Tinker Bell (September 18, 2008)

This is the first film in the Disney Fairies franchise, an offshoot of the Peter Pan movies. It serves as an introduction to Tinker Bell primarily, but also her closest friends, Fawn, Silvermist, Vidia, Rosetta, and Iridessa, and other series mainstays (my personal favorite being Terence, voiced by Jesse McCartney). The story is that Tinker Bell, like all fairies, is born from a baby’s first laugh and is brough by the winds to Pixie Hollow, located on the island of Neverland, where she learns her talent is to be one of the tinkers, fairies who make and fix things. She is at first thrilled with her new roles but, upon hearing that only nature fairies can visit the mainland, she becomes frustrated. She decides to ask her friends (mentioned above) to teach her their nature skills so she can go to the mainland, but she fails spectacularly at all of them. Eventually she comes to terms with her job and its own importance (after ruining all the spring preparations) and helps right her wrongs with the use of lost things (trinkets washed up on the shores from the mainland) which she uses to create tools to help spring preparations go faster. I can sympathize with not feeling your talent is important as well as wanting to go somewhere others can, but you cannot. It seems like an unfair and rather cruel rule for tinkers to be singled out as basically all the other fairies we are shown (sans Terence, who is a dust keeper fairy) control nature, bit I digress. The plot is pretty simplistic, but the movie manages to keep my attention through its wonderous world and quirky characters. I also enjoyed the nod to Peter Pan near the end with a brief appearance of Wendy and the song “Second Star to the Right”. The animation is overall good, but it can be a bit wonky at times (particularly the faces and the intricate body movements). This film is definitely grander than the proceeding sequels and higher quality. Overall, Tinker Bell is a fine first entry in this franchise and, while definitely market towards young children, managed to delight me with nostalgic references and a magical world. I think it is a fun movie to watch as a matinee with friends or family. It does not reinvent the wheel, but it finds its own niche and does that job well

Final Rating 5.5/10