Product Details

• Directors: Carroll Ballard
• Format: Color
• Studio: Goodtimes Home Video
• Run Time: 84 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000KSYMVU
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #158,075 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

A magical movie starring the Pacific Northwest Ballet, based on the original production conceived by Maurice Sendak.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Finally on an authorized DVD . . . BUT . . ., December 29, 2011

By 

Mark (Little Falls, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nutcracker: The Motion Picture (DVD)

At long last, "Nutcracker, the Motion Picture", Carroll Ballard's film of the Pacific Northwest Ballet's Maurice Sendak designed production is available on an official Region One DVD from MGM, the film's current owner. However, the disc is part of Fox/MGM's manufacture-on-demand "Studio Classics" series. What this means is that you will receive a DVD-R of the film that has been burned just for you based on your order. That's OK, as we shall see, but some may be taken aback by the paucity of extras on the disc. Also, be warned that the disc may not play in anything other than a stand-alone DVD player. Playback on a computer, for instance, is not guaranteed, and since a DVD-R disc remains photosensitive even after it has been burned, keep it out of strong light.

The first thing you see on the disc after selecting the feature is a warning card that states that the film was mastered from the "best materials available". This is typically studio talk for "we can't find the negative or a decent inter-positive, or it has been destroyed, or the producers won't let us have it, or we don't want to pay to take the film out of the vault and rescan it". Fortunately, what they did have on hand is serviceable. The 16:9 widescreen presentation seems to be taken from a high quality print, it is clean and exhibits good color, but is very slightly soft throughout and has varying contrast with considerable grain seen in the shadows. It is possibly the same copy that has been used for the various cable TV entities and streaming services that show the film, although compared against the download available from Amazon, the DVD's color seems more accurate. There is little in the way of digital artifacts present. The audio is clear and well balanced two channel stereo. So technically speaking, this is far from the best transfer possible, but it's still solid enough to make it worth obtaining if all you have been watching over the years is the 24 year old Paramount VHS cassette. If you can find the film on a good streaming service you won't be picking up a great deal quality wise, but you will get your own permanent copy and one extra thing: the movie's trailer, interesting to the film's fans because it uses alternate shots and sound effects that do not appear in the feature.

The disc comes in a standard Amray box but for some reason, the front photo is not the Sendak illustration and logotype that was part of the movie's original promotional materials, but instead is of a generic "Clara" and a ballet corps that seems to be stock photography. The back cover has a still from the actual film.

It's a shame that MGM has so little faith in this picture that it cannot see its way clear to a conventional release with better extras and a more polished transfer (the film screams for a Blu-ray disc). I would have loved to hear a commentary track with Sendak, Ballard, Kent Stowall and the principal dancers, and perhaps some other material. But it seems that this will have to suffice.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Favorite Nutcracker of All Time, November 23, 2007

By 

Stella Macy "Stella" (Austin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nutcracker: The Motion Picture (VHS Tape)

This Nutcracker, with Maurice Sendak visuals, is a hard act to follow. This Drosselmeyer is the one TRUE version - in my opinion. But then again: everyone is perfect in this version. If you want the ballet to come alive for as it never has before..............or if you have a child in your life whose interest in movement, music and classical style you'd like to ignite ( WITHOUT turning to some awful animation or off- the-mark hipster version of a classic) then, this is your film. It's hard to convey its excellence. But I highly recommend this as a gift for any one of any age as a holiday tradition. You'll be carried into another world - and you'll never regret it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW! I found it on Video On Demand, September 26, 2010

By 

P. Christle (New Haven, IN, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nutcracker: The Motion Picture (VHS Tape)

Just by accident, today I found Nutcracker: The Motion Picture available on Amazon's Video On Demand for under $10. Half the details and all the reviews there are for another film, but I bought the download and I indeed got "Nutcracker, the Motion Picture." Needless to say, I am thrilled to death because (1) I don't own a VCR, and (2) I watch all my DVDs on my computer anyway, so having the film as a digital download rather than a physical DVD is not an issue. Since I bought it, I can save it as a data file to a disc for storage, if I want to. I still hope it comes out on DVD someday, but at least I can watch it this Christmas. Last year, it wasn't even shown on any channel I have access to. The sound is good. The colors are bright. The picture is sharp. This is a great deal!