A Tooth Fairy Tale Review: Cartoon Adventure with a Touch of Family-Friendly Tween Love Story
In this animated adventure for preteens, the world of fairies focuses on collecting teeth from sleeping youngsters and leaving treasure beneath where they sleep. Board-riding teenage rebel fairy Van (voiced by Booboo Stewart) is less than thrilled about devoting his life to gathering baby teeth—a sentiment that’s entirely reasonable. He is just a bit more curious about the financial workings behind it all: the fairies deliver the teeth to mysterious goblins, who supply gold in exchange. But Van’s curiosity is piqued when he catches sight of a goblin (voiced by Larkin Bell), who turns out to be far from the ugly gnome he had imagined.
A Forbidden Bond and Shared Threat
The stage is set for an exciting quest with a light sprinkling of young love (though it’s perfectly appropriate for children). The goblin and fairy groups are separated from each other, and nothing fuels the excitement of secrecy to bring people as one. The two species portrayed in the film are remarkably alike, yet both maintain prejudiced beliefs about the opposite side. Fairies are supposed to be self-centered types, given to taking whatever they fancy, while the goblins are allegedly stupid, smelly, and primitive, but are in fact intelligent and technologically advanced.
Of course, such a setup requires a common enemy to join forces against, and this is duly provided by a group of vicious spiders, voiced by Jon Lovitz and Fran Drescher. They make no secret about their intentions: they aim to devour the goblins and fairies, and they serve as quite savage, if not particularly skilled, villains.
Target Audience and Overall Impression
There aren’t very many animated films targeting the viewer group that is starting to experience early romances, but are not mature enough for the content 14-year-olds are watching instead of Twilight. Should your youngster falls into this age group, this is unlikely to be their next favorite movie, but it’s a decent choice.
The Tooth Fairy Story releases in Scottish cinemas starting October 10 and the rest of the UK from 24 October.