Katya and the Nutcracker: A Christmas Fantasy

I discovered this version of The Nutcracker shortly after completing my 2011 blog series. It's an animated take on the story that uses no dialogue, only sound effects and Tchaikovsky's score for the ballet. It runs for about 25 minutes. I was wondering if Katya was part of a series, but seems this was done to present a more Russian Nutcracker in honor of the Russian roots of Tchaikovsky and the ballet.

This adaptation is set in 1910 St. Petersburg, evident from Russian architecture and some fashions. Katya lives with her father and three other children and an older woman. This might be a grandmother or an aunt, and the other children might be her siblings or cousins. There's a boy and twin girls. This Christmas, the children are given presents, but while the others get toys, there's nothing for Katya. She is happy, however, when her father gives her a nutcracker. (This one has an odd design with an O-shaped body, the nut is put in the opening and the arm is cranked to break the shell.) However, the boy tries to get his turn at it and breaks the arm off. Katya goes to bed unhappily.

That night, she awakens and as she goes downstairs, she shrinks and finds the toys and the Christmas tree being attacked and looted by mice, their leader wearing a gas mask. The toys come to life and fight back, but the tide turns when Katya's cat arrives on the scene and scares the mice away, the leader taking to a toy airplane, but the Nutcracker and Katya aren't willing to let him go without a fight, and all three ride the plane outside, where after a bit, the lead mouse is set flying into the sky with an explosion by Katya pulling a lever on the plane.

To celebrate, Katya and the Nutcracker fly to a fairyland, where the Nutcracker is given a new arm, and they are entertained by many dancing creatures (including a group of mice). The two then head out to a wondrous winter realm, during which time the Nutcracker is turned into a real boy able to ice skate with Katya. They meet icy centaurs before the scene goes back to Katya's bedroom, revealing it to be just a dream, her father placing a repaired Nutcracker on her bed just before she awakens.

As I was writing this, I realized that although we can see a bit of the classic Nutcracker towards the beginning, after that, the story more resembles Raymond Briggs' classic picture book The Snowman in which a child goes off with a magical creature and has a wondrous experience that appears to be only a dream. And sure, this is present in the original Nutcracker story, but given that an animated version of The Snowman is a Christmas staple in the UK and this is a British based production as well, you can't help but wonder if some subtle inspiration happened. Particularly as both animated specials feature no dialogue.

To be fair, the animation is generally well done, though I can't say I care for a lot of the character designs. The story adaptation is no less faithful than a lot of versions of the ballet, and honestly, I'd suggest that if you're interested, give it a watch.