[4] The film was directed by Joseph Sherman and Laura Shepherd, and produced by Nelvana's founders: Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert and Clive A. Smith.

Entering this place, Anna and the Family learn that an evil Vizier is planning to destroy it with the help of his rodent army, and has his sights on a powerful ring that has been long hidden from the denizens.

Care Bears Nutcracker Suite premiered on video and television in December 1988 across North America, and was met with indifferent reception.

The special premiered on DVD in France in 2004, and then in November 2006 by Lions Gate Home Entertainment under a new English title, Care Bears: The Nutcracker.

5, a teacher named Miss Walker tells some children a version of E. T. A. Hoffmann's The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, involving the Care Bear Family.

When the group hides from their foes, the Nutcracker recollects some of his lost memory and explains that he arrived from a place called Toyland; the rats work for the evil Vizier who is plotting to conquer and destroy that land along with Christmas.

Before the Vizier can claim it, the Fairy grabs the ring and places it on the Nutcracker's finger, turning him back into the Prince of Toyland and reviving his memory.

Unknown to all of them, the Care Bear Family has been listening all along (secretly supervising them all [naturally], meaning that Anna wasn't dreaming about Toyland after all).

[1] American Greetings staff members Jack Chojnacki (of Those Characters from Cleveland)[6] and Harvey Levin (a vice-president)[7] were credited as creative consultants.

[1] This is the only Nelvana production of a Care Bears special; the first two, The Land Without Feelings and The Freeze Machine, were produced by Atkinson Film-Arts in the early half of the 1980s.

[15] The film was released on Region 2 DVD in France (on June 2, 2004), with Warner Vision's edition of Les Calinours au pays de casse-noisette.

[16] On November 7, 2006, Lions Gate Home Entertainment released the special on DVD for the first time in North America, under the title Care Bears: The Nutcracker.

[17] On its original airing, Associated Press writer Kathryn Baker deemed the Nutcracker special "Strictly for those who prefer jelly beans to Christmas dinner.