Movie Review – Tinker Bell & The Lost Treasure (Mini Review)
A whole load less lighthearted than the original Tinker Bell, The Lost Treasure sees Tink (and us) out of her comfort zone dealing not only with friendship issues, but also the responsibility of keeping her fairy world going! Again, the Disney über-mantra of friendship and love pervades everything in this film, and the animation is again stunning for a Direct-to-DVD release, so for the young fans this will definitely be a keeper.
– Summary –
Director : Klay Hall
Year Of Release : 2009
Principal Cast : Voice of Mae Whitman, Jesse McCartney, Anjelica Huston, Lucy Liu, Kristan Chenoweth, Pamela Adlon, Raven Symone, Grey DeLisle, Jane Horrocks, John DiMaggio, Jeff Bennett, Rob Paulson, Bob Bergen.
Approx Running Time : 70 Minutes
Synopsis: Tinker Bell accidentally destroys a precious gemstone intrinsic to the production of pixie dust, and goes off in search of a magical mirror which grants the bearer a wish – a wish she can use to right the wrong she’s caused.
What we think : A whole load less lighthearted than the original Tinker Bell, The Lost Treasure sees Tink (and us) out of her comfort zone dealing not only with friendship issues, but also the responsibility of keeping her fairy world going! Again, the Disney über-mantra of friendship and love pervades everything in this film, and the animation is again stunning for a Direct-to-DVD release, so for the young fans this will definitely be a keeper. Perhaps not having the same re-watch value as the original, The Lost Treasure nevertheless makes a welcome addition to the Tinker Bell pantheon.
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Just Quickly
Tinker Bell (voice of Mae Whitman) is given the honor of making a scepter to house to fragile and important blue moonstone during a ceremony to take place soon – the blue harvest moon, which causes the creation of blue pixie dust, which rejuvenates the pixie dust tree under which all the fairies live. Naturally, Tink accidentally breaks the moonstone, and wracked with guilt, sets off on a dangerous quest to locate a mysterious mirror which can grant wishes – she hopes to use this to restore the balance, so to speak. Parallel to this, her friend Terence (voice of Jesse McCartney) starts to become a little overbearing towards the hot-headed Tink, leading to a fight and a parting of company over a relatively trivial matter (aren’t they all) – naturally, however, cooler heads prevail and as you might expect, all ends up being sorted by the end. The traditional Quest Narrative is played out in full Disney charm here, including a new Cute Animal Sidekick (Blaze, the firefly) and a series of dangerous obstacles (one of which is a duo of argumentative trolls), before the expected resolution arrives.
The Result
Disney returns to the well in this franchise-building effort from the studio, and while the film is ostensibly another family friendly affair in the vein of the charming original, this sequel delves into a somewhat darker journey for your green-costumed star. Tink, once more voiced by Mae Whitman, is having “boyfriend issues” this time round, with the friendly advances of pixie dust schlepper Terence, voiced by Jesse McCartney, being misconstrued. Tink is given a task, and when she asks Terence to help, he takes it upon herself to be a kind of mentor, something the headstrong Tink soon finds annoying. I really enjoyed the interplay between Tink and Terence, although I baulked at the idea that Tink should ever have a “love interest” outside of Peter Pan. For me, Tink always had eyes for Peter, so to find her engaged in a relationship of questionable platonic status with Terrence, I thought it a little…. crass. Perhaps I was reading too much into it. The animation in this film is again excellent, the visual effects once more top notch for a non-cinema release from Disney. The story is, as with the original Tinker Bell, quite unoriginal and exceedingly predictable, although the audience this film is aimed at will lap it up regardless, I think. There’s a surprising lack of Vidia in this effort, which is a shame because she makes an excellent foil for Tink’s goodie-two-shoes persona – I expect we’ll see more of her in further installments. The films’ main push – that friendship is something to be treasured – is a great moral stance for the youngsters to pick up on. I don’t think the film has a high a re-watch rate as the original film, but this is still an eminently enjoyable (and somewhat less traditional) fairy film from the House Of Mouse.
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