The Nutcracker and the Four Realms | 2018 | PG | – 1.3.1

Why is “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” rated PG? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “some mild peril.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes scenes of menace and fighting sequences with tin soldiers, fairies, clowns, circus robots and mice. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.”

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A teenage girl (Mackenzie Foy) needs the key to a silver egg containing a magical gift and she follows a golden cord, which leads to a mysterious parallel universe where she meets a soldier (Jayden Fowora-Knight), a horde of mice and the regents who preside over three magical realms. Together, the girl and the soldier enter a fourth dark realm to bring back the key that will restore universal harmony. Also with Keira Knightley, Eugenio Derbez, Matthew Macfadyen, Richard E. Grant, Misty Copeland, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, Miranda Hart, Jack Whitehall, Ellie Bamber and Lil Buck. Directed by Lasse Hallstrom & Joe Johnston. [Running Time: 1:40]

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms SEX/NUDITY 1

 – A fairy wears the straps of her ball gown off the shoulder and her hair is tousled (taking on a sexy attitude); she looks at tin soldiers and calls, “Hello, boys!” (in a manner reminiscent of Mae West). A teen girl says the soldiers are huge and a fairy leers, “Aren’t they magnificent?”
► Women’s mid-19th century period costumes include scoop necklines that reveal cleavage. A ballerina reveals cleavage and when she twirls several times her skirt reveals her bare legs up to the leg openings of her leotard. During closing credits a ballerina wears a dress that reveals cleavage and a shirtless male dancer wears tights. A fairy wears a wide-strapped ball gown that reveals cleavage.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms VIOLENCE/GORE 3

 - Soldiers led by a teen girl on horseback march into a realm of blackened oak trees in mist and heavy fog: the girl approaches an old Coney Island clown gateway, the soldiers follow but are startled as a thud and a growl sound off-screen, a few soldiers fall into holes in the ground and the rest along with the girl run onto a carousel, a swarm of mice overrun it, it collapses and the girl falls into a hole in the ground and slides through a tunnel to find a circus robot that picks her up and slings her into its circus-tent skirt; a troupe of tumbling clowns torment the girl by laughing, poking at her and knocking her down until a soldier slices his sword into the tent, enters and is attacked by clowns, one clown jumps on his head but he escapes to another room where the teen girl is arguing with a woman, and she grabs a key and leaves with the soldier.
► A fairy orders tin soldiers be placed on a platform where a machine electrifies them with lightning bolts and the toys become 8-foot tall marching tin soldiers; they put a teen girl and a soldier in a prison with two other men, the prisoners break down a large chandelier, the glass shatters loudly across the room and the girl uses the attached rope to jump over a high ledge and lands safely on the ground; she and the soldier enter the machine room to see more huge tin soldiers, the girl releases a clockwork mouse and soldiers are distracted, hitting it with swords while she kicks a few of the tin men away.
► A soldier rushes to a carnival realm where a group of clowns raise their fists until a woman tells them to stand down and the soldier agrees to help the woman fight an evil fairy; they all approach a palace accompanied by thousands of mice inside a circus robot that walks through a forest, uprooting trees and using them to smash tall tin soldiers to the ground, mice swarm to become one huge mouse that the soldiers walk through without harming and the mice knock down several soldiers.
► Clowns in a palace attack tall tin soldiers on the entry bridge and enter the palace where a woman jumps out of a tumbling clown, she fights many tin soldiers by using a whip and occasionally a sword to slam them to the floor, broken; a soldier helps her fight tin men off with his sword, two tin men grab the woman, tie her up with a thick cord and place her on a platform where she will be electrified to make her tiny, but a teen girl reconfigures the machine to point at an evil fairy who screams into the camera as lightning bolts surge to turn her into a tiny porcelain doll that falls on its side with a clink.
► A teen girl and a soldier are led to a sewer grate by a mouse and use the sewer to walk out to the edge of a rushing river and waterfall; the girl falls and the solider pulls her back, she climbs down and across a rocky wall and enters an engine room by crawling under a waterwheel. A teen girl and a soldier ride horses to a palace and unlock a large machine that whirs.
► A young woman follows a cord for a Christmas-present hunt into a dark room and through a hallway; she emerges into a snow-covered setting where we see that she walked through a blackened fallen tree and out the root end and the girl chases a mouse that has a key and shouts at him, but a frozen river cracks beneath her feet; she pulls back and walks to a bridge where she finds a soldier frozen in a guard hut and when he comes to life, he waves his sword and forbids her to cross the bridge.
► A young woman and a soldier enter a dark realm and chase a mouse; a swarm of thousands of mice become a tall mouse figure and the soldier hits it with a sword to no avail when a tall circus robot appears and calls out, "I have your key!" and the girl and soldier hurry away to a palace in another realm. Men dressed as clockwork mice torment and chase a ballerina for several seconds. In a clockwork room we see a platform on which a young woman rides as time is shown passing at her home

 - we see people at a party there moving in slow motion.
► An owl chases a mouse that it does not catch; the mouse is caught in a basket and escapes and a cook says she is not going to cook any mouse that is caught. An owl dive-bombs a teen girl, but does no harm. A mouse shakes his fist and waves a finger at a man.
► A woman has a wide black crack down her cheek and small cracks on her forehead and other cheek, like an old doll with cracking skin. An elderly man wears an eye patch. A fairy has large translucent butterfly wings and flies a few times. Citizens of a flower realm have roses and leaves for hair, while those of a snowflake realm have icicles and snow for hair and fingers and the men have icicle beards.
► A man and his teen daughter argue a few times. A teen girl shouts at a mouse several times and she argues with a man a few times. A teen girl argues with a fairy for several seconds and the fairy shouts. A boy startles a teen girl by shoving a nutcracker soldier into her face and telling her it's her boyfriend. A young woman stands on a rooftop and cries about missing her deceased mother. A regent tells a teen girl, "No one ever escapes from the Fourth Realm," and says its leader is a queen that was banished for trying to take over other realms. A woman says the ex-queen is on the warpath and "We'll be annihilated!" Two inept palace soldiers say, "We're trained killers!" We hear that a woman died (no cause is stated) and we see her husband and children looking sad. We hear that a woman was an orphan.
► A man sneezes white material onto another man's shoulder. A sugarplum fairy pulls out a piece of her hair and eats it.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms LANGUAGE 1

 - 1 mild scatological term (pooh), name-calling (silly, dirty rotter, dirty rat, horrid little mouse, diabolical rodent, lazy, coward, ridiculous, maniac, foolish, horrible), 1 possible religious exclamation (sounds like Oh My God), we see a sleigh filled with three violinists and led by sculptures of reindeer with no Santa. | profanity glossary |

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms SUBSTANCE USE

 - None.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms DISCUSSION TOPICS

 - Intelligent women leaders, fantasy, unusual people, imagination, adventure, danger, conflict, betrayal, revenge, good vs. evil, developing good character, trust, friendship, responsibility, courage, confidence, determination, cooperation, reaching a goal, reconciliation, saving the world.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms MESSAGE

 - Bright young people can navigate strong challenges and change the world.