Barbie in The Nutcracker; Nutcracker

Let's see…a computer-animated children's version of Tchaikovsky's beloved holiday classic ballet based on E.T.A. Hoffman's winsome tale, starring everyone's favorite doll Barbie, or a real live performance by the Ballet of the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin backed by the Staatskapelle Berlin orchestra. Is there…um…any question which of these makes for the richer viewing experience? Of course not; it's Barbie by a plastic nose. Featuring choreography by the New York Ballet's universally acclaimed Peter Martins, Barbie in The Nutcracker stars Mattel's 11-inch cash-register bellringer (ka-ching!) as Clara, who receives a gift of a wooden nutcracker that springs to life in a late night dream to protect her from the Mouse King and his evil minions. While this adaptation strays a wee bit from the original (I don't recall a wiseacre bat sidekick or a giant rock monster in other versions), the colorful animation, kid-friendly script, and excellent "highlights" score (performed by the London Symphony Orchestra), all make for pleasant family viewing, and the fairy dances (clearly inspired by sequences in Peter Pan and Fantasia) truly sparkle. Aud: P.Choreographer Patrice Bart's controversial staging of Nutcracker, featuring the Ballet of the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin and the Staatskapelle Berlin orchestra, filmed on Dec. 23, 1999, radically shifts the light, playful feel of Tchaikovsky's work, adding a 20th century psychoanalytical spin: Clare or Clara becomes "Marie," a traumatized child abducted from her mother by Russian revolutionaries (who also kill her father), gradually nursed back to health by the grandfatherly figure of Drosselmeyer through the use of the wooden nutcracker. While the second act retains the Christmas Eve festivities and wondrous dance sequences (with Vladimir Malakhov's turn as the Prince a muscularly graceful reminder of a young Nureyev), the serious slant is more than this traditional holiday charmer can comfortably or plausibly bear, making this extra-less DVD (with an admittedly sterling Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack) an optional purchase, at best. A much better choice here would be The Bolshoi at the Ballet: The Nutcracker (VL-11/89). Aud: H, C, P. (R. Pitman)