The Nutcracker and the Four Realms age rating: How old do you have to be to watch?

In Disney’s continued list of live-action adaptations, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is the only one not being remade from a previous Disney film.

Instead, the mouse-house has opted to update E. T. A. Hoffmann’s 1816 short story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King as well as Marius Petipa’s The Nutcracker Ballet.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms sees names like Dame Helen Mirren and Morgan Freeman, Kiera Knightly and Richard E Grant, alongside newcomers Mackenzie Foy and Jayden Fowora-Knight.

The trailer shows a magical kingdom replete with music adapted from Tschaikovsky’s original Nutcracker.

How old do you have to be to watch The Nutcracker and the Four Realms?

The Disney movie has an age rating of PG, according to the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).

The BBFC describes PG movie as one that “should not unsettle a child aged around eight or older.

“Unaccompanied children of any age may watch, but parents are advised to consider whether the content may upset younger, or more sensitive, children.”

In The Nutcracker and the Four Realms particularly, the main reason behind the PG rating, as opposed to a U rating, has to do with threat.

The BBFC writes: “Scenes of threat include a girl being pursued and snatched by a giant rodent monster that is made up of hundreds of mice scurrying in a formation.

“There is some fantastical violence, such as toy soldiers fighting with swords.”

The BBFC also cites some very mild bad language including “damn” and “poo”.

The board also adds: “There is also a part of the story that involves bereavement, but it is handled sensitively, with the main emphasis on the fantastical adventure elements of the narrative.”

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is based on E. T. A. Hoffmann’s The Nutcracker and the Mouse King and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker.

The plot follows a young girl (Clara) who finds a Nutcracker doll among the family’s gifts and is charged by her parents to take special care of it.

The official synopsis continues: “A golden thread leads her to the coveted key, but it soon disappears into a strange and mysterious parallel world.

“In that world, she meets a soldier named Phillip, a group of mice and the regents who preside over three realms.

“Clara and Phillip must now enter a fourth realm to retrieve the key and restore harmony to the unstable land.”

Keira Knightley stars as the Sugar Plum Fairy, with Mackenzie Foy as Clara, the young girl who is given the Nutcracker to look after.

Eugenio Derbez plays the Flower Realm King while Richard E. Grant plays the Snow Realm King.

American ballerina and inspiration to us all Misty Copeland plays The Ballerina, with Mirren as Mother Ginger.

Morgan Freeman plays Drosselmeyer, with Jayden Fowora-Knight as Philip, Miranda Hart as Dew Drop Fairy, Jack Whitehall as Harlequin, Ellie Bamber as Louise, Matthew Macfadyen as Mr Stahlbaum, and Lil Buck as The Mouse Kin.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is out in cinemas on Friday, November 2, 2018.