Tinker Bell

My 3 year old daughter absolutely adores this movie. In fact, she likes it better than many of the more highly touted Disney theatrical releases.

The character of Tinker Bell is truly charming, and in my opinion, much more enjoyable than the classical portrayal in Peter Pan. Sue me, I LIKE that Tink can speak. She's still gutsy, and independent, but in this movie has far better motivations for her actions than jealousy over Peter Pan.

All of the faeries' characterizations were entertainingly done, and I like that they all had their own "thing" going on. Other plus points include some really pretty animation (young girls in particular will love the eye-popping colors and the liberal use of sparkle) and a good overall message. Both my daughter and myself enjoyed the celtic-inspired score and tunes, so if your child likes different types of music other than just top 40 pop, she/he should enjoy this as well.

My only minor quibble is that at times the dialogue is a tad insipid and inane, and the over-use of the term "Sweetie" when the faeries are addressing each other.

For a movie that was designed for the home DVD market, I think that this one delivers much more bang for your entertainment buck than many of the big budget theatrical releases.

At first, I was not expecting much from Tinkerbell, but it was much better than I expected. While too short with some moments of insipid dialogue, Tinkerbell is a cute and entertaining movie that never tries to be anything more than it is.

The film looks surprisingly great, initially I was expecting something along along the lines of all gloss no depth, but the look is clean and quite warm with gorgeous colours and all the fairies look convincing.

The music I also loved. The score is somewhat Celtic-inspired, and it is really lovely and soothing and the tunes are memorable without being too twee. The story is very simple, but it is very sweet with a good message that doesn't feel forced or preachy.

The characters are really quite engaging. I have never hated Tinkerbell as much as others did in the Disney Peter Pan movie, which is not a Disney favourite but I like it very much for the music, but she is much more likable here and the fact that she isn't jealous or stubborn here will make her easy to relate for the younger crowd.

The voice work is on paper of high-calibre, and in the film they do do sterling jobs. Mae Whitman is very emotive and resourceful in the title role, but the standout for me was the immensely talented Anjelica Huston who is really quite excellent, also she is a presence that adults will thoroughly enjoy.

In conclusion, a cute and fun little movie. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Saw this movie today (9/26/08) with my young nieces at a special El Capitan Theatre preview in Los Angeles. We were all delighted by Tink's excellent backstory, the ingenious story and the handsomely rendered 3-D animation. Cast is uniformly excellent, including Lucy Liu, Kristen Chenoweth and Anjelica Houston. This was much better than some of the theatrically released Disney animated films I've seen (notably "Atlantis"), making it among the best of the Mouse's direct-to-video titles. Well worth checking out with your kids, but don't be surprised if you find a tear in your own eye at the conclusion of this delightful surprise.

I saw this movie last Saturday when they showed it randomly on Disney Channel (in Norway) and I was pleasantly surprised. I've seen some trailers and clips from this movie and the animation looked quite good, so although my expectations weren't the highest, I still hoped that "Tinker Bell were going to be a watchable picture - which it turned out to be.

It's a shame that this film wasn't released on theaters, cause, like Brettster said, it was much better than Disney's recently theatrical releases ("Chicken Little", "The Wild") and a whole lot better than the previous "Peter Pan"-cartoon, "Return to Neverland".

Anyway, about the movie; It is very sweet in many ways. The mood is reminiscent at the Disney features from the 90's. The animation is absolutely beautiful and detailed and the delightful score (which is sometimes Irish inspired) provides the sweet, enchanting mood of the film. The characters are cute and adorable and the moral is a good one. The movie is a film that families can safely watch together.

And then there's the songs; "Tinker Bell" doesn't contain many songs, which is good, cause often the songs on Disney's non-theatrical releases are quite mediocre. While the songs on "Tinker Bell" aren't memorable, they are not disturbing neither and are quite all right.

So do your self a favor and check out "Tinker Bell"

I never thought I would enjoy a movie centered around Peter Pan's anger-prone fairy compagnon, but she was surprisingly likable in this prequel spin-off thingy.

Story's pretty standard, she comes to the land of fairies and must prove that she fits in among the orher fairies, gets into a feud with one and ends up discovering that being herself is her own talent.

And to its credit, it looks really good for a direct-to-video movie.