Faeries

This is a movie best suited for the wee ones, and most adults will nod off, fast. I know. I did. Luckily, sort of, my daughters wanted to see it, again. And I made a serious attempt to remain awake.

The animation will not give the Disney folks a reason to worry, as the cartoon elements look very early 70's Saturday morning cartoon style. The computer animation is decent, and it's a shame that the movie didn't go either way, as the two styles seem to look mismatched, or like two different groups were doing the movie and it was tossed together.

My suggestion to those of you who want to get it for the kids, look for it at the local library, or use your "rent one, and get one free" coupon and rent something for YOU, and make the free movie "Faeries".

The "Under Eight Set" will like it, but be sure you are in a comfy chair, or have a good book handy if you are in the same room this is being watched in.

"Faeries" was awful. I can't believe that I actually spent money to put myself through that torture. I am a die-hard Kate Winslet fan, and on my quest to own every movie that she's ever made, I bought this pile of tripe, too.

The animation is shoddy, the CGI animation look terribly out of place, and the plot was extremely slow and pointless. There's not much else that I can say about this film.

A talented voice cast with the likes of Jeremy Irons, Kate Winslet, Jane Horrocks, Tony Robinson and Dougray Scott promised a lot. They were my main reason for seeing 'Faeries', as well as my lifelong love for animation, regardless of its anything but original plot.

'Faeries', after watching it, is not a bad animated film, there are certainly far worse animations around. At the same time, it is a long way from great or from being one of the best, there are animations with much more polish, more engaging stories and a clearer target audience. Watchable and worth a one-time watch, but doesn't stand up to repeat viewings and the younger, less demanding crowd are more likely to get enjoyment out of it rather than adults (even when adults are taking it for what it is and the target audience).

Starting with the strengths, the best asset about 'Faeries' is the voice acting, which is really very good. Jeremy Irons' sinister and gleefully relished Shape Shifter and Kate Winslet's charming, winsome and resourceful Brigid are the standouts. The characters are also pretty good, two appealing heroes, a suitably scary but not enough to traumatise villain and droll personalities for the fairies. Would have liked a more likable and stronger personality for the Fairy Prince though.

There are moments of light but never childish humour to appeal to younger audiences and also some dark but not too frightening suspense for older audiences. Some of the hand-drawn landscapes are beautifully realised and vibrantly coloured. The music score is whimsical, haunting and also enchantingly beautiful.

However, not all the animation is great. Some colours are flat and character designs are scrappy, looking more very low-budget early-mid-70s Saturday morning television standard. Most problematic in this regard is the confused mishmash of traditional, CGI and more realistic scenery, they just don't gel together and some of it looks pretty cheap too.

Problematic also is the storytelling. A suitable length, but tends to be very draggy and taking too long to get going. There are some neat ideas but the main plot-line is anything but original and executed pretty predictably and with lack of momentum. Target audience is questionable, younger kids are most likely to get some enjoyment, though some may find it too scary in parts, but adults, even for taking it for what it is and judging it through younger eyes, are likely to be bored, other than the voice cast there's not much for adults here.

Overall, not awful but falls short of being particularly good. A bland mixed bag if you will. 5/10 Bethany Cox

I think that this is a fabulous movie... I watched it constantly from the time I was 4 to about the time I was 8... However, watching it resulted in many nightmares. I particularly got them because of the guy that was always like "the otherworld" and his friends. I am 12, and I still get nightmares about it to this day. I can't fall asleep right now because I am thinking about it. I love this movie, but it is so scary! I definitely love this movie though, I have very good memories from it. Kate is very good at acting in this movie. Amazingly, I never realized that it was her! I also think that the graphics were very high quality, contrary to what some other people think

Short and not really that bad, though it's efforts to combine animation and CGI graphics are rather jarring and don't meld very well. Some talented actors are present (Jeremy Irons, etc.) and the story has it's little surprises. And it's short running time of about 80 minutes definitely helps. Still the good versus evil brothers plot and magic stones are getting awfully tired. It may appeal to young children.