Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky

A prince's love for a swan queen overcomes an evil sorcerer's spell in this fairy tale adaptation of the classic ballet.

Despite its elegant gorgeous stage set, and costumes of awesome beauty and richness of detail, some of the fairy-tale magic of "George Balanchine's 'The Nutcracker' " has been lost in its translation from a staged ballet into a film. However, the dancing is breathtaking, the narration keeps the story moving, and it is as well acted as it is danced. This is a full corps de ballet version, sumptuous with classic ballet sequences in their full glory....

Princess Aurora is born to King Stefan and his wife. At a ceremony for her, fairies - Flora, Fauna and Merryweather - bestow gifts of magic on the child. But the evil sorceress, Maleficent, shows up and places a curse on the princess - where Aurora will die on her 16th birthday after touching a poisoned spinning wheel. Merryweather tries to undo the damage by casting a spell that will allow princess Aurora to awake from an ageless sleep with a kiss...