantasy, romance, humor, suspense, ballet and classical music." Marc D. Allan of the ''

Indianapolis Star Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of U.S. state and territorial capitals, state capital and List of U.S. states' largest cities by population, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat, seat of ...

'' rated it 3 stars and called it "extremely impressive". ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' reviewer Eileen Clarke awarded the film a grade of "B Minus", writing that it did not feature as much ballet as she expected. Other critics were less positive.

Joe Leydon Joseph Patrick Michael Leydon (born August 22, 1952) is an American film critic and historian. A critic and correspondent for ''Variety'' since 1990, he is the author of ''Joe Leydon's Guide to Essential Movies You Must See'' (Michael Wiese Prod ...

of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called it a "generic fantasy-adventure", observing similarities to '' The Wizard of Oz'', and wrote, "Pre-adolescent girls may be charmed by sugary sweetness of "''Barbie in the Nutcracker''." But they shouldn't expect their parents, or even slightly older siblings, to join them for repeated viewings of this made-for-video trifle." While enjoying the "few amusing lines and clever situations", Robert Gottlieb of ''

The New York Observer ''The New York Observer'' was a weekly newspaper printed from 1987 to 2016, when it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper ''Observer''. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainmen ...

'' did not like the film's animation, describing the characters' appearance as "semi-rigid celluloid aliens with glazed expressions and enamel smiles". Jennifer Fisher of ''

The Los Angeles Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' felt that the story had been "tamper dtoo much with", opining that ''Barbie in the Nutcracker'' "stray so far from any previous "Nutcracker" story that she might as well have remade "The Wizard of Oz" or called it " Rebecca of Sunnybrook Candy Land."" Reviewing the film for

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

, Joly Herman deemed it a "lackluster holiday tale", finding that Clara is a more passive heroine than those in later ''Barbie'' movies: "She helps the Nutcracker with some of his tasks, and she stands up to the Mouse King in a scary confrontation, but she's more interested in being the romantic link than the heroic one."

Awards

*Video Premiere Award for Best Animated Video Premiere Movie — Won (Producers Jesyca C. Durchin and Jennifer Twiner McCarron) *Video Premiere Award for Best Character Performance — Nominated (Barbie/Clara: voice actress Kelly Sheridan, animation directors Michael Ferraro and Gino Nichele) *Video Premiere Award for Best Character Performance — Nominated (Pimm: voice actor Peter Kelamis and animator Chris Buckley)

Merchandise

''Barbie in the Nutcracker'' had an extensive product

tie-in A tie-in work is a work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property. Tie-ins are authorized by the owners of the original prop ...

campaign. Products included a book, eight dolls, a Hallmark Christmas ornament, ballet bags and sleepwear. The toy line included

Barbie Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by American toy company Mattel, Inc. and launched on March 9, 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration. ...

as Clara/the Sugarplum Princess,

Ken Ken or KEN may refer to: Entertainment * ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer. * ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film. * ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine. * Ken Masters, a main character in ...

as Prince Eric,

Kelly Kelly may refer to: Art and entertainment * Kelly (Kelly Price album) * Kelly (Andrea Faustini album) * ''Kelly'' (musical), a 1965 musical by Mark Charlap * "Kelly" (song), a 2018 single by Kelly Rowland * ''Kelly'' (film), a 1981 Canadi ...

and

Tommy Tommy may refer to: People * Tommy (given name) * Tommy Atkins, or just Tommy, a slang term for a common soldier in the British Army Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Tommy'' (1931 film), a Soviet drama film * ''Tommy'' (1975 fil ...

as their feature characters, and a horse and candy sleigh. The Barbie as Clara and Ken as Prince Eric dolls were available in both Caucasian and African-American models.

References

External links

Barbie in the Nutcracker
at the

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of Am ...

portal * * {{The Nutcracker 2001 direct-to-video films

Nutcracker A nutcracker is a tool designed to open nuts by cracking their shells. There are many designs, including levers, screws, and ratchets. The lever version is also used for cracking lobster and crab shells. A decorative version portrays a person w ...

2001 computer-animated films Films using motion capture Films set in the 2000s 2000s English-language films American fantasy adventure films Animated films based on children's books Animated Christmas films Films based on The Nutcracker and the Mouse King Artisan Entertainment films Films about size change 2000s American animated films American direct-to-video films American independent films Canadian direct-to-video films Canadian independent films American children's animated adventure films American children's animated fantasy films American Christmas films Canadian animated fantasy films Canadian animated feature films Canadian Christmas films Canadian fantasy adventure films 2000s children's animated films 2000s children's fantasy films Films set in the 1810s Films set in Russia Films set in a fictional country 2000s Christmas films 2001 films Films directed by Owen Hurley 2000s Canadian films