Katya and the Nutcracker

Katya and the Nutcracker is a 2001, made-for-TV, British-animated/computer animated, Christmas special. It is based on Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet, The Nutcracker. The company behind the production is John Cary Films.

Plot
An adaptation of The Nutcracker musical, a Russian girl named Katya is sent to her room after her newly-received Nutracker doll gets broken. Then, she has a marvelous, adventurous dream on Christmas Eve night. In it, she meets a toy soldier known as the Nutcracker, the Sugar Plum Fairy, and several others while striving to avoid the Rat King. All of these moments are set to and accompanied by classical music.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) It is one of the more accurate adaptations of the ballet, due to it being more direct to the original with this version's female lead character's nationality as a Russian being faithful for one. Making that aspect more connected to the roots of the original ballet and story.
 * 2) The intro is fantastic. It begins with a scene of a miniature stage play of this ballet, then the camera zooms into it as viewers see a Russian town and the look of it is something similar to what one would find in a pop-up book.
 * 3) Although action and music-driven, and despite the lack of dialogue, it still manages to pull off the presentation well and make it work.
 * 4) The well-renowned compositions in this are well-adapted by Tristram Cary and performed by the City of Prague Symphony Orchestra.
 * 5) Great blend of traditional animation and computer animation from a time when both forms of animation within the same film were still common, such as the CG toy train and toy plane.
 * 6) Many of the character designs aren't that bad at all.
 * 7) Many of the characters are great at their expressiveness.
 * 8) The special affects, such as magic conjured by the Sugar Plum Fairy, are quite the sights to see.
 * 9) The chemistry between this rendition's two leads work well.
 * 10) The ending is a satisfactory one for the most part.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Designs of certain characters, like the toy penguins, aren't that perfect.
 * 2) It's unknown whether the boy and twin, blonde girls who literally pointed their fingers at Katya to the adults, blaming her for breaking off the Nutcracker doll's arm, were ever punished.