Reviewed by Ian McCreath
Stars the voices of Mae Whitman, Kristin Chenoweth, Lucy Liu, America Ferrera,
Jane Horrocks, Anjelica Huston, Kathy Najimy | Written by JM Barrie & Jeffrey Howard
UK certification U | UK RRP £15.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 75 minutes | Directed by Bradley Raymond
"Tinker Bell Speaks!" As exciting taglines go, this one doesn’t quite instil in me the eager anticipation of, say, "Yoda Fights!" or "Bond is Back!" But then I doubt I fit the profile of the intended audience for this straight-to-DVD fairy extravaganza from Disney. How do I know this? Well ... 1) I don’t like fairies (same goes for dolls, fashion and little ponies); 2) I’m older than 10; and 3) Lines like "a fairy is born every time a baby laughs" make me want to hurl. That’s how.
Set in a time before Peter Pan, the action takes place in Pixie Hollow. Here we learn that every fairy has a special unique talent. Tinker Bell thinks her fairy talent as a 'tinker' isn’t as special or important, because tinkers don’t get to go to the mainland like the other fairies. But when Tink tries to change who she is, she creates nothing but disaster.
Disney clearly has high hopes for Tinker Bell, giving it the kind of media push usually reserved for cinema releases — but then this is not your usual straight to DVD title. The first of four "Disney Fairy" films coming our way, this is as much a brand as a motion picture. As Disney’s press release proudly states, Tinker Bell is a major initiative across "Disney Consumer Products, Disney Publishing, Disney Interactive Studios, Disney on Ice, Parks and Resorts, and Disney Online and more". Expect to see Tink’s smiling face on everything from bananas to loo roll anytime soon then. Cynical though all this clearly is, you can’t help but admire the care and attention Disney has lavished on its glossy product.
Produced by Pixar legend John Lasseter, the computer-generated animation is as impressive as you'd expect, the direction is slick and professional while the songs are pleasant enough without ever threatening to become interesting. Even the story about how magical things can happen when you are true to yourself, is pitched exactly right for its target audience — despite inducing dizzying nausea in the rest of us. In other, less worthy hands, I would have been off to the UN to complain about child exploitation at the hands of a multinational giant. In the expert grasp of Disney, however, Tinker Bell delivers exactly what's required — a vibrant, magical and sparkly sprinkling of fairy dust for little girls who love that sort of thing. Now, where’s the harm in that?
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