This week, I was treated to the Montreal advance screening of Disney’s ‘The Nutcracker and the Four Realms’.  My daughters and husband joined me 🙂

As you know, I don’t believe in spoilers so I’ll give you my general takeaways. It is a beautiful story and timely as the holidays approach. I love the empowering lesson learned by the story’s heroine, Clara and it is a lesson that would be great for any child (or adult) watching to take home with them.

Much of the the scenery is quite beautiful and sometimes reminiscent of what we saw in Disney’s ‘Beauty and The Beast’ (and if you remember how much I loved that, you will know that it is a big compliment!). There is definitely a nice balance of mystery, adventure and even humour in this movie.

I should say, however, that I find the film and the story more suited to kids ages 8 and up. Some 6 and 7 years olds would be ok with it as well.  The reason I say this is that while it is a beautiful story, it is a bit complex and may be harder to follow for younger kids.

My 12-year-old daughter and her friend who happened to be there because her family won tickets really enjoyed it and were all smiles coming out:) When I asked the friend’s  younger brother (7 years old) his opinion, he told me that he found the movie ‘cool and funny’. He was also ‘all smiles’. When I asked what was ‘cool’ about it, I found his answer insightful and made a mental note to share it here. He said that it was cool that a lot of little things together could make something big and strong.  He was referring to ‘The Mouse King’ and I will let you see the movie for yourself to better understand it, but I felt that was a pretty good lesson for a child to take away.

All in all,  Disney’s ‘The Nutcracker and the Four Realms’ is a nice movie to go see with your school-aged kids, especially as you get into the spirit of the holidays 🙂

Happy weekend!

Tanya