The final part of the trilogy, wrapping up the exploits of Neo and the human survivors...Will they beat the robots and have freedom, or will The Matrix survive?

One of his earliest pieces of choreography, Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker is also one of his most charming and imaginative. Moving the Christmas party from a comfortable middle-class home to a Dickensian orphanage whose proprietors starve their wards to spoil their own children, it then shifts to a wonderland where sweets and sugar are a none-too-subtle metaphor for sexual awakening. In both worlds, Clara (Etta Murfitt) has to struggle to be heroine, or even a participant, in her own story and her struggle for the muscular, sexy Alan Vincent with her bitchy rival Sugar (Soranne Curtin) is not resolved until the last moments of the ballet.

Along the way, Bourne finds charming and sexy ways to make all of the well-known genre moments of the score fresh and new--the Chinese dancers are a bunch of daffy marshmallow girls in pink, for example, whose dance is all strutting cuteness. There is a truly stunning transformation scene at the beginning of the waltz, which like much else in the score becomes a complex ensemble in which all the character dancers have their own things to do. Bourne's Nutcracker has become a popular favourite, and deservedly so.

On the DVD: Matthew Bourne's Nutcrackercomes to DVD with no additional features. It is presented in a 16:9 anamorphic ratio and has sumptuous sound in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and L-PCM Stereo that does full justice to the Royal Philharmonic's eloquent performance of the score. --Roz Kaveney

This is a Nutcracker with a difference. Tchaikovsky's most popular ballet ("Dance of the sugar plum fairy", "Waltz of the flowers" etc.) undergoes a transformation, interpreted by the French choreographer Maurice Bejart, from Christmas fairy story into a tale of a boy who dreams he loves his dead mother. The boy erects an enormous statue to her that becomes the focus of the production in Act 1 rather than the traditional Christmas tree. Maurice Bejart's memoir of his early years includes Goethe's embodiment of evil, Mephisto, recalled from his father's books and the figure of Marius Petipa, the original choreographer of The Nutcracker (both are danced by Gil Roman). For in this interpretation the boy, after failing to bring the statue to life, decides to become a dancer. In Act 2 the Spanish dance becomes a vehicle for a toreador, another of Bejart's childhood passions, but most striking is the interpolation of a French dance in this sequence of national dances to the tune of "Under Paris Skies" played on the accordion by Yvette Horner. Bejart's new concept might seem a shade self indulgent on paper, but only in the scene where the boy hugs his mother's statue in an Oedipus-like embrace does a moment of excess intrude. His imaginative choreography, the superb dancing by his Ballet Lausanne and the rhythmically lilting playing of the Orchestra Colonne under Edmon Colomer all give undiluted pleasure.

On the DVD: The picture quality from the Chatelet theatre in Paris is top-notch, catching the lighting effects and colourful costumes with excellent definition. Several high angle crane shots reveal the deft ensemble work of this company. In the accompanying special feature we go behind the scenes of the production to meet Bejart and his collaborators. The long service many of them have given offers testament to the corporate spirit manifested in the dancing. Those looking for an alternative view of the traditional rendition of Tchaikovsky's ballet will not be disappointed by the artistry on display here. --Adrian Edwards