TINKER BELL AND THE GREAT FAIRY RESCUE

US, 2010, 76 minutes, Colour.
Voices of: Mae Whitman, Lauren More, Michael Sheen, Lucy Liu, Raven- Symone, Kristen Chenoweth.
Directed by Bradley Raymond.


A follow-up to Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure. Fans of that one should look forward to this one. But, the question (especially for adult male reviewers) is: who are the fans? It would seem that the niche audience is tots, little girls, aged from three to six (maybe two to seven), who would enjoy this kind of fairy story, a visual equivalent of playing with dolls. There is not much testosterone in evidence (although the screenplay was written by four men), although, to be fair to Tinker Bell, she is a mechanic at heart and spends some time in amazement at the new horseless carriage and determining how it works. She likes fixing things.

For the parents who watch the film with their daughters (the sons being in an adjacent cinema), there is the playful atmosphere and a story about a scientist and his daughter who discovers the fairies. There is a puzzle too. When the film is set in England and where the father and daughter (Michael Sheen and Lauren Mote) have very British accents, how come it is inhabited by fairies with very, very American accents?

There is a final tribute to Peter Pan author, J.M. Barrie, who created Tinker Bell, acknowledging his support for the Great Ormonde Street Children’s Hospital. Oh, and the plot? The fairies try to keep away from humans and remain secret but Tinker Bell gets caught in a fairy house and the rest get lost and have to find their way home.