History Film / TheNutcrackerAndTheFourRealms

** [[spoiler:The mice and Mother Ginger]] once it's revealed that [[spoiler: the latter was framed]].

* CreepyGood: [[spoiler: The clowns and the mice ''look'' straight out of a horror movie, and scare Clara and Phillip quite a bit, but they're ultimately good people.]]

* FamilyVersusCareer: It turns out that [[spoiler: Clara's mother]] had to deal with this. [[spoiler: She had to split her time between being Queen of the Realms and raising a family in the real world.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: When Clara and the army start attacking Mother Ginger's realm, a snippet of the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" starts to play in the background. [[spoiler: Guess who the real villain of the movie is.]]
* FourIsDeath: The Fourth Realm is the devastated domain of [[spoiler: the supposed]] BigBad Mother Ginger.

* GadgeteerGenius: Clara wants to become this, Drosselmeyer is this, and [[spoiler: Marie was this -- in a BIG way]].

* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: The MagicalLand was once ruled by TheHighQueen, [[spoiler: Marie, Clara's mum]], but after her death Mother Ginger decided she wanted to take the crown. The result of this was the Land of Amusements' destruction, but she's still out there. [[spoiler:Then it's revealed it was Sugar Plum Fairy who wanted to conquer all the realms. Mother Ginger was framed.]]
* GoodAllAlong: Among the many minions of Mother Ginger, [[spoiler: '''all of them''']] turn out to be this when [[spoiler: she turns out to be this as well because Sugar Plum was EvilAllAlong]].

* TheHighQueen: [[spoiler: Marie, Clara's mother,]] once ruled the land. Without her, there is now discord among the regents, with Mother Ginger pitted against the other three.

* IfICantHaveYou: Ties into the BigBad's motivation. [[spoiler: Sugar Plum was unable to accept that Marie loved her family, and especially daughter Clara, more than her world and especially her first creation, so Sugar decided she would conquer all the realms and have revenge upon Clara in the bargain.]]

* ItWasWithYouAllAlong: In the late going, Clara realizes that [[spoiler: "Everything you need is inside" has a double meaning. The egg is actually a music box with a mirror, literally showing her that everything she needs (courage, skill, etc.) is inside HER]]. She later applies this to [[spoiler: the remaining regents, explaining how they can rule the Four Realms on their own while she returns to the outside world]].

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Clara was told stories of a MagicalLand by her mother, but not that it's real, much less that [[spoiler: her mother ''created it and its people'' and was its original ruler]]. In fact, [[spoiler: Marie and her husband did intend to reveal all one day but her deathly illness prevented it]].

* MetaOrigin: In the original book while the Nutcracker becoming a toy is fully explained in the back story exactly why Clara and Fritz's toys come alive and how the land of dolls came to be are never explained. In this movie all the MagicalLand characters are all explained to be toys brought to life by Marie's invention.

* NiceMice: Subverted with Mother Ginger's furry minions, who in the end [[spoiler: turn out to be a ''double'' subversion, just like their mistress]].

* NostalgicMusicBox: Clara finds one in [[spoiler: that it's what the egg-shaped box she ''finally'' manages to open actually is]]. The nostalgia comes from [[spoiler: it being Marie's final gift to her, serving as a reminder to her daughter that everything she needs is inside]] ''and'' [[spoiler: the song it plays being meaningful to her father/Marie's husband]].

* OneBadMother: Mother Ginger's name and role fit the bill. [[spoiler: However, she turns out to be a subversion, as she really was GoodAllAlong.]]
* OneDimensionalThinking: An egregious version. [[spoiler:The villainous Sugar Plum Fairy]] is not restrained whatsoever, absolutely knows what's going to happen when the machine fires, and could literally take two steps in any direction [[spoiler:OR take flight]], but instead of moving out of the path of the machine, [[spoiler: doomed Sugar Plum]] just '''stands there and screams'''. TooDumbToLive indeed.

* PlotCoupon: The key that can open the box and [[spoiler: activate The Engine]].

* RealWomenDontWearDresses: Clara isn't especially tomboyish, but she prefers studying science to attending parties, and isn't good at hair or fashion. Additionally, [[spoiler: the hyper-feminine Sugar Plum is the selfish bad guy and the tough, pants-wearing Mother Ginger is secretly good.]]

* TheReveal: It's the top of the third act, the battle against Mother Ginger is about to commence, and then [[spoiler: Clara learns too late that Sugar Plum is the ''real'' threat]].
* RewatchBonus: [[spoiler: Everything learned about Sugar Plum is cast in a new light now that the viewers know her true intentions from the start.]]
* RubeGoldbergDevice: Clara is working on one of these as the film opens, establishing her GadgeteerGenius bonafides. Amusingly, [[ShoutOut she's playing a game of Mouse Trap]]

* SecretLegacy: Clara has this. [[spoiler: She's the princess of the Four Realms, being the daughter of their ''creator'' Marie.]]
* SequelHook: In the denouement, [[spoiler: Clara leaves the regents in charge but promises to visit the Four Realms again]].

* SuccessionCrisis: With TheHighQueen of the Four Realms dead, Mother Ginger has turned against the other regents in hope of becoming the new queen. Only the ''true'' inheritor of the throne can save the day. [[spoiler: In the end, Clara decides that she will return to London while the four regents -- Mother Ginger (who is innocent), Phillip (who replaces Sugar Plum), Shiver, and Hawthorne -- will rule together and equally.]]
* SugarApocalypse: The Fourth Realm underwent this, and Clara must now stop it from happening to the other three. Bonus points for being [[spoiler: a Sugar Plum Fairy Apocalypse]].

* TransformationRay: The inhabitants of the Four Realms were once toys, but they were transformed into living beings via this. [[spoiler: It can also reverse the process, but much to Sugar Plum's dismay, ''she's'' the one it zaps rather than her target, Mother Ginger.]]

* WalkingSpoiler: Turns out to be [[spoiler: two of them: Mother Ginger and Sugar Plum]].

* FourIsDeath: The Fourth Realm is the devastated domain of BigBad Mother Ginger.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Disney's pretty much picking up where ''Film/AliceInWonderland2010'' and [[Film/AliceThroughTheLookingGlass its sequel]] left off with this film -- turning a light fantasy about a young girl in a MagicalLand into TheHerosJourney with much higher stakes, with a similar whimsical/gothic visual aesthetic.

* WhipItGood: Mother Ginger is quite skilled at using a whip in battle.

* RedHerring: Mother Ginger was innocent the whole time. The real villain is Sugar Plum, who set the whole thing up to conquer the Four Realms.

* OneBadMother: Mother Ginger's name and role fit the bill. [[spoiler: However, she turns out to be a subvertion, as she really was GoodAllAlong.]]

* TownGirls: The three main female characters of this movie: Sugar Plum is the hyper-feminine, bubbly and high-pitch voiced regent of the Land of Sweets (femme), Mother Ginger is the regent of the fallen Land of Amusement, has a masculine-looking outfit and is a tough heroic rebel who carries around a whip (butch) and the protagonist Clara is the brainy, strategic, scientifically skilled and book smart leader of the Four Realms (neither).