Tinkerbell und die Piratenfee (The Pirate Fairy)
U.S.A. 2014

Opening 12 Jun 2014

Directed by: Peggy Holmes
Writing credits: Jeffrey M. Howard, Kate Kondell, John Lasseter, Peggy Holmes, Roberts Gannaway
Principal actors: Mae Whitman, Christina Hendricks, Tom Hiddleston, Lucy Liu, Megan Hilty

Manhattan’s Broadway has it musical prequel to the story of Peter Pan, called Peter and the Star Catcher. Now we have another prequel to Peter Pan, this time an animated children’s film. Peter actually appears in the musical, but he is a no-show in the film. Instead we do have the fairy Tinkerbell, and a whole group of her fairy friends: Rosetta, Silvermist, Vidia, Iridessa, and Fawn (names slightly changed in the German version). They are all a-twitter because Zarina, an especially curious and innovative fairy colleague, has poked around in off-limits pots and managed to steal the blue fairy dust. This is the magic which makes fairies fly, a huge disaster. You realize the importance of blue fairy dust when they say, “What does taking a walk mean?” Not only does Zarina mess with the status quo, but she takes off to her new friends, the pirates. Tinkerbell and her followers fly after her and confront her on ship. One pirate is young James, who eventually becomes Captain Hook, but that’s a different story. You’ll see hectic fighting, lots of giggling and a big event similar to an Olympics opening ceremony. And so on.

Small children with a 10-minute attention span might like this film, and therefore should watch it in small doses at home on TV. My favorite character was Clank, a fat elf, who remained unaffected by all the hoo-ha. The music by Joel McNeely is fine, especially the song “The Frigat that Flies.” (Becky Tan)