History YMMV / TheNutcrackerPrince

* HilariousInHindsight: [[Creator/KieferSutherland Hans]] is told by the King that he and Drosselmeier have [[Series/TwentyFour 24 hours]] to find a cure for Princess Perlipat's ailment.

* RonTheDeathEater: Rather bizarrely, Creator/RogerEbert took this attitude towards the titular hero due to him looking to no other option of resolving the conflict except slaying the Mouse King.

* WhatAnIdiot: The royal family don't notice the Mouse Queen transforming Hans into a nutcracker and just assume that he was a nutcracker right from the start and that Drosselmeier was trying to con them in some way.
** An earlier example would be the king decreeing that the noblemen who attempts to cure his princess can't wear boots when they crack open the Krakatooth nut with their teeth, even though he was told that the nut had to be cracked open by a man who has ''[[ExactWords never worn boots]]''.

* TheWoobie: Hans. He tries to save his uncle, Drosselmeier by breaking the princess' curse in order to save the latter's life. When he does do so, he's cursed into the form of an inanimate nutcracker by the spiteful Mouse Queen, with her son trying to hunt him down for crushing his tail accidentally. He is asleep for years till he's re-awoken to fight the Mouse King, completely unaware of the situation. When he finally defeats him, he's denied Clara's hand in marriage in the Doll Kingdom due to her own dreams. Thankfully, he's revived as a human being at the end of the film.

** An earlier example would be the king decreeing that the noblemen who attempts to cure his princess can't wear boots when they crack open the Krakatooth nut with their teeth, even though he was told that the nut had to be cracked open by a a man who has ''[[ExactWords never worn boots]]''.

* SpiritualAdaptation: While the movie's style and tone was made [[FollowingTheLeader similar the Disney Renaissance movies]], it does make it the closest thing to a Disney movie adaptation of the Nutcracker, and a better one than the [[Film/TheNutcrackerAndTheFourRealms official 2018 Disney live-action adaptation that bombed financially and critically]].

** An earlier example would be the king decreeing that the noblemen who attempt to cure his princess can't wear boots when they crack open the Krakatooth nut with their teeth, even though he was told that the nut had to be cracked open by a a man who has ''never worn boots''.

* RonTheDeathEater: Rather bizarrely, Creator/RogerEbert took this attitude towards the titular hero due to him looking to no other option of resolving the conflict except slaying the Mouse King. He writes in his 2 star review of the film "But its climax is a battle to the death. (Children's toys miraculously come to life, there is a confrontation, and a character falls lifeless from the top of a giant Christmas tree.) Why was this necessary? And why are fight scenes and violent deaths now so routine in children's films and on TV? In real life, a person who believes he cannot win without the death of his opponent is seen as a monster. But in the fables we feed to children, the plots are often just that simple: The problem is that the villain is alive, and the solution is to kill him. In the real world, when a person is so lacking in empathy that he kills someone else simply for his own convenience, he is known as a psychopath. Why does our society give its children so many stories in which the heroes, not the villains, are psychopaths?"

* JerkassWoobie: Not everyone believes this, but the Mouse King, out of all people, may fit into this. He was abused by his mother, had his tail crushed many times, and even though he considers Clara his enemy, he still gave back the slipper when he could have just gone to the Nutcracker in sleep mode instead. Towards the end of the film [[SanitySlippage he even starts losing all his senses]] and makes one final stand ''while internally bleeding'' that ultimately makes him look as pitiful as he is frightening. Many viewers (even RogerEbert himself) couldn't help but feel like the guy got a raw deal.

* RonTheDeathEater: Rather bizarrely, RogerEbert took this attitude towards the titular hero due to him looking to no other option of resolving the conflict except slaying the Mouse King. He writes in his 2 star review of the film "But its climax is a battle to the death. (Children's toys miraculously come to life, there is a confrontation, and a character falls lifeless from the top of a giant Christmas tree.) Why was this necessary? And why are fight scenes and violent deaths now so routine in children's films and on TV? In real life, a person who believes he cannot win without the death of his opponent is seen as a monster. But in the fables we feed to children, the plots are often just that simple: The problem is that the villain is alive, and the solution is to kill him. In the real world, when a person is so lacking in empathy that he kills someone else simply for his own convenience, he is known as a psychopath. Why does our society give its children so many stories in which the heroes, not the villains, are psychopaths?"

* JerkassWoobie: Not everyone believe this, but the Mouse King, out of all people, may fit into this. He was abused by his mother, had his tail crushed many times, and even though he considers Clara his enemy, he still gave back the slipper when he could have just gone to the Nutcracker in sleep mode instead.
* MoralEventHorizon: When the Mouse King threatens to kill Clara's kitten if she doesn't hand over the Nutcracker.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Whether the Mouse King is a JerkassWoobie. Hints are his return of Clara's slipper to Clara the next night, hinting some hint of (somewhat perhaps grudging) kindness, which shows a small displaying hint of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold. While he does threaten Clara's kitten later on, it is slightly justified when Clara offered him some chocolates (despite first glance at distrusting before she reassured him), she did trap him and crushed his tail in the progress and took that fury out in forcing her to decide.

* TheWoobie: Hans. He tries to save his uncle, Drosselmeier by breaking the princess' curse in order to save the latter's life. When he does do so, he's cursed into the form of an inanimate nutcracker by the spiteful Mouse Queen, with her son trying to hunt him down for crushing his tail accidentally. He is asleep for centuries till he's re-awoken to fight the Mouse King, completely unaware of the situation. When he finally defeats him, he's denied Clara's hand in marriage in the Doll Kingdom due to her own dreams. Thankfully, he's revived as a human being at the end of the film.

* JerkassWoobie: A few believe this, but the Mouse King, out of all people, may fit into this. He was abused by his mother, had his tail crushed many times, and even though he considers Clara his enemy, he still gave back the slipper when he could have just gone to the Nutcracker in sleep mode instead.

* HilariousInHindsight: [[Main/KieferSutherland Hans]] is told by the King that he and Drosselmeier have [[Series/TwentyFour 24 hours]] to find a cure for Princess Perlipat's ailment.

* NightmareFuel: During the climax of the film [[spoiler: the Mouse King comes back and attempts to kill Clara despite dying from a stab wound]].
** [[spoiler: Bonus points as it implies that as he's blind with rage enough to likely not even know Clara is there and striking wildly with rat rage (despite him a mouse).]]

* HilariousInHindsight: [[Main/KeiferSutherland Hans]] is told by the King that he and Drosselmeier have [[Series/TwentyFour 24 hours]] to find a cure for Princess Perlipat's ailment.