With its innocent story and the grand emotional pull of its Tchaikovsky score, The Nutcracker is one children's entertainment that rarely fails to work magic: every expectation aroused by the music is abundantly satisfied by the dreamlike cogency of the fantasy onstage.
This week the fable will reach the big screen. Warner Bros. is releasing a major film of George Balanchine's classic 1954 production, performed entirely by New York City Ballet dancers; children from the company's crack training ground, the School of American Ballet; and starring none other than former student Macaulay Culkin, who settled for $10,000 (he recently made an...