The Mice are characters featured in the 2018 Disney film The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. They are magical beings who live in the Fourth Realm under rules of the Mouse King in a plan to protect the realm from the evil Sugar Plum Fairy. They also serve as Mother Ginger's allies, as well as supporting Clara Stahlbaum and Phillip the Nutcracker.
Background[]
These mice are beings that inhabit a magical realm obeyed by their ruler the Mouse King who support him wherever he goes. Rather than having individual mice sent for combat, the mice and their ruler form into a giant creature made out of thousands of mice, most often when imminent threats occur in the Four Realms such as the case of the Sugar Plum Fairy's betrayal to the residents of the Four Realms. Although mistaken to be villains, it is revealed that they are actually allies rather than enemies and Sugar Plum was the true villain the whole time.
Origins[]
The Mice are based on the characters of the same name from the story by E.T.A. Hoffman and the ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. In the original story, they serve the Mouse King who support him serving as recurring characters throughout the ballet serving as antagonists throughout the story.
Yet in the Disney film, the mice are portrayed differently than in the ballet, serving as allies to the heroes rather than enemies. Additionally, they are also shown to take the form of a giant creature made of mice, which was not in the original story.
Appearances[]
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms[]
As Clara and Phillip arrive at the Fourth Realm, Clara approaches the Mouse King and demands him to give the key back to her to which he refuses; the Mouse King becomes enraged and forms into a giant creature made out of thousands of mice and engulfs her in rage. Later, when Phillip notices the Mouse King who transformed into a giant mouse made out of thousands of mice and upon rescuing Clara, Phillip explains that the giant creature made out of thousands of mice is the Mouse King to which the two escape from the Mouse King and his minions. The Mouse King and his army of mice retreat just before Clara and Phillip approach Mother Ginger who is approaching the two just before they escape.
At the Palace of the Four Realms, dancers wearing mouse costumes (representing mice) later took part during a ballet sequence, which showcases a scene representing the Fourth Realm where Clara's mother Marie faced several challenges while Sugar Plum explains that Mother Ginger was the one who began the war just before the ballet ends.
Throughout the film, it was later found out that the Mouse King and his mouse army, alongside Mother Ginger, were betrayed by the Sugar Plum Fairy. Furthermore when Phillip arrives at the Fourth Realm to alert Mother Ginger about Sugar Plum who is summoning an army of tin soldiers to destroy the Four Realms, the Mouse King becomes a giant creature made out of thousands of mice once again just as he and his minions fight against the tin soldiers. After Sugar Plum is transformed into a porcelain via Engine, Phillip, the Mouse King, and the rest of his minions celebrate their victory with the Four Realms saved. No other mice besides the Mouse King appear throughout the rest of the film.
Trivia[]
- In both the original story and the ballet, the mice were antagonists. In the 2018 Disney adaptation, the mice were supporting allies (The Sugar Plum Fairy is the main villain instead, who, in turn, was a heroic figure in the original story and in the ballet).
- In the film, the mice and their ruler become one huge mouse to defeat enemies bigger than them, which did not occur in the original book.
- It is unknown how the Mouse King and the mice gained the ability to form into one huge mouse made out of multiple mice in the first place.
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