DVD Review: Disney's Tinker Bell

Lately our theaters have been thriving with the origin stories of famous heroes like Batman, James Bond, Spider-Man, and so on. I love it. I think someone really tapped a vein of curious people wanting to find out why these fictional characters are the way they are. And now another familiar face will fly onto the screen and into the hearts of millions on Tuesday, October 28. The world will finally know the beginnings of the one and only short-tempered fairy with an attitude, Tinker Bell.

Hopefully we all remember the blonde-haired pixie invented by J.M. Barrie for the play Peter Pan. She flew around with the pirate-fighting boy in Disney’s 1953 animated film and appeared again in the 2002 Return to Never Land. But in these examples, Tinker Bell was never a central figure. She stomped her foot a few times, nodded her head with the tinkle of a bell, but never even uttered a single world. That is, until now.

In this computer animated movie directed by Brad Raymond, Mae Whitman, of Independence Day and One Fine Day, gives Tinker Bell her voice. And many other fairies speak with the voices of Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner America Ferrera, five-time Image Award honoree Raven-Symoné, Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth, two-time SAG Awardee Lucy Liu, singer-songwriter Jesse McCartney, and Academy Award winning actress Anjelica Huston. The magnitude and enchantment of this film will take children and adults on a hilarious adventure as the fairies of Pixie Hallow prepare to change winter to spring.

When I first saw a preview for Tinker Bell the movie, I expected one of two things. The Pixie Hallow fairy village thing could become a cheesy girl-squad show about team effort. Or it would be an amazing, thrilling story of how Tinker Bell and Peter Pan met and where the lost boys and Never Land came from, etc. But surprisingly, it was neither.

The movie sat in between both roads, not cheesy and happy-go-lucky, but don’t expect Peter Pan to show his face either. This is a movie solely dedicated to Tinker Bell finding herself in a sea of fairies, each with a job to help the seasons change and give each flower, bug, and leaf its “special glow.”

The greatest thing about this film is how well they stayed true to Tinker Bell’s personality. She’s hot-tempered, self-motivated, witty, and stubborn; and also, interestingly enough, a mechanical engineer (I’m not lying). So needless to say, I loved the movie. It’s a perfect tribute to the endless tales of Never Land with a touch of magic and a lesson for everyone.

This movie, along with the games and special features, will enchant every child with spectacular representations of seasons and their changes, as well as a land of pixie dust and “lost things.” Bell’s friends, the creatures, and the all around story are entertaining and sometimes downright hilarious—especially the squirrel who got hit in the head with an acorn. Seriously! I had to rewind and watch that part twenty times. It was so funny that I was crying by the end.

So if not for any other reason than the lumbering squirrel (or maybe the bird crawling back in its egg), you have to buy Tinker Bell on either standard DVD or Blu-ray next week. Trust me. It’s simply brilliant!

Article Author: Janica Unruh

Janica Unruh has her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the college of Professional Writing at the University of Oklahoma. She is happily married to a very nerdy engineer and enjoys writing more than breathing, but refuses to give up the latter.

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