Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum

Terry Gilliam-ish territory here, spiked with imagery from Holocaust nightmares and drug trips. Attention, university film clubs: Here's your cult-ready midnight-movie programming.

Boxoffice Magazine by Pam Grady

To call this so-called family film dreadful is an understatement. Jaw-droppingly awful on almost every level, this is a movie to avoid.

Movieline by Michelle Orange

Somewhere in there is a little blonde girl and her dreamy princeling, but damned if I could see them through the dreck.

USA Today by Claudia Puig

Who had the lamebrained idea for a post-apocalyptic 3-D Nutcracker that is lacking any trace of ballet?

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Liam Lacey

Anything but a seasonal treat. This special-effects-heavy, big-budget musical from expatriate Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky (Runaway Train, Tango & Cash) ranks as one of the most misguided children's films ever made.

San Francisco Chronicle by Peter Hartlaub

The Nutcracker in 3D will be barely recognizable to fans of the beloved holiday classic. Imagine watching Tchaikovsky's ballet after taking a handful of peyote - on a day when all of the dancers call in sick and the orchestra decides to play a different set of the composer's works.

Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert

From what dark night of the soul emerged the wretched idea for The Nutcracker in 3D? Who considered it even remotely a plausible idea for a movie?

Time Out by Joshua Rothkopf

Russian-born schlockmeister Andrei Konchalovsky has flirted with the good kind of bad in the past (Tango & Cash), but here, he's finally made his disaster-piece. Unclean.

New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman

Do not, in fact, go at all. Because aside from the actual nutcracker, most of the crucial elements are missing from Andrei Konchalovsky's bizarre miscalculation. Magic and joy top the list.

New York Post by Lou Lumenick

Misconceived, bloated and incredibly ugly fantasy epic.