Kurumiwari Ningyou

Nominated for the 1980 Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film and the 1980 Young Artist Award for Best Motion Picture featuring youth. Won the 1980 Young Artist Award for Best Musical Entertainment.

Sanrio the company behind the "Hello Kitty" franchise actually made this. Don't let that be a turn off. Go watch it and forget about "Hello Kitty".

Hard to find, exquisite weird and trippy stop motion movie. Highly detailed, dark yet beautiful.
The story is mysterious and put you in an almost dreamlike state. It's confusing and rather difficult to describe. You'll have to watch it to see what I mean.

I've seen it more than once, and ... every time I watch it I find new details.
Nutcracker Fantasy has become one of those guilty pleasures we just have to watch in my family around xmas.

Rate a 6
English Dubbed
Special note: to my knowledge a blue-ray dvd release is is scheduled around the 27th.

Story
A bit confusing to understand certain connections. Such as the first villain's connection to the the other main villain. While i don't think it was made clear one was sent out to build a force for the other to conquer with. Aside from that the story was a delightful romantic tale with some tossed in drama. As for the ending a true fairy tale ending.

Art
This movie has come a long way. It used to be painted in such a dark fashion. Like a dream which makes sense given ... plot. But more of a dream where one would recall bits and peaces. For depending what version you had that is all you saw. Luckily there is a brighter more refined detailed version(which is what i saw). However, there were some dark areas but a real remarkable difference compared to the vch version.

Although one element that was somewhat featured in the show was the portrayal of a real life ballerina. Not quite sure aside from innocence that had with the story.

Overall: If you are a parent and wish to present a young girl a memorable tale to ponder as she drifts off to sleep i would suggest this. While sure it does have a certain England feel to it but the happy message comes out clear.Love conquers all. With the added bonus of possibly encouraging a proper follow through with bedtime hours.