November 1, 2008

When I turned five years old I received my first Disney movie on VHS. I was totally overjoyed by the newly released Peter Pan that featured the cutest fairy decked out in a tattered green sparkly dress. This fairy became one of the most lovable Disney characters and even became Disney’s signature mascot second only to Mickey Mouse. Fast forward 18 years later and I am still totally thrilled to watch Walt Disney’s Tinker Bell. Tinker Bell appeals to girls young and old, those who grew up watching the original Tinker Bell in Peter Pan and those who see Tinker Bell as a completely new Disney character. But regardless of which group you may find yourself in, you are sure to love Tinker Bell for its true-to-Disney feel and important message of self-acceptance.

Before Peter, before Hook, and before the Lost Boys came a baby’s first giggle. With every baby’s first giggle a fairy is born. And this is how Bell, Tinker Bell, is created. In Pixie Hollow each fairy has a special talent, something they specialize in. When Bell asks the Queen of Pixie Hollow how she knows what her talent is, the Queen tells her that she will just know. After trying her luck at the various talents, she comes into realization that her calling is to be a Tinker fairy. From this calling comes her name Tinker Bell.

Before she could ask the question “What do Tinker fairies do,” two odd-looking Tinkers welcome Tinker Bell into their family and offer to show her the ropes of the Tinker world. After arriving to her new home, Tinker Bell instantly feels like she doesn’t belong. She doesn’t feel interested in the work of the Tinkers and feels it lacks importance. And to top it off Tinker Bell also discovers Tinkers do not get to go to the mainland. This upsets her greatly as she is determined to travel to the mainland to help turn winter into spring.

Since Tinker Bell is frustrated and realizes she will not be going to the mainland, she asks her other fairy friends for help in learning a new talent. She tries her hand at many tasks and talents, and yet ends up in utter frustration. Tinker Bell begins to feel things are hopeless when she discovers that she solely destroyed the Pixie Hollow’s chances at turning winter into spring in time at the mainland. The Queen herself said there is no hope, spring will not come in time at the mainland since all their months of work had been damaged.

Determined as always, Tinker Bell heads back to Tinker world to try and come up with ways of accelerating the “redo” process in hopes to fix all the damage she had done. Being a Tinker fairy, Tinker Bell naturally creates several contraptions with “lost things” that allow the fairies to make spring come in no time. The Queen thanks Tinker Bell for her persistence and ingenuity, and invites her to join the other fairies in bringing spring to the mainland. Tinker Bell finally feels secure with herself and her talent, as she sees just how vital her seemingly unimportant duty is.

Many girls feel insecure with themselves at one point or another, and Tinker Bell reinforces the importance of a positive self-image in being unique and staying true to one’s self. This message is conveyed loud and clear throughout the entire movie, which makes Tinker Bell a wholesome family film and a Disney picture that is fun to watch.

Filmmaking: 10
This story line is fabulous. I love it for many reasons. First, it is incredibly unique and creative. Yes, we expect this top-notch creativity from Disney, but they really deliver on the creativity in Tinker Bell. For example, the narrator explains the work of fairies can be seen on the dew drops of a spider’s web, the spots of a lady bug and the light of a lightening bug. These sort of whimsical, fairyesque details take the story to another level and make it extra special.

Second, the story has a very important life-lesson message. Movies with messages are great, but movies with great messages are worth every penny. Because Tinker Bell’s message is a positive one encouraging acceptance of differences and believing in one’s self, it gives the audience something more than 78 minutes of entertainment—it gives them inspiration. And in a world like ours, quality inspiration can be pretty hard to come by these days.

Lastly, the story line effortlessly leads right into the Peter Pan classic, which was a must for Tinker Bell. The details check out and the audience is left wanting to go put in their old Peter Pan VHS tape (or Blu-Ray) and watch the story they fell in love with so long ago.

Visuals: 10
Tinker Bell on Blu-Ray is absolutely beautiful. It truly is a work of art as the colors are uncharacteristically vivid and full of life, just like the fairies of Pixie Hollow. The detail that went in to creating the lush and magical environments of Pixie Hollow is captured ten-fold on Blu-Ray. And because pixie dust is a given in any movie entitled Tinker Bell, it was critical that the pixie dust be full of luster and sparkle. Once again, Disney delivered. All in all the drawings, along with the incredible attention to detail, made this movie not only visually entertaining, but beautiful to watch.

Sound: 9
The sound in Tinker Bell is very crisp and clear, but runs at a 5:1 uncompressed surround sound. I would have rated it a 10 if it was running at a 7:1. But for the average ear, you will still be amazed at how much better it sounds than on regular DVD. The dialogue is crisp and very clear and they even manage to work in some impress LFE to get your sub-woofer kicking - just check out the thistle stamped to hear what I mean. The soundtrack features a rich and compelling orchestral score that will draw you into the animation and the story.

Value: 8
Personally, I find Tinker Bell a great value, especially if you have children. It’s an enlightening look at a magical world in which the child in us is nostalgic for and delivers a great message in a beautifully crafted package. In addition to 78 minutes of film time, the Blu-Ray includes Tinker Trainer (an activity to tweak your skills as a tinker fairy), Magical Guide to Pixie Hollow (a look at the ancient realm of fairies with Tinker Bell), Ever Wonder (an activity where you discover how fairies work their magic in nature), a music video, deleted scenes and more.

Overall: 9.4
Being a Peter Pan lover, I was really looking forward to seeing this movie and had high expectations for it. Tinker Bell definitely surpassed those expectations and more. I loved every aspect of this prequel and overall, I feel this movie is another great addition to any Disney collection.