This 'Nutcracker' is no sugar plum

"The Nutcracker and the Four Realms" is not the worst cinematic "Nutcracker" misfire; that distinction still goes to 2010's "The Nutcracker in 3D." But this bloated, unwhimsical production easily qualifies for runner-up status.

Where did it go wrong? Maybe it was the massive reshoots — directorial credit is shared by Lasse Hallström, who shot the first go-round, and Joe Johnston — or perhaps the script by first-timer Ashleigh Powell was always muddled and convoluted.

Or maybe it was the success of "Alice in Wonderland" that led to a spate of fairy-tale characters being given swords and marched off to war with hordes of CG creatures.

When does it go wrong? The movie's soul starts leaking out pretty early. It rights itself momentarily, but then it spends a sizable chunk of its real estate trying to explain its own premise. By the time 7-foot-tall automaton tin soldiers attack a 30-foot robot woman, all semblance of humanity has escaped the film.

The opening is promising enough. Young Clara (Mackenzie Foy, "Interstellar") hides in the attic studying physics and building Rube Goldberg-ian mousetraps as a way of dealing with her grief over her mother's recent death. On Christmas Eve, her bereaved father (Matthew Macfadyen) gives the children presents that Mom left for them; Clara gets a locked music box, but no key.

At a ball that evening, Clara ducks out to find Drosselmeyer (Morgan Freeman), who built the box. Later that night Drosselmeyer has the children follow strings around the house to find their presents; Clara's string takes her into another dimension, where she learns that her mother was a queen of four realms ruled by sweet Sugar Plum (Keira Knightley), flower-covered Hawthorne (Eugenio Derbez), icy Shiver (Richard E. Grant) and Mother Ginger (Helen Mirren).

As Clara arrives, the latter seems is waging war with the other three realms, and it's up to Clara to fix the situation.

Would that Copeland could have just starred in a more literal adaptation of the ballet. Her contributions are glorious and all too brief, but this interjection of dance and music at least gives her a moment to shine, alongside conductor Gustavo Dudamel, who appears in silhouette with his orchestra in a moment that seems right out of "Fantasia."

The "child travels to a magical land and learns things" trope has been the basis of many beloved stories, from "The Wizard of Oz" to "The Phantom Tollbooth" to "The Chronicles of Narnia." But it's not a foolproof device, particularly when the magical land in question never makes much narrative sense.

Also not helping matters are the barely sketched-in characters. Knightley scores at least a few fun moments as a bubbly pixie miles away from her usual dramatic leading ladies of literature, but Grant and Derbez are stuck letting their costumes do all the work.

If there's a ballet company anywhere near you, they are most likely staging "The Nutcracker," and they are no doubt hoping that the profits from this crowd-pleaser will get them through the rest of the year. Support them with the money you might otherwise have thrown at this misbegotten assault on the eyes.