Tinker Bell and the Pirate Fairy ** (2014, voices of Mae Whitman, Christina Hendricks, Tom Hiddleston) – Movie Review

Christina Hendricks provides the voice of naughty, misunderstood dust-keeper fairy Zarina, who steals Pixie Hollow’s vital Blue Pixie Dust and flies away to join forces with Captain James Hook (Tom Hiddleston) and the pirates of Skull Rock.

Mae Whitman provides the voice of Tinker Bell, who joins with her fairy friends on a race-against-time quest to return the Pixie Dust it to its rightful place and get back home to save Pixie Hollow. But the fairy gals find that their talents have been switched and the pirates put up quite a battle.

Walt Disney’s animated fantasy movie, originally titled The Pirate Fairy is clearly destined immediately for Home Entertainment but surprisingly it is being honoured with a cinema release in 3D in the UK. It couldn’t be cosier, simpler and more old-fashioned if it tried, but Disney knows its young, mainly early-teenage girl audience, who will probably be content enough, if not satisfied.

The short, hour and a quarter, running time seems skimpy, though it’s way plenty for this slim story. It does mean Tinker Bell and the Pirate Fairy doesn’t get too dull, though, and director Peggy Holmes keeps it moving fairly swiftly. The animation is very traditional, borderline bland, like the characters, and the 3D adds nothing except weight on your nose.

There’s an almost total lack of humour in a surprisingly serious-minded yarn, certainly a total lack of any actual jokes, which adds to the old-fashioned flavour. It’s like we’ve stepped back into the 40s or 50s.

Tinker Bell and the Pirate Fairy is just the latest one of a very long series: Whitman provides the voice of Tinker Bell in Tinker Bell and the Secret of the Wings, Pixie Hollow Games, Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue, Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure and Tinker Bell (2008).

Why flavour of the month Hiddleston needs to voice a Tinker Bell movie is anyone’s guess, but he does it distinctively in posh Brit tones so careful for a moment you think it must be an American actor. Let’s agree with his advice: ‘Never stop fighting. Never stop dreaming. And don’t be afraid of wearing your heart on your sleeve – in declaring the films that you love.’

© Derek Winnert 2014 Movie Review derekwinnert.com