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It is Inside of You


Disney's The Nutcracker and the Four Realms offers a great whimsical and adventurous side to the Nutcracker ballet along with many other things, but the part that I couldn't let go of while driving home was the moral of the story. A moral that is essential in this day in age where if one is considered different they aren't enough, and that moral is, "everything you need is inside." (This article will have spoilers, if you haven't seen the film it's okay to look away.)

The protagonist, Clara, has lost her mother at the start of the film, and the audience isn't informed on how she met her end, and with loss in the air comes confusion and none seem it as much as Clara. Her older sister is shown as beautiful and dutiful as she does whatever her father asks, yet she is also kind and caring for her younger sister's grief. Her younger brother is playful but a bit dopey and doesn't seem to really understand the impact of the loss yet. The father (Matthew Macfadyen) at the start of the story is trying to hold his family together so he hides his true emotions from his children and tells them to act as would be expected from society, yet deep down the father mourns deeply for his wife as is shown while the story progresses. The father decides to give his children early Christmas presents to cheer them up, gifts that belong to the mother and ones she wanted them to have. The oldest daughter, Louise, receives a dress from her mother which causes her father to display some of his grief as she looks like her mother, this being an interesting fact as Clara is said to look more like their mother. Although Clara did not inherit a dress that seems meant for her, she did receive an egg shaped silver lock-box with a star shaped keyhole, and along with the box is a card that says the key words of the film, "everything you need is inside."

Clara feels determined to open the gift she receives and visits her inventor uncle Drosselmeyer (Morgan Freeman) in his workshop as he is holding a Christmas party. He tells her what she already knows about the lock, and he tells her how smart she is (a theme of the movie but it is important for her confidence and for a young audience) and how much like her mother she is. Clara feels a little disheartened that he couldn't provide the answer she requires, but she soon cheers up when it comes time for everyone to open their presents (gifts that the uncle seems to provide for everyone at the party, I want to go!). Each gift is somewhat of a scavenger hunt as the recipients name is attached to a sting hanging form the giant Christmas tree and at the other end is the gift. Clara finds her name and follows the string. She walks through a dark hallway towards a light at the other end, and once she reaches that light we see that she walked through a tree trunk into a snowy forest. She stands amazed at where the string has lead her (I would be too), and is eventually broken out of her trance as she observes a tree filled with fireflies and the key she needs for the lock-box. As she reaches for the key it is snatched right before her hands into the paws of a tiny mouse. The mouse runs with the key and Clara chases it until she comes upon a bridge. She attempts to cross but is frozen (not literally) by the words of a man that seemed to be frozen (literally) as he comes out of his guard post. They talk for a little with humorous banter, and she tells him her full name, once she does she, and the audience, is informed that she is a princess of the four realms.

Together they chase after the mouse in the forbidden fourth realm, which we come to learn is the prince of the mice, and they are attacked by a giant mouse, made up of a lot of tiny mice, and come across the leader of the fourth realm, a giant carnival woman named Mother Ginger. Clara returns to the capital of the four realms and gains her place of royalty among a counsel of three, was four, leaders of different regions. These three other regions are flowers, snow and candy, and we find out that Mother Ginger's fourth realm was called entertainment but now it has no name as it is banished. The leader of the candy people, The Sugar Plum Fairy (Kiera Knightley), takes Clara under her wing and shows her around the castle. Clara is then shown a ballet of her mother's history of the realms and how she discovered each one. The land of entertainment is shown as dangerous and evil as wind up mice attack her mother, so Clara has another reason to hate the fourth realm. Using the momentum of frustration towards the realm, Sugar Plum brings Clara to a factory and tells her that she needs a star shaped key to operate a specific machine that turns toys into living things, and that Sugar Plum and all of the rest of the inhabitants of the realm were toys before Clara's mother used the machine on them. Clara realizes that the key for the machine is the same as the one she needs for her lock-box, so she, a handful of guards, and the nutcracker all head to the fourth realm to get the key from Mother Ginger. There is a battle between mice and some of Mother Ginger's other minions, but Clara succeeds in encountering mother ginger at the top of her carnival statue. Mother Ginger shows sorrow for the loss of Clara's mother, and Clara shows disbelief in her actions as she only sees her as villainous. Clara takes the key and slides down to the bottom of Mother Ginger's home, and as she flees to safety Mother Ginger begs her to come back and that she's making a big mistake.

Once free of the fourth realm, Clara decides to open the lock-box her mother gave her. To her surprise it is a music box, and there is nothing else inside. Clara is disheartened as she believed she'd find the answers within the object, and she throws in the towel for her quest. However, the nutcracker convinces her that she is special and that he followed her because he believes she can save them. Clara is rejuvenated by his belief and decides to return to the castle with key in hand. She returns to the factory along with Sugar Plum to create the army they need to defend themselves, but the fairy has other plans and she pushes Clara aside to create tin soldiers to that will obey her every command. She tells Clara that an attack is the best form of offense and that she intends to destroy Mother Ginger before she can attack them. Clara is imprisoned along with the rules of the other realms, living guards, and the nutcracker. Clara is disheartened again, but the nutcracker encourages her, again, that she is capable of fixing the situation. They escape their prison using physics and a rope. As they make their escape, they see the army of tin soldiers marching towards the fourth realm and Clara feels like a failure for allowing something so awful to happen. The nutcracker tells her it's not her fault, and she suddenly realizes what her mother meant by the message, "everything you need is inside." Her confidence surges and she realizes that she can do amazing things, and that she is so much like her mother who found a way to make this world come to life. The two of them split up, her towards the factory, and the nutcracker towards Mother Ginger. In the end Clara finds a unique way to trick Sugar Plum into shrinking herself, and she does this by allowing herself to think like her mother. Clara grows into her own character at this point and returns home with love towards her family and a realization that she belongs in the world and has much to offer.

Everyone has greatness inside of them. They will never find it in a lock-box or any other adventure, but they will find it if they look within themselves, believe in their abilities, and do whatever feels right to them. Clara learned this lesson the hard way, but she did learn it in the end, and the results will change her life for the better.

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