Greece Hotels Travel - Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker
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List Price: $29.98
greece-hotels-travel.com Price: $20.97
Your Save: $ 9.01 ( 30% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Philips
Starring: Larissa Lezhnina, Victor Baranov, Piotr Russanov
Directed By: Victor Fedotov
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0044007017326
Format: Classical
Label: Philips
Manufacturer: Philips
Number Of Discs: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Philips
Region Code: 0
Release Date: 2000-12-12
Running Time: 101
Studio: Philips
Theatrical Release Date: 1994
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: A common man's point of view.
Comment: There are folks who have no idea what "The Nutcracker" is about. The largest metropolis, Atlanta, Ga. is a two and one half hour drive from where I live. So, it isn't too surprising to hear the word "No" when asking, "have you ever seen The Nutcracker"? You probably know something about the story, since you are reading this review, but may not know about THIS version. A few things you WON'T find in this version: 1) A beautiful green Christmas tree in the Stahlbaum living room. Instead there is a modernistic paper caricature of a tree, which later turns into a green tree and grows dimensionally. 2) Boys aggravating the girls. They are played by all girls. 3) A handsome wooden Nutcracker. Instead it is a quite ugly Rag doll. 4) Boy solders fighting the mice. They are all girls. It's OK, I love girls. 5) Computer animation. 6) Mother Gigogne and her Little Clowns 7) The Sugar-Plum Fairy. But, Masha (beautiful Larissa Lezhnina) dances her variation to the music "The Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy", so you are not going to miss that beautiful music, played on the celesta. An instrument heard for the first time in the "Nutcracker Suite" before the ballet was ever performed.
Something you WILL find in this version is the Dance of The Mirlitons (sometimes called Dance of the Reed Pipes) by three very remarkable children from the Vaganova Dance Academy (where Balanchine, Nureyev, and Baryshnikov got their early training). Their names are Tatiana Miltseva, Elena Chmil, and Artem Pykhachev. Oh, and one other thing you will get, is a nice booklet where I got some of this information.
The sets and costumes are sumptuous but on the pink side of pink. Whoever did the sets and lighting AND costumes loved pink. It's everywhere. Even the DVD keepcase is pink. This is a live production from the famous Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. Excellent sound quality, and audience participation. I believe you will like this example of classical ballet.
One other thing I would like to advise you of, DON'T believe everything you read in these reviews. Remember, these are personal (debatable) opinions, including this one. I do hope you learn something from this review, and that you find it useful...........Richard
Customer Rating:
Summary: A simple holiday story that can easily win its place as a cherished Christmas classic for children!
Comment: In the span of three years in which Jetlag Productions was GoodTimes Entertainment's primary and only low-budget animation division, the company managed to produce a total of three Christmas-themed animated adventures: "A Christmas Carol" in 1994, "Magic Gift of the Snowman" in 1995 and finally, "The Nutcracker" in the same year. If I were to categorize or list them from best to worst, I'd give the honor of best to "Magic Gift of the Snowman," with its touching (and original) themes and sweet songs, and worst, "A Christmas Carol" as a rather disappointing adaptation of Charles Dickens' Christmas story, with overall mediocre songs and not much ingenuity. That said, "The Nutcracker" comes as the middle child, being a rather sweet and well done holiday story. It doesn't have any particular strengths, but each element is strong enough to make together a very decent animated holiday treat, especially for children.
The tale of "The Nutcracker" is not easy to summarize in a short number of lines, with its jumping from reality to fantasy, and from the present to the past; it is based on E. T. Hoffmann's classic story of the nutcracker that came to life. One Christmas eve, little Marie and her brother Fritz receive a visit from their godfather Drosselmeyer. As a present, he awards them with a somewhat ugly nutcracked shaped as a royal soldier. Though Fritz is quickly bored with the gift, particularly after breaking its jaw, Marie is enchanted by it and saves it from Fritz's careless hands. Her godfather's gift does not end there, because he also shares with Marie the sad story of how the nutcracker came to be. The tragic story only strengthens the bond between the wooden nutcracker and the girl as she is slowly brought into a magical holiday adventure. The wicked seven-headed Mouse King makes an appearance and attempts to steal all of Marie's Christmas candy, but nutcracker, with the help of a weapon from one of Fritz' toy soldiers, is able to fight against the king and his many warriors. Nutcracker then takes Marie into his kingdom through a magic wardrobe. She is made the princess of the enchanted winter-land, only to return home unsure of whether her adventure had been a dream or a reality. Though her family is sure to doubt the existance of the Mouse King and the Marzipan castle, Marie is equally sure that her adventures are not the product of her dreams or imagination, and godfather Drosselmeyer does not doubt her word in the least bit.
Overall, Jetlag Productions scores with their adaptation of "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King," managing to deliver a cherish-able holiday classic that is, up to their standards, nicely crafted. Surely the quality of animation would disappoint anyone expecting a Christmas spectacle similar to "The Nutcracker Suite" segment in Walt Disney's "Fantasia" (1940), but for what it is Jetlag has done much worse. The characters are well-designed, using a rather soft palette of warm, smooth colors, avoiding over-saturation and an overall unappealing outlook. The voice acting is as bad and corny as can be expected from this particular producer. The same voices can be linked to a number of Jetlag Productions' titles, none of which have grand voice acting as one of their strengths. The songs are overall very nice; beginning with "Season Of Love," this song is surely to be cherished as a more than enjoyable retelling of the story to a very pleasant tune; "Dance Through The Night" could have been more magical, but is also a very nice song accompanying Marie's first visit to Candy Town. Finally, "A Dream Come True" concludes Marie's adventures as her dream of happiness next to her new friend, the nutcracker, comes true. "The Nutcracker" is a very enjoyable low-budget animated adventure, and consumer's expectations should not exceed what one would usually expect for this price. Highly recommended!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Lovely but Somewhat Lethargic
Comment: The sets are gorgeous, music and sound is fantastic, the costumes are very well done overall, although I agree with the other criticism of the Nutcracker looking ugly and not like a nutcracker at all. True, the children were all played by adults, and the boys were played by girls, it was a little distracting, but not a huge problem for me. You can see the orchestra director's hands waving around sometimes, but it made me smile and reminded me that - after all - it was performed live.
My problem was that so much of the dancing seemed to drag, as though they struggled or had no power behind the movements. The main performances were fine enough, but not very moving. There was little emotion from the dancers' faces to pull me in or make me feel, and they generally seemed lethargic, although it was probably due more to the choreography, than the dancers' abilities.
I would not recommend this version, and if I had watched it first, I would not have bought it. I prefer the dancing from the super-70's version with Baryshikov to this.
Overall, gorgeous sets, lovely costumes generally, wonderful orchestra and sound with live audience.
But strange lighting issues that were dim and pinkish was distracting, the dancing lacked power and emotion for me.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Loved it!
Comment: My 2 year old daughter loves this DVD!! She puts on the Nutcracker anytime that she thinks of it and dances, marches, and twirls! Great entertainment for both parents and kids! I watch her instead of the DVD. Even better when she wants to put on her leotard, tights, and ballet skirt!
Customer Rating:
Summary: No one mentioned these things....
Comment: I read all the reviews for this DVD, and chose it based on that; I had decided not to go for the "star" power of some of the others, and this one sounded good. I was disappointed however, that the nutcracker doll did not look like a soldier, it was very ugly, and looked like some kind of chinaman laborer, with a que! What!? Also, the boys were all played by girls in the party scene, somewhat distracting, and why is the main character called Masha, instead of Clara? Also, the Christmas tree was white, and then in the dream it was green, and you didn't see it grow. All these things bothered me, but the dancing and sets, and most of the costumes were good. A couple of things other people mentioned that bothered them, I either didn't notice, or did'nt detract from my enjoyment as much as the other things. I didn't notice if someone's feet were cut out of the frame, and the conductor's hands in the bottom of the frame, only reminded me that there was a live orchestra there, which is, after all, part of the performance. I kind of liked it.
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