Line #78 Film/TheNutcrackerAndTheFourRealms


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thenutcrackerandthefourrealms_6.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:''"The time has come."'']]
3	->''"It's Christmas Eve. A time of mystery, expectations... who knows what might happen?"''
4	-->-- '''Drosselmeyer'''
5
6	''The Nutcracker and the Four Realms'' is a Creator/WaltDisneyPictures fantasy film and a live-action adaptation of Creator/ETAHoffmann's novella ''Literature/TheNutcracker'' and Music/PyotrIlyichTchaikovsky's [[Theatre/TheNutcracker eponymous ballet]] as originally staged by Marius Petipa. It is directed by Creator/LasseHallstrom and written by Ashleigh Powell, with reshoots handled by Creator/JoeJohnston. It stars Creator/MackenzieFoy, Creator/MorganFreeman, Creator/KeiraKnightley, Creator/HelenMirren, Jayden Fowora-Knight, and Creator/RichardEGrant. Dancers such as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misty_Copeland Misty Copeland]] of the American Ballet Theatre perform the dance numbers.
7
8	All the young Clara (Foy) wants is a key – a one-of-a-kind key that will unlock a box that holds a priceless gift from her late mother. A golden thread, presented to her at godfather Drosselmeyer's (Freeman) annual holiday party, leads her to the coveted key—which promptly disappears into a strange and mysterious parallel world. It's there that Clara encounters a soldier named Phillip (Fowora-Knight), a gang of mice and the regents who preside over three Realms: Land of Snowflakes, Land of Flowers and Land of Sweets. Clara and Phillip must brave the ominous Fourth Realm, home to the tyrant Mother Ginger (Mirren), to retrieve Clara's key and hopefully return harmony to the unstable world.
9
10	'''Previews:''' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ktuvx9hrMw Trailer 1]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXfxLIuNJvw Trailer 2]].
11	----
12	!!''The Nutcracker and the Four Realms'' contains examples of:
13	* ActionGirl: Clara and Mother Ginger are quite tough fighters in the final battle.
14	* AdaptationalHeroism:
15	** [[spoiler:The mice and Mother Ginger]] once it's revealed that [[spoiler:the latter was framed]].
16	** Fritz does not fight with Clara over the nutcracker toy and damage it.
17	* AdaptationalNationality: Where the original novella takes place in Germany and was published in 1816, and the ballet version takes place in Russia, this version's "real world" scenes are set in VictorianLondon. Oddly, no character names are changed to reflect this; the family is still named Stahlbaum.
18	* AdaptationalVillainy:
19	** Mother Ginger is a cheery woman with many children in the ballet, while here she's a tyrant and the main villain. She's a sort of CompositeCharacter, with the role of the Mouse Queen of the novella merged in hers, and on top of that [[spoiler:it's subverted as she's GoodAllAlong]].
20	** [[spoiler:Played straight with the ''actual'' villain -- The Sugar Plum Fairy!]]
21	* AdaptedOut: A ''lot'' -- the Mouse Queen and almost everyone related to the backstory of Princess Pirlipat are eliminated.
22	* AlasPoorVillain: In the end, [[spoiler:the actual BigBad Sugar Plum]] was turned back into a lifeless porcelain doll as punishment for the crimes of attempted takeover of the Four Realms and treason against Clara and the other regents. Despite this, Clara briefly mourns for the loss of [[spoiler:villainous Sugar Plum]], who wasn't only one of mother's favorite toys, but also a friend who felt hurt by her mother's supposed abandonment.
23	* AllThereInTheManual: Additional {{Backstory}} appears in the {{Novelization}} ''The Secret of the Realms''.
24	* AmusementParkOfDoom: The Fourth Realm '''was''' the Land of Amusements.
25	* AndStarring: As seen above on the poster, Helen Mirren gets the ''With'' credit and Morgan Freeman the ''And'' credit.
26	* AwardBaitSong: "Fall on Me" is performed by Andrea Bocelli (who's had experience with this trope going back 20 years to ''WesternAnimation/QuestForCamelot'''s "The Prayer") and his son Matteo.
27	* {{Ballet}}: This is used to present the {{Backstory}} of the MagicalLand to Clara, with Misty Copeland appearing as the lead dancer. Another such sequence is part of the CreativeClosingCredits.
28	* BeautyBrainsAndBrawn: Between the main female characters of this movie:
29	** Sugar Plum (Beauty) - Bubbly, feminine and regent of the Land of Sweets.
30	** Clara (Brains) - Strategic, scientifically skilled, book smart, and uses her wits.
31	** Mother Ginger (Brawn) - Tough heroic rebel who carries around a whip.
32	* BeautyEqualsGoodness: The intact three realms and their people are amazingly lovely, especially compared to the AmusementParkOfDoom that is the Fourth Realm, ruled over by the now-broken traitor Mother Ginger. [[spoiler:Ultimately subverted, verging on BeautyIsBad, in the case of the ''actual'' villain Sugar Plum, who brags to Clara that she is far more beautiful -- nay, perfect -- than she is, while Mother Ginger is a good, brave woman framed.]]
33	* BehindTheBlack: After Phillip and Clara's first encounter, he turns to his horse Jingles, who was apparently standing there just off-screen the whole time. Yet Clara had paid no attention to Jingles up to that point, despite the fact that given the direction she approached from and the way the guard booth was facing, the horse should have been the ''first'' thing she noticed.
34	* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler:Sugar Plum. She acts all jittery and sweet and her hair is made out of cotton candy, but deep down, her heart is purely sour.]]
35	* BrainyBrunette: Clara has long brown hair and is an intelligent, scientifically skilled girl.
36	* BrokenPedestal: Mother Ginger was once a good regent, but then came the destruction of the Fourth Realm, all because she [[spoiler:was framed by Sugar Plum, who in turn becomes a serious case of this for Clara and everyone else while Mother Ginger gets her pedestal rebuilt]].
37	* CanonForeigner: Hawthorne is the only one of the four regents who doesn't have a corresponding character in the ballet.
38	* CassandraTruth: Nobody believed [[spoiler:Mother Ginger]] until it was too late to stop [[spoiler:the Sugar Plum Fairy from taking control of the Engine and creating her army]].
39	* CastingGag: In the [[Film/TheNutcrackerIn3D last adaptation]] of ''The Nutcracker'', Creator/RichardEGrant played the heroine's father. Here he's been cast as Shiver, Regent of the Land of Snowflakes.
40	* TheCavalry: In the climax, Clara gets extra help fighting the BigBad when [[spoiler:Mother Ginger]] enters the fray.
41	* CircusOfFear: The skirt of Mother Ginger's HumongousMecha doubles as a circus tent full of her minions.
42	* ClockPunk: The core aesthetic of the Four Realms, which turn out to be located ''within'' a clock.
43	* CompositeCharacter: Mother Ginger is her ballet counterpart combined with the Mouse Queen of the novella. The mice, who together form the Mouse King, are among her many minions (and in a way are a "composite character" of their own).
44	* CoolKey: The key that's coveted by Clara. Beyond opening that box and revealing "Everything that you need", it's capable of [[spoiler:activating The Engine, the machine her mother created from which the very existence of the Four Realms came. It can produce living toy soldiers, an army of which could decide the fate of the war depending upon who controls it]], which is why others covet it as well.
45	* CostumePorn: This ''is'' a Disney production after all - the costumes, even in the real world, are ''gorgeous''.
46	* 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.]]
47	* CreativeClosingCredits: The ballet dancers perform another number during them.
48	* DarkIsNotEvil: [[spoiler:During the first half of the movie, we are lead to believe that the intimidating-looking Mother Ginger who runs the rundown Land of Amusement tried to overthrow the other regents but we soon find out she was framed]]. This would contrast with [[spoiler:Sugar Plum's]] LightIsNotGood.
49	* DarkReprise: There's a dark reprise of "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" in the second half of the first trailer.
50	* DeathByAdaptation: Clara's mother, although a minor character, is alive and well in all other versions of the story.
51	* DecompositeCharacter: Clara and her mother, Marie. Marie was the main character's name in the original novella, whereas Clara is her name in the ballet. Marie's brother and sister in the novella are transferred to Clara in this movie. They both share a godfather (Drosselmeyer) and in this version [[spoiler:become queen at the end of their respective stories, though in Clara's case, it's because she inherited the title from her mother instead of the land bestowing it upon her like they did Marie]].
52	* DidIMentionItsChristmas: Christmas Eve only affects the story in that Clara receives the box as her recently deceased mother's final present to her, and from there is led to the key at Drosselmeyer's party that evening.
53	* EvilAllAlong: At the end of Act Two, [[spoiler:Sugar Plum (as well as the deleted character Dew Drop)]], are revealed to be this, having [[spoiler:framed Mother Ginger and her minions for all of the destruction that's happened so far. Sugar Plum intends to become queen.]]
54	* EyepatchOfPower: As in most adaptations, Drosselmeyer has an eyepatch.
55	* 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.]]
56	* FatalFlaw: Clara's is her self-pity. She is only concerned with how much ''she'' misses her late mother, dismissing her father's feelings for wanting to keep up public appearances. In her quest, Clara is quick to run into danger for the mysterious key to learn its significance to Marie, putting her companions at risk.
57	* FisherKingdom: The novelization says The Realms are a mild example, having flowers spring up under Marie's feet when she's happy and it will rain when she's sad.
58	* {{Foil}}: Clara and the Sugar Plum Fairy. [[spoiler:Both are consumed with grief over the loss of Marie, and each are her "creations" in different ways. But where Clara learns to not close herself off and try to understand other people's feelings, Sugar wants to conquer the Four Realms in what amounts to a giant tantrum.]]
59	* {{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.]]
60	* FourIsDeath: The Fourth Realm is the devastated domain of [[spoiler:the supposed]] BigBad Mother Ginger.
61	* FrenchJerk: [[spoiler:The Sugar Plum Fairy]] is an evil person who wants world domination. [[spoiler:When Mother Ginger tries to reason with Sugar Plum, she rejects Ginger and tries to turn her into a toy anyways. Plus she betrays Clara and says that Marie "abandoned" her, which is a straight-up lie.]]
62	* GadgeteerGenius: Clara wants to become this, Drosselmeyer is this, and [[spoiler:Marie was this -- in a BIG way]].
63	* GenderFlip: Shiver is a gender-flipped equivalent to the Snow Queen of the ballet, though it should be noted that some productions do add a Snow King ''alongside'' her.
64	* GiantWoman: Mother Ginger's mechanical is a puppet-like one.
65	* 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.]]
66	* 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]].
67	* GorgeousPeriodDress: Plenty of them. Quite expected with yet another live action adaptation of a FairyTale by Disney, after ''Film/{{Alice in Wonderland\|2010}}'', ''Film/{{Cinderella\|2015}}'' and ''Film/{{Beauty and the Beast\|2017}}''.
68	* GracefulLadiesLikePurple: The Sugar Plum Fairy's beautiful gown is purple.
69	* GratuitousPrincess: The film adds a 'princess' subplot not originally in the ''Nutcracker'' story. [[spoiler:Clara is the princess of the Four Realms because her mother was its queen before she divided her power between the regents and left for good. The evil Sugar Plum regards herself as the ''true'' princess and wants to destroy Clara as part of taking over as queen. In the end, Sugar Plum is turned back into a doll, Phillip is installed as her replacement as regent, and Clara chooses not to become queen.]]
70	* {{Grimmification}}: Somewhat in terms of plot structure of the ballet instead of Clara and Phillip helping defeat the Mouse King in a simple battle between mice and toy soldiers 'neath the Christmas tree, they're saving a MagicalLand from a SugarApocalypse caused by a '''major''' case of AdaptationalVillainy. However compared to Hoffmann's original story most of his darker elments are still removed. There's no battle to leave the mouse king bathed in his own blood, there's no candy people being eaten alive and left for dead and most assuredly your Disney movie did not feature people breaking their jaws trying to chew a nut.
71	* GuileHero: Clara defeats the BigBad by [[spoiler:reprogramming the machine so it will fire on the position of the person activating it. She tries reasoning with Sugar Plum, but if that fails - and it does - she knows Sugar Plum will press the button and defeat herself]].
72	* TheHerosJourney: Clara undertaking this to save the Four Realms is the core of the story.
73	* HeroesPreferSwords: {{Deuteragonist}} Captain Phillip Hoffman carries around a sword with him.
74	* 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.
75	* HumongousMecha: A giant replica of Mother Ginger, whose skirt conceals a CircusOfFear, must be braved by our heroes.
76	* IveHeardOfThatWhatIsIt: When Clara explains that the reason she was in the kingdom was because she was looking for her Christmas present, Hawthorne exclaims, "I love Christmas!" Then he asks, "What's Christmas?"
77	* AnIcePerson: Shiver, the Regent of the Land of Snowflakes.
78	* 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.]]
79	* InNameOnly: As an adaptation of both the novella and ballet, very little is retained from either version's actual plots beyond a Christmas party setting up a journey to a MagicalLand. While many characters appear from both versions, their roles in this story are significantly different.
80	* ITasteDelicious: Sugar Plum occasionally munches on her own cotton candy hair!
81	* 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]].
82	* JumpScare: When the Matryoshka clown appears in front of Clara's face out of nowhere.
83	* KeystoneArmy: The soldiers all stop moving when [[spoiler:the villain Sugar Plum]] is defeated.
84	* LadyAndKnight: A non-romantic example (or as far as we know) with Clara and Captain Phillip.
85	* LamarckWasRight: Turns out Clara inherited her mother's [[spoiler:gift for mechanical engineering (as well as the throne of the Four Realms)]].
86	* LastSecondChance: At the climax, Clara tries one last time to reason with [[spoiler:the villainous Sugar Plum]]. It doesn't work, but Clara planned for that, [[spoiler:rigging The Engine to turn Sugar Plum back into a toy if she activated it again]].
87	* LightIsNotGood: [[spoiler:The girly, brightly colored Sugar Plum Fairy is revealed to be a BitchInSheepsClothing who is the actual one that wanted to overthrow all the regents.]] This would contrast with [[spoiler:Mother Ginger's]] DarkIsNotEvil.
88	* LivingToys: The MagicalLand's key residents are all toys that were transformed into living beings. Note Mother Ginger's ''cracked'' skin.
89	* 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]].
90	* MagicalLand: The film's primary setting.
91	* MetaOrigin: In the original book while the Nutcracker becoming a toy is fully explained in the backstory 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.
92	* MissingMom: Clara's mother, Marie, passed away from a terminal illness before the action begins.
93	* MonsterClown: Clara and Phillip encounter evil Harlequins in the employ of Mother Ginger. [[spoiler:Subverted because they were GoodAllAlong.]]
94	* MythologyGag:
95	** There's a silhouetted orchestra and conductor providing the music for the {{Backstory}} {{Ballet}}, as seen in ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'', which featured a segment based on "The Nutcracker Suite".
96	** Marie is the name of the heroine of ''The Nutcracker and the Mouse King'', but Clara is the name of the ballet's heroine. In this adaptation, Clara's mother is named Marie to split the difference.
97	** The Mouse King is a multi-headed mouse in the novella and ballet. In this version, it's not a single organism, but the result of ''hundreds'' of mice working together as one, closer to the traditional myth where a Rat King is a hive mind of several mice with their tails tied in a ball.
98	** The leader of these mice -- it steals the key from Clara -- is named Mouserinks, the given name of the Mouse Queen in the novella (Madam Mouserinks).
99	** Mother Ginger's HumongousMecha counterpart having a CircusOfFear beneath its skirt is a dark version of the traditional Petipa staging of her scene in the ballet, in which her children emerge from beneath her comically oversized skirt.
100	** Drosselmeyer is often, if not traditionally, associated with owls in stagings of the ballet. Here, he has one as a pet.
101	** Phillip's last name (Hoffman) is a reference to the author of ''The Nutcracker and the Mouse King''.
102	* NamedByTheAdaptation: The Nutcracker's name is Phillip Hoffman in this version.
103	* NiceMice: Subverted with Mother Ginger's furry minions, who in the end [[spoiler:turn out to be a ''double'' subversion, just like their mistress]].
104	* NoOntologicalInertia: Reverting the BigBad is enough to deactivate all the tin soldiers, as they were bound to her will.
105	* 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]].
106	* TheNounAndTheNoun: The title. It doesn't ''quite'' count as CharacterNameAndTheNounPhrase because the nutcracker's proper name isn't used.
107	* {{Novelization}}: The "extended novelization" ''The Secret of the Realms'', published in September 2018, is so called because it goes into more detail on the {{Backstory}} and specifically Clara's mother Marie.
108	* OneBadMother: Mother Ginger's name and role fit the bill. [[spoiler:However, she turns out to be a subversion, as she really was GoodAllAlong.]]
109	* 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.
110	* TheOwlKnowingOne: Wise old Drosselmeyer has an owl as a pet for this reason and MythologyGag.
111	* PlantPerson: Hawthorne, who has authority over the Land of Flowers.
112	* PlotCoupon: The key that can open the box and [[spoiler:activate The Engine]].
113	* PreMortemOneLiner: Before the Engine fires upon [[spoiler:the Sugar Plum Fairy]], Clara says in a MeaningfulEcho, "You were right, [[spoiler:Sugar Plum]]: I am ''every inch'' my mother's daughter."
114	* PromotedToLoveInterest: Inverted. Unlike in the novella and ballet, there is no romance between Clara and Phillip.
115	* RaceLift: Both Drossylmeyer and the Nutcracker are played by black actors.
116	* 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.]]
117	* RedHerring: For those familiar with the book, the film initially makes it look like the Mouse King is going to be the villain, as expected. It turns out to be Mother Ginger instead. [[spoiler:Except Mother Ginger is GoodAllLong, having been framed by the ''real'' villain, Sugar Plum.]]
118	* RedIsHeroic: Brave Captain Phillip Hoffman's coat consists of mostly red.
119	* 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]].
120	* RewatchBonus: [[spoiler:Everything learned about Sugar Plum is cast in a new light now that the viewers know her true intentions from the start.]]
121	* 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]].
122	* SceneryPorn: Goes along with GorgeousPeriodDress. [[Film/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe Narnia]]-esque snow covered fir forest, red castle with waterfalls, gilding everywhere... You name it.
123	* SecondaryCharacterTitle: Clara is very much the protagonist, so the title counts as this.
124	* SecretLegacy: Clara has this. [[spoiler:She's the princess of the Four Realms, being the daughter of their ''creator'' Marie.]]
125	* SequelHook: In the denouement, [[spoiler:Clara leaves the regents in charge but promises to visit the Four Realms again]].
126	* SheCleansUpNicely: [[spoiler:Her face still looks cracked, but Mother Ginger looks absolutely beautiful when she's all dressed up for Clara's coronation.]]
127	* ShoutOut: The [[Film/TheWizardOfOz Yellow Brick Road]] can be seen in the background in The Land of Sweets.
128	* ShowWithinAShow: The {{Backstory}} {{Ballet}}.
129	* {{Sidekick}}: Sugar Plum ''had'' one, the tiny sprite Dew Drop, in the original script, but while the character had voicework recorded by Creator/MirandaHart, she does not appear in the finished film.
130	* SlidingScaleOfLivingToys: The residents of the Four Realms are at the "Real and Living to Everyone" level.
131	* StandardSnippet: It's based on ''The Nutcracker'' so "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" naturally has to show up. The trailers' music is nothing but that, ''twice'' for the first trailer alone (one classic reprise, and one DarkReprise).
132	* 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.]]
133	* 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]].
134	* TenderTomboyishnessFoulFemininity: By the end of the movie intelligent BrainyBrunette Clara and ActionGirl Mother Ginger have to fight to try and stop the [[spoiler:the high-pitch voiced, dress-wearing Land of Sweets regent, Sugar Plum]]
135	* ThemeNaming: Hawthorne (referring to a type of flowering tree/shrub) is the Regent of the Land of Flowers, and Shiver is a [[{{Pun}} cool name]] for the Regent of the Land of Snowflakes.
136	* ThoseTwoGuys: Harlequin and Cavalier.
137	* TomboyAndGirlyGirl:
138	** Mother Ginger and Sugar Plum. Mother Ginger is scarcely seen in anything but a masculine-looking outfit and is a GadgeteerGenius and [[spoiler:a heroic rebel who doesn't dress up until Clara's coronation after the climax]], while Sugar Plum is sweet and hyper-feminine to the point of being practically pink all over—even her ''voice'' is higher than her actress's natural voice.
139	** Clara and Louise. Clara is a GadgeteerGenius who turns out to be a [[SpiritedYoungLady badass princess]] and spends a huge portion of the movie in military dress, while Louise is a ProperLady who concerns herself with propriety and not just her own looks but also Clara's.
140	* 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 SpiritedYoungLady Clara is the brainy, strategic, scientifically skilled and book smart leader of the Four Realms (neither).
141	* 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.]]
142	* VictorianLondon: Clara and her family live here.
143	* WalkingSpoiler: Turns out to be [[spoiler:two of them: Mother Ginger and Sugar Plum]].
144	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: After Clara and Phillip make it out of the Fourth Realm with the key, the rest of the troops who accompanied them, many of whom were last seen being sucked into the ground, are never mentioned again (apart from the two comic-relief guards, who reappear just before Clara returns home, with no explanation of how they escaped).
145	* WingedHumanoid: Sugar Plum, although she keeps her fairy wings retracted most of the time.
146	* WinterRoyalLady: Shiver, as the Regent of the Land of Snowflakes, is a gender-flipped version.
147	* TheWormThatWalks: The mice combine to make a large humanoid mouse.
148	* TheXOfY: The names of the intact realms: The Land of Sweets, the Land of Flowers, etc.
149	** The novelization is titled ''The Secret of the Realms''.
150	** A picture book tie-in has the title ''The Dance of the Realms''.
151	* YearInsideHourOutside: The primary action takes place over the course of a few hours in the real world, but longer in the MagicalLand, ala ''Film/AliceInWonderland2010''.
152	* YourMagicsNoGoodHere: The novelization says Marie's inventions such as the machine that brings toys to life wouldn't work on Earth and that The Realms' citizens would probably turn back into toys. At the end of the novelization, Clara intends to work on a way for them to be able to visit.
153	* ZergRush: Mother Ginger's giant mecha is taken down by the tin soldiers all climbing the skirts.
154	----

Context Film / TheNutcrackerAndTheFourRealms