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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