Take A Look at Disney

6/15/14

A Look at Disney Sets Sail For Adventure: Tinker Bell and The Pirate Fairy












Argh,  welcome  back  aboard  the  SS  Fluttershy  and after a delayed trip,  we finally  head to Neverland.   Pixie  Hollow, to be exact.















Yes,  you see today we are taking a look at the fifth film from the direct-to-video franchise of Tinker Bell  films and well, this was only  the second  Tinker Bell  movie, I've seen after Secret of The Wings, where Tinker Bell meets her twin sister.  That was surprisingly cute but there were two other big reasons, I wanted to see this one.   As you see all of these films are set before Tink meets  Peter Pan and I'm okay with that but this one is more of a direct prequel to the Peter Pan movie as it brings a young Tick Tock Crocodile, seen here as a baby.













Ahem....


CUTE

But there was another reason, well actor that had me interested in this film. You see,  the main villain in this film is a young Hook, here known as James as he not lost his left hand to Tick Tock yet and well, he is voiced by....


















Yep!    Loki aka Tom Hiddleston played Hook and it was fantastic.  Now,  it wasn't anything like Hans Conried  in the original  animated movie as  Hiddleston wasn't trying to  do an impression. Thank, goodness but instead, give his own take on the character but I'll talk more about that down below, when I get to characters but let's just say he was a delight.  Now,  let's  get  the review started.



Trailer

Trailer

Okay, so besides having pirates, this film is also basically Tinker Bell in Magical Mystery Cure.












As you see  in the Disney  Fairies franchise, fairies  have different talents and they are as follows for our main characters.

Tinker Bell =  Tinker,  inquisitive and inventive fairy, who can make anything.  Basically,  a MacGuyver  of fairies.

Vidia   =Fast-flying  Fairy

Silvermist  =  Water  Fairy

Rosetta   = Garden  Fairy

Iridessa   =   Light  Fairy

Fawn   =  Animal  Fairy  (and my favorite  character for fun and  joyful, and silly  personality)


Now,  having   said  all of this,  I call  this  Tinker Bell  In Magical  Mystery Cure  because the titular  Pirate  Fairy,   Zarina   has  invented  multiple  types of Pixie  Dust  that can preform  different actions  and she  blows some onto our main fairies  and it switches their talents.  But  unlike MMC,  the main character also has her talents switched.



The  Plot

We  open the film with our lead of  the film,  Zarina  walking to her job  as a Dust Keeper (I'm not sure but I think that was introduced in this film.)  and  we  learn that she is curious  about  what else, Pixie Dust could do but her boss,  Fairy Gary tells  her that keepers  are not to tamper with the Dust. You'll know that this won't  end well.  As  later that night,  she takes some of the Blue Dust, which is used to power the tree in Pixie Hollow and puts out the dust to help fairies fly and basically live, their  daily lives.   It's a bit confusing but Pixie Hollow can't run without Blue Dust and Zarina takes it back to her hut and experiments with it and creates other colors of Dust such as Purple and Pink that have other skills  besides allowing fairies to fly and one of them is to grow plants and that is where,  we run into the problem  as Zarina  pours too much on a plant and it grows out of her house and destroys the Dust Keeper area and Fairy Gary fires her. Disheartened and broken,  Zarina runs away.

We  cut to  one year later, where the fairies are putting on the Four Seasons Festivals  and the Winter Fairies are the first to preform  and  Zarina   summons  poppies  and puts   all of the fairies save for Tink and her friends  in a deep sleep.  Was this inspired by the poppies  from The Wizard of Oz?  Oh,  and here's   Tink's  sister,  Periwinkle  (a Winter  Fairy) under a deep sleep.













BTW,   I really suggest her film  as it's a great film about the bond between sisters.  The sister angle  isn't  like Frozen  because Peri and Tink  never  knew each other before that movie and when I do my Siblings countdown in the future,  Peri and Tink will  most assuredly be on that list.  Anyways back  to The Pirate Fairy.  And  now, you  might say that  Tink  and her friends  hiding  was convenient but here's the thing,  they  were up next  in the Festival and stayed behind the curtain and hid in the float that they were going to use and they saved by one  of Tinker Bell's  fellow Tinker Fairies, Clank  (voiced by Jeff  Bennett,  who is usually  paired with another Tinker, Bobble  voiced  by Rob Paulsen)   This  does  bring  up another point of contention that some Disney  fans might have with the film,   Tinker Bell  does talk and I remember when I first learned  of the first Tinker Bell movie ,  I wasn't  happy about that but as this film showed, they got around that by   having the fairies  only  talking  directly to each other,  while   when  they talk to non- fairy  characters,   they  make  the famous ringing bell  sound.   Anyways,  back  to the review at hand.   After having put all of the fairies  save for our heroines in a deep sleep,   Zarina heads towards the  Dust  Depot and takes  all of the Blue Dust and the  importance  of this may  have  been exaggerated on my part but the fairies do need it, otherwise, they can't fly.  Weird tangent: I was the only kid confused growing up that Tinker Bell was a fairy but  the Dust was called Pixie Dust. That always  left me confused because  I always questioned: Is Tink, a fairy or a pixie?   Tinker Bell tells  Clank to watch the other fairies and to make sure that the Winter Fairies  cold, while  Tinker Bell  and her friends go after Zarina   and they have to fly to the coast  and I gotta say that the flying chase  in the film was really well done.   Our  heroines   see that  Zarina   is  with pirates  and  they at first think , she is their captain but nope, not only is she in league with them.  She's their captain.  Which okay, I gotta admit ,  I found this rather weird  at first but  the film made it work.










Even  though,  our heroines  get  the Blue Dust back,  Zarina gets it back after she throws some of her special Dust on her former friends and this is where  the movie  becomes  Magical Mystery Cure.











However, the key difference between Magical Mystery Cure and Pirate Fairy is  the latter plays the swapped talents more for laughs, whereas  Magical Mystery Cure played for dramatic effects.  And just to get over with, here is  the list of swapped talents.


Tinker Bell becomes a water fairy.
Silvermist becomes a fast-flying fairy.
Vidia becomes a tinker fairy; much to her horror and disgust.
Iridessa becomes a garden fairy.
Rosetta becomes an animal fairy.
Fawn becomes a light fairy.



And  I gotta say that it was really fun, watching  the fairies  learn their new talents and try to hone them.    Especially, the character of Rosetta, who had become an animal fairy and it's clear that she's not big on animals,   we Tick Tock hatch out of his egg and imprints on her and sees her as his mother but she doesn't take too kindly to it was adorable.














We  then learn   on the pirate ship from  cabin boy, James  (the one that'll become Hook) that one year ago, their  ship was adrift   and they had lost  everything until  they met Zarina  and made her captain as she promised them that she could get their ship to fly. Keep this in mind for Zarina as you can already figure, thing won't turn out well.  We  see the pirates dock at Skull Rock.  Okay,  I gotta say, it was really cool to see Skull Rock.













 And  inside  there,  we learn that Zarina   had built a tree  similar to  the one  found  in Pixie  Hollow  that produces   Blue Dust.  Our fairy heroines   sneak  on board the ship  and Tinker Bell  tries  to convince  Zarina  to come back  to Pixie  hollow  but  she refuses as she  is still hurt  that no on appreciated  her talents.   Uh  Zarina,  look  i get it but... there is one  little  detail,  you seem  to be forgetting.  You stole  some  of the Blue Dust  to do your  experiments  and Fairy Gary  told you  not  to touch  because  your  kind  needs that dust in order to fly.  So,  don't try to play the victim  card, when it's  your fault that you got kicked out of Pixie  Hollow in the first place.    You  aren't  the victim here.   Sorry  but that kinda  bugs  me.  I understand wanting to explore  and try new  things but at the same time, Zarina went behind her boss's  back and in that regard, yeah she deserved to be fired.  Wow,  I am  putting way too much adult thought into  a Tinker Bell movie.   Back  to the review,    the fairies try  to get  the blue  Dust back  again but  their cover is blown, thanks to Iridessa, who thank  to the Dust became  a garden fairy is having trouble  controlling her new talent.  Below  deck,   we see Zarina   creating  some  of her  special  dust  and James   acting   as though,  he cares about her   (but as we  will learn, that  is not the case)   and acting sympathetic  towards  her.   And then,   James  and Zarina   teaches  James  how to fly  and with this knowledge   turns  on Zarina   and a nice little nod to  past pirates,  we see him get  a key  out of a  Treasure  Island book to put  on the famous   Hook coat and hat  and he locks  Zarina  in a lantern.












 This right  here seemed very reminiscent  of  what  the older Hook  did   to Tinker Bell in  the  original movie. 



















And       alas our heroines  have been captured    but who  should came to their aid but  the baby crocodile from the beginning of the movie   and free them.  













Okay, that is just adorable.    Anyways,  Crocky   as  he's called in the movie  frees  Tink  and her friends.     Our heroines  make  it  to the pirate's  Pixie  Dust tree and get their  hands on the Blue Dust and they are  about to make their  way back to  Pixie  Hollow, that is until they see that Captain James  threatens  to drown Zarina unless, the fairies give up  the Blue  Dust   to him  and  Tinker Bell  agrees  but James being a pirate doesn't keep his word  and drowns  Zarina. 














And  James jumps  aboard the ship and the pirates set course for   The Second  Star, so that they can leaven Neverland and plunder  cities all around our world.  But the pirates are  not alone  as the fairies  have boarded   the ship  and a sword fight  between  pirates  and fairies  ensues.   And that has to be one of the weirder things,  I've ever typed out.   It was fun, if a little silly  but the film from my point of view made it that way because the film seemed to know, how silly this idea was.  And  our heroines  used their swapped talents to save the day and defeat the pirates but in the end,  it is Zarina, who  gets to have the hero's moment as James  has been covered in Pixie Dust and uses it to fly but Zarina gets the upper hand as gets a speck of the Dust and tosses it onto James and that causes the dust to go haywire and makes James lose control.  Clever girl.  And  he flies uncontrollably  until he hits a wall of water made by Tinker Bell. Hey,  I just realized something.  Tinker Bell became a water fairy and is voiced by Mae Whitman, who played Katara  on Avatar: The Last Airbender and was a Water Bender. WHOA!  


















This  leaves the pirates  stranded in the water.   And the fairies  fly back home to Pixie Hollow,  where Zarina  is welcomed back with open arms as  she shows  off what she can do with her special talent, alchemy as she  calls it.  Pixie  Dust Alchemy to be exact and Fairy Gary  gives  Zarina, her job back.  Personally,  I don't agree with this decision but the movie needed a happy ending   and during a post credit sequence,  we see  James is rescued by Mr.  Smee as he comments on what a nice hook, he has and we already start to see the angry side of Hook come out as James  just yells  at Smee to get him out of the water.











All in all, this was a pretty fun movie that I enjoyed watching and I can see why, these films are popular amongst  some Disney fans.



Plot  Device

Blue  Pixie  Dust


This was kinda  of a big deal  in the movie  as the film revolved  around  our heroines  getting  it back  and it was interesting to learn  that in this  take  on the characters, the fairies  can't fly  without it.



Characters


Main  Characters


Tinker  Bell   voiced  by Mae  Whitman 














If   there is  one  thing,   I've  noticed about these  Tinker Bell  movies,   they seem to have toned down  her sass but   in some  of the other ones, especially  the first one,  she is still hot-headed.   In this new franchise,  she's   shown to be  a great leader,  who can  take  charge and lead  her friends  to victory  but  she  can also  get herself  into trouble . Also,  I have to be honest  and say that early  on in the film, I heard  a bit  of Mae Whitman's  April from Ninja Turtles  pop up in her voice  work but it was only at one point in the film and during the rest of  the film,  I just  saw her as  Tinker Bell.

 











(Still, my  favorite  April BTW)


Zarina  voiced  by  Christina  Hendricks 












I feel like the film tried way too hard to  make  Zarina likable.  She's  not a bad character and I get wanting to explore  and question things  but  I can't  condone  the way, she went about it  sets  a bad example in my mind.   I almost  felt  like this film was trying to maker her like Ariel but  they didn't seem to know, what made Ariel likable.  She's not a bad character, far from it but  she was probably my least favorite character and that's  not a good thing,  when the story revolves around her.


Supporting  Characters


Vidia,  Silvermist,  Rosetta,  Iridessa,  and Fawn  all voiced by  Pamela  Adlon,  Lucy Liu,  Megan Hilty,  Raven-Symone',  &  Angela  Batyrs












Now  the film did give  time  to the other fairies but they were just supporting characters, so   I didn't really get to know them but  the blame  is squarely on me for that as this is the fifth film in the franchise and I've not watched any of the other movies save for Secret of The Wings but from  I  could  make out,  Vidia is  a bit of a snob  and a redeemed villain as she was the main antagonist  in the first movie and there still seems to be some tension between her and the other fairies but  they all consider her a friend.  Irisidessa,  is the wise  one of the group that thinks before taking action.  Rosetta  is a southern belle,  kinda reminded me of Blanche from The Golden Girls  in how  she cared about her looks.   I didn't  get a  good feel  on Silvermist  but she seems nice but then we come to Fawn.











 Oh  my gosh,  I love  this character.  How to describe her?  She's  playful , silly  and fun-loving  but it never  gets annoying  and she  has  this  wonderful youthful energy   that just makes  her fun to be  around.   I think  the moment,  I latched  onto her is when  she was  messing with her new light  powers  and burned  a smiley  face  into  the pirates'  ship.   Not to mention, that she also  accidentally  burned off part of Rosetta's  hair.  That was funny and this  character is just so fun  and that's  why I'm consider watching the next film in the franchise, The Legend of The Neverbeast  because she's the main character and I'm all for that because what I saw here in The Pirate Fairy made here  out  to be the best character  out  of Tinker Bell's  friends.   And  it's  clear  to see that she's  the youngest  as stated by both the Disney Wiki  and the Disney Fairies Wiki,  she  just has this youthful quality to her, to where she just wants to have fun and doesn't shove it in your face like a certain pink mare.  MLP writers, take notice of Fawn, if you want to save Pinkie Pie because this is how you do a fun  loving character.  She's  also  a bit  of a tomboy  according to the Wiki's, so I guess you could say that she's   Rainbow  Dash with Fluttershy's talent.













Except  for this part as  she  knows how to take care of animals.  In other words,  I need more  Fawn in my life because she is...
















Crocky












Okay,  Crocky  is  just adorable  and they did a pretty good job setting him up to become Tick-Tock and the moment, where he swallowed the clock in the movie was really funny and he was just so cute,  especially  in his little tough guy pose right there.



Music




Who  I Am

This  song is okay  and it does sum the character of Zarina pretty well and it is sung well but  I don't  know,  it just doesn't  leave much of an impression on me.  It's  not bad but it 's  just okay.


The Frigate That Flies


Just  for fun,  that  one eyed pirate is Jim Cummings.   Now, this is a pretty good pirate song, it's  just  so much fun as these pirates just announce  their plans  to steal and I gotta admit that Tom Hiddleston  has a pretty good set of lungs singing as James.  I was surprised because  I did not know that Loki could sing.  And  Zarina's  little "Argh"  is just adorable.   Also,  it may just be me but I swear  that  one of the pirates looks like the bad  guy from Aladdin and The King of Thieves.



Weightless 


So  glad,  I found this version because  this was a song that Disney borrowed to use in the film and they trimmed and censored  it as the original  version included the other word for a female dog.  And I'm glad, they censored it because call me a prude but I don't think 7 year old girls (the target demographic for these movies) need to hear that word.  As for the song itself,  it's okay but  I don't really care for it.



Villain


James  voiced by  Tom Hiddleston 













As  I said in the intro, Tom Hiddleston  is the main reason, I wanted to watch this movie and he was really good as  a young  Hook. He had that evil flair  down, that made him across as a genuine threat and pretty smart too as he was able to trick Zarina for an entire year, no wonder she bought it.   Now , he didn't  have  the same comedic moments  as  Hans  Conried's   Hook and that's  in part because  this film showed  him as a more serious threat that could  take on anything or anyone.




My Final Thoughts 


I was pleasantly surprised by this movie.   Having seen  one prior  Tinker Bell  movie,  I had hoped that this would be good and  I was right.  This  was better than most  of the cheapquels that had been put  in the past as  it's clear this franchise has taken the time to develop this new  world and these new characters to make them interesting and engaging for audiences.  As evidenced  by my admiration of Fawn.   I'd be willing to check out the other Tinker Bell movies, if they're up to this quality.   It  was  really good and made for a fun time.  You know,  I haven't really  gotten negative during this event.  Can't be too positive all the time,  it might ruin my reputation as a pirate.  So join me tomorrow for a Top 6, where I go after   a show that has bugged me from it's inception.  Join me tomorrow as I go over my Top 6 Issues With....


Jake and The Neverland Pirates


 

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