0
0
Last year, Disney’s Tinker Bell gave Peter Pan’s favorite fairy a voice—and her own story—for the first time. Now, Tink’s back with another fairy tale—and another important lesson to share with young fans.
As Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure opens, it’s clear that feisty little fairy Tinker Bell (voiced by Mae Whitman) is finally settling into life as a tinker fairy. Though she still has her share of tinker fairy mishaps, her improvements to the fairy way of life haven’t gone unnoticed. In fact, Queen Clarion (Anjelica Huston) is so impressed with her work that she bestows Tink with a great honor: creating the Fall Scepter, to be used at the upcoming Autumn Revelry.
Tink doesn’t have long to create the scepter, so she’s thrilled to have some help from her best friend, Terence (Jesse McCartney). But his help soon becomes more of an annoyance, and when her temper finally gets the best of her, she does more than lose her best friend—she nearly ruins the Autumn Revelry, too.
Left to handle her latest problem on her own, Tink builds a new contraption that will help her travel beyond Neverland, to find an important treasure that’s sure to save the day.
Like Tinker Bell, Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure is a pretty impressive straight-to-home-video release. Though the music is still pretty forgettable, the details are remarkable, and the crisp, clear animation is often stunning (especially on Blu-ray).
The story, meanwhile, is even better this time. While Tinker Bell felt more like an introduction to Pixie Hollow and the various fairy jobs, Lost Treasure has a more solid plot—one with plenty of adventure, suspense, and drama. Though it’s still a bit clumsy at times, it’s more interesting. At times, it’s even exciting.
Once again, though, Tinker Bell’s stubbornness gets her into trouble. And although that fits with her character from Peter Pan, it also means that she’s often less than likeable as a main character. She huffs and complains, she’s easily frustrated, and she snaps at her friends. Sometimes, she’s even just plain mean. For that reason, she’s not always easy to watch (or love). But, of course, that only sets her (and her young viewers) up for an important lesson about friendship.
In the meantime, Tinker Bell spends most of the movie on her own—with just her new firefly friend, Blaze, at her side. That means that the other characters—from sweet, thoughtful Terence and Tink’s other friends to the wacky duo, Clank and Bobble (Jeff Bennett and Rob Paulsen)—don’t get as much screen time. They’re still there, of course—and Lost Treasure introduces a fun pair of squabbling trolls, too—but they spend much of the movie in the background. And that makes Tink’s temper stand out even more.
Of course, what really matters to most little princesses, though, is that Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure is a fun little movie, filled with action and imagination. It certainly has its share of flaws, but it’s still an enjoyable adventure for little girls. And, thanks to the cool animation and the comical characters, Mom and Dad won’t mind watching it with them (but only once or twice).
Blu-ray Review:
Got a Blu-ray player at home and a DVD player in the car? No worries—because the two-disc Blu-ray release of Disney’s Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure comes with both Blu-ray and DVD versions of the film.
Both discs also include all of the film’s special features—from the Demi Lovato video for “The Gift of a Friend” to the deleted scenes, with introductions by director Klay Hall and producer Sean Lurie. There’s also a short guide through the autumn section of Pixie Hollow (complete with cheesy, sketchy animation), as well as a bunch of short “outtakes” and a feature on the creation of the Fairy Garden for Epcot’s spring festival.
None of the extras are particularly enchanting—so it probably wasn’t necessary to make them available on both discs. But if you do have time to watch just one, I recommend the faux blooper reel—which offers a few more minutes of silliness for the kids.
