Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland
Michael's Movie Grade: C
Review: An enjoyable film, but I couldn't help but feel it should have been quite a bit better.
Interestingly for a movie that starts off in the real world and then moves into a fantasy world, I found myself much more engrossed in what happened in the real world. The relationship between father and daughter is quite engaging. They both lost the same person (his wife and her mother), but express this loss in completely different ways. Clara (Mackenzie Foy) wants to shut herself off from the world, while her father (Matthew Macfadyen) wants to hide his pain and do "what is excepted" of them. This causes a lot of friction between them as they disagree heavily with how the other is dealing with it. The emotion here feels completely real and sincere.
However as we move into the actual fantasy world, the movie becomes less engaging. The world itself, while very visually pleasing never immerses the audience the way it should. It looks all too familiar. Truth be told when I first saw it I thought of how Narnia looked and those Disney movies. With this in mind I never felt I was fully transported to another world. It is also interesting that the scenes in this fantasy world feel rushed and underdeveloped while the scenes in the real world feel very well developed and like they are given just enough time. This is odd considering more of the movie takes place in the fantasy world. This is probably best seen in the character of Mother Ginger (Helen Mirren). She is built up when we first see and hear of her. This gets us to thinking this will be a great character. However when we finally meet her, we discover this is not true. By the end of the movie we know next to nothing about this character. The character of Sugar Plum (Keira Knightly) while better developed is hampered by forced dialogue. Whether she is trying to be cute or threatening it sounds like she speaks in nothing but cliché movie lines. I think we have heard most of the lines she says over the course of this movie at least 100 times in other movies. The action scenes feel likewise really rushed and very anti-climatic. I personally did not believe a second of what was supposed to be this movie's action packed climax.
However despite these complaints the fantasy scenes are not a waste. Clara is still a great character through out these scenes. She uses her brains to overcome many obstacles in many fun amusing ways. Also the scenes where she talks or hears about her mother are quite touching. This is all helped by a great acting performance by young Mackenzie Foy. There is also a fantastic but brief ballet sequence. This scene is what all the fantasy scenes should have been. The visuals are striking and for once we feel like we are transported to another world. This scene does not simply feel like a filmed version of the ballet but rather something fully cinematic. It is a shame this scene is so brief as it is really good.
A very uneven movie to say the least. The stuff that works is quite good and occasionally great. However what doesn't work falls flat on its face.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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