A Nutcracker Christmas (2016)

the audience applauded

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The first temptation is to criticize it. without mercy. for flaws, for sugar exces, for the story who is not only predictable but ...fake. but the ballet moments are good motif for be lenient. because, in essence, it is only a Hallmark film. not the best, not the worse. with a nice pretext and a not credible plot but that is not the great sin. maybe, the performances are not the most inspired . but the film works. and it is not surprise - the love stories are useful heart for each film of genre.

A young ballet prodigy follows in the steps of her aunt who is helping to raise her after her mother dies. Young Sadie (Sophia Lucia) is becoming the ballet dancer that her aunt Lilly (Amy Ackler) had aspired to be, even making it to the New York Ballet production of The Nutcracker only to drop out when she learns of the death of her sister. After eight years of absence, Lilly finds herself accompanying Sadie to Philadelphia where Sadie is offered the lead in the local production of The Nutcracker. However, the director turns out to be Mark (Sascha Radetsky), Lilly's one time boyfriend in New York, whom have not seen one another in eight years. There breakup had not been a happy one therefore much tension is experienced during the first couple of weeks. In the meantime, hard feelings begin to melt away as the two previous lovers find a mutual interest in Sadie's training. Through several mishaps, the three of them end up with the leading roles in the production. Although at times the story is quiet predictable, the last twenty minutes of the movie brings the rest of the story to a grand ending as the dance company performs a great rendition of The Nutcracker. Throughout the movie there is a simple dialogue that blooms in the end!

Amy Acker as Lily and Sascha Radetsky as Mark play ballet dancers and former flames that are reunited years later when Lily's niece is cast as Clara in a production of The Nutcracker that Mark is directing. Lily long ago left the ballet world and Mark after the death of her sister. Will they reunite, will the ballet go on? A delightful movie answers all of that and more. Worth a watch!

First off the cast is good. There have been ballet movies with less than convincing looking people acting as ballet dancers. In this movie the main dancing leads are dancers. A familiar face from Center Stage, Sascha Radetsky plays the lead dancer/ ballet director. Amy Acker has a beautiful face and a ballerina look - and her dance sequences are convincing as she is an ex dancer. The little girl her niece can dance too. The two main leads looked a little old for the earlier time period since there was an 8 year gap.On the plus side, it's good to have a Hallmark movie set somewhere else than a struggling small town with a failing business. The Nutcracker itself was beautifully done.On the minus side, the story is a little irritating. They were both annoying. On her side, if she wanted to dance it was her choice kind of even though she may have hurt herself. On his side if couldn't she dance another night? There must have been a few performances. After all dancers sub for each other all the time from injury etc. She didn't have to dance on the very night her sister died. Another less than convincing thing is the way the other dance moms were so against the nepotism then changed their minds so quickly at the performance was fake and contrived. These pseudo dramatic episodes can be overly fake in Hallmark movies.Worth one watch