The Pirate Fairy

The sixth and most recent Disney Fairies film, The Pirate Fairy was released in April of 2014. Once again, the cast came back and included Christina Hendricks and Tom Hiddleston. With exclusive screenings at the El Capitan Theater for about a month, it grossed $64.5 million.

Zarina (Hendricks), an extremely inquisitive dust-keeper fairy is amazed by the magic behind pixie dust and has secretly experimented with some blue dust. But they eventually cause an accident and she takes her experiments and leaves Pixie Hollow. But a year later, she returns as the captain of a pirate ship, with a young man named James (Hiddleston) as her first mate.

For some reason, the Fairies films always seem to have to add a new character in each film. But they don’t really do much in following stories. Case in point is Periwinkle, who only seems to appear on screen for about three shots.

On the other hand, what’s really interesting about The Pirate Fairy are the numerous call forwards and foreshadowing latent throughout it. At one point, one of the fairies hatches an alligator who follows them everywhere. It ends up causing trouble for the pirates, one of whom decides to throw a clock at it, which it swallows. Another time, James grabs one of the sail hooks and starts using it to fight. In the end, he’s chased by the baby crocodile, yelling how he’s not a codfish.

In addition to the origin story, Zarina’s arc is a pretty interesting character, kind of emulating Tinker Bell at the beginning of the first film. She’s a dust-keeper but has more of an interest in how thing work. So much so that she discovers new dusts and spends a year as a pirate perfecting it because she’s essentially chased out of Pixie Hollow. Her escapades end up discovering a new talent: Dust Alchemy. It really shows how many innovators aren’t really appreciated until the moment their creations are needed.

The Pirate Fairy is pretty good. Not only because it prompts those to continue working at their discoveries, but also because of the amount of backstory.

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Secret of the Wings

The 2012 installment of the Pixie Hollow franchise was released August 31. Entitled Secret of the Wings, everyone once again came back to voice their characters, adding Lucy Hale and Timothy Dalton. It had a limited theatrical release, in which it grossed $51.5 million worldwide, giving it a $30 million profit.

As winter comes, the fairies are preparing to help the Winter Fairies bring the eponymous season to the mainland. But Tinker Bell (Mae Whitman) wants to go to Winter Woods, which is forbidden. She goes anyway and finds her wings glow. Heading deeper in, she discovers that she has a sister, Periwinkle (Hale).

Once again, Tinker Bell’s curiosity and impulsive rebelliousness get the better of her. And once again, it is both beneficial and endangering. She has a sister finds that she has a sister, who shares nearly every facet of her personality. But her attempts to be able to bring a Winter Fairy, who can’t be in heat or warmth, put the entirety of Pixie Hollow in danger. And it’s her observations in how Periwinkle’s frost worked that helped save everything. There’s also what the secret of the wings actually is. Since the two have the same wing pattern, they glow when they’re near each other. And in the latter half of the film, Tinker Bell’s wing breaks, which has been established that there is no cure. Three guesses as to what the glow can do.

On the other hand, fairies having siblings is treated as rare and special. And it’s actually good, because Tinker Bell and Periwinkle are the first fairy siblings the films have seen, which means they actually are rare. But the method in which siblings are produced is odd. Fairies are born of a baby’s first laugh. Siblings occur when the laugh splits. If there’s a pause in laughter, shouldn’t what comes after be the second laugh?

Unfortunately, by this time, Disney realized they had a cash cow with the fairies and decided to milk it. And while it’s not as bad as many of the sequels they put out, it still isn’t as good as all the ones that came before.

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Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue

The Tinker Bell franchise continued in 2010 with Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue. In addition to the rest of the cast returning, Lauren Mote and Michael Sheen also provided new voices. Released cinematically in the United Kingdom and Ireland and at the El Capitan for two weeks, the film grossed $10.9 million.

While attending fairy camp on the mainland, Tinker Bell (Mae Whitman) attempts to find lost things. But when Vidia (Pamela Adlon) makes her curious about a human house nearby, she sneaks off to find it, eventually becoming trapped in a fairy house made by a young girl named Lizzie (Mote).

The sequel to a sequel and somehow, it’s better than the sequel. Unlike the other two, in which Tinker Bell’s negative qualities get the best of her, it’s her innate sense of curiosity about humans that lands her in hot water. But even then, she manages to use that situation to repair the relationship between Lizzie and her father.

And speaking of Lizzie, she’s actually a decently characterized little girl full. She’s obsessed with fairies, but only thinks she knows everything about them. When Tinker Bell finally finds a way to communicate with her, she hangs on every word and is just enthralled. Those who have passions that engross them will identify pretty well.

Vidia also undergoes some pretty good character development. At the beginning, like with the other two films, she starts out greatly disliking Tinker Bell. And she could have just let her “disappear” when she’s “captured.” But even then, she immediately goes to get help and throughout the rescue journey, she lightens up.

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Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure

In 2009, after Tinker Bell proved to be a good investment, a sequel was made. Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure was released on DVD and Blu-ray, generating about $50 million in revenue. It also premiered at the UN Headquarters and Tinker Bell was named the “honorary Ambassador of Green” to help promote environmental awareness among children. Most of the cast returned, but America Ferrerra was replaced by Angela Bartys.

As the nature faries are preparing to bring autumn to the mainland, Tinker Bell (Mae Whitman) is trying to make a Pixie Express. But fails. However, Queen Clarion (Anjelica Huston), Fairy Mary (Jane Horrocks) and Redleaf, the Minister of Autumn (John DiMaggio) send for her, explaining that she is to create a new scepter for the Autumn Revelry.

Settle in, because there’s quite a few Pixie Hollow films, with more on the way. But if they continue to have the same quality this and the last film did, then it’s not so much of a worry as they’re far better than the onslaught faced before them.

Since she’s already realized she’s meant to be a Tinker Fairy, a new plot was needed and this one is definitely not a rehash of the first. Actually, it’ nothing like the first. Tinker Bell fully embraces her skills in order to create something and her craftiness when it goes south and when it continues to go south.

Once again, the pacing and stakes of the film makes for a good children’s movie. Instead of being able to wish the moonstone back together, she actually has to face presenting it shattered at the Autumn Revelry. But it’s the Eureka moment of a firefly creating a disco ball effect that she realizes a shattered moonstone would be more beneficial than a whole one.

Once again, meant for little girls, but has a charm that makes it better than expected. 
#70

Tinker Bell

Out of the newly retooled DisneyToon Studios came the Tinker Bell franchise. And the first film, Tinker Bell, released in 2008 starred Mae Whitman, Kristen Chenoweth, Raven, Lucy Liu, and America Ferrera. Released cinematically briefly at the El Capitan Theatre, it grossed $9.2 million and spawned a Nintendo DS adventure game.

                                                                                                        Born from the first laugh of a baby and brought to Pixie Hollow, Tinker Bell (Whitman) learns that her talent is to be one of the tinkers, fairies who make and fix things. Taught by Bobbie and Clank (Rob Paulsen and Jeff Bennett), her desire is to go to the mainland for spring.

In terms of quality, Tinker Bell is surprisingly not that bad. It has a pretty decent story in where Tinker Bell realizes that what she’s good at is where she’s meant to be. But it doesn’t get through her thick skull until she tries her hand at being a garden fairy, water fairy, light fairy, animal fairy, and a fast-flying fairy. This may seem like it’s an incredibly saccharine premise and that’s true, but the way the plot is handled actually makes it decent.

It’s not paced like a television show and actually has the stakes of a halfway decent children’s movie in Spring itself is almost ruined because of Tinker Bell’s desires to not be just a tinker. But it’s her near-genius skills as a tinker that saves the day.

I realize I’m coming off as incredibly childish in giving a decent write up to a film marketed for girls, but maybe that’s because I spent so much time watching those mind numbing sequels. But still, for what it’s worth, it’s not amazingly perfect. But it’s not downright awful either.

#69