There have been many times in the past few months where I found my mind wandering to thoughts on J.J. Abram’s new take on Star Trek. Like Batman Begins, Casino Royale or even new series such as Iron Man, Abram’s Star Trek is an origin story detailing how the characters we have come to cherish and love basically came together. For the past decade or so, Hollywood has found much to smile about with these films and although there have been a few missteps along the way audiences seem to have a real affinity in discovering how their heroes came to be.

I remember first hearing about Abram’s idea to go back to Star Trek’s roots and finding myself excited to see what he could come up with while keeping his feet grounded by the existing history. I’ve done this many times with other movies as well but never to the degree as the new Trek installment.

Which brings us to Disney’s Tinker Bell. Now, I’ve seen Peter Pan on numerous occasions and though it was charming it was never my favorite Disney animated movie. That’s reserved for The Little Mermaid. I’ve never even seen the play or had any inkling to watch the Return to Neverland animated sequel. In short, I’ve never been much of a fan.

Anyhow, when I first got wind that Disney was embarking on a origin series for Tinkerbell I must admit it was met with as much interest as having to watch paint dry. Although she’s a prominent, albeit silent, figure in Peter Pan I remember her as nothing more than, “that fairy who flew around during the Disney castle logo at the start of the film.” This new Disney project smacked me as being nothing more than another ill-advised cash grab to make money with less than stellar straight to video releases. People love and remember The Lion King but who can say the same for the umpteen sequels that have done nothing but degrade the original experience. Don’t even get me started on The Little Mermaid 2.

It is with that in mind that this new Disney Tinker Bell endeavor seemed doomed to failure. However, there were two things that did stick in my mind that gave me a glimmer of hope. First, although this was meant to go straight to video it was being made in full 3D animation. Second, John Lasseter was brought onboard as executive producer. Part of the problem with the straight to video animated sequels was the lack of animated acumen on display. With a much lower budget these films seemed to have animation only a step or two above what you’d find everyday on kids TV like Spongebob or Pokemon. This made characters move with less fluidity, backgrounds not having exquisite detail, and even the musical score and songs became generic tunes. Moving the project to 3D also seemed to have huge hurdles to leap as there was no way that a straight to video project could compete with Pixar fare but that leads us straight to John Lasseter’s involvement.

When Disney purchased Pixar in 2006 they made John Lasseter, one of Pixar’s co-founders, Chief Creative officer of both companies. If you don’t know who John Lasseter is perhaps you would be more familiar with his films, namely, Toy Story 1&2, A Bug’s Life and Cars. He also executive produced nearly all of Pixar’s hits such as Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille and the recent Wall-E. It is with this pedigree that he took over the reigns at Disney after the Pixar purchase. At that time the Tinker Bell project was already in production but it was mired in a string of setbacks and bad decisions that included having had a carousel of about a dozen different writers on the screenplay. Numerous reports had the project running 30-50 million over budget and what work had been completed was far from film worthy.

Now, we’ll never know exactly how much Lasseter contributed to the project but suffice to say the ship seemed to have stabilized after his arrival culminating in Tinker Bell’s release this year. We can only assume that he managed to get the project back on track and iron out the script issues.

The movie expands upon what we have previously known about the title character adding much narrative heft to the fairy world with a detailed back-story on how fairies are born the moment a human baby first smiles to the social hierarchy of the fairy kingdom. The movie opens with a newly “born” Tinker Bell arriving in the fairy kingdom and immediately has her future profession thrust upon her – shades of a dystopian science fiction society aside she is slotted to become a tinker, those fairies who are gifted with the ability to make complex equipment in order to aid others in their work.

It turns out that fairies are responsible for what goes on in the human world. Seasons change due to their meticulous work while lost toys are returned to their rightful owners. We soon discover other castes such as the water fairies who delicately place water droplets onto spider webs or light fairies that capture the sun’s rays and distribute them to fireflies.

It is into the world that Tinker Bell has arrived and soon she is marveling in wonder at how everyone around her seems to revel in their work. However, therein lies the moral crux of the film – she’s not content to be a tinker who lives and toils in the dank recesses of the ground instead dreaming on how her life would be so much better in another profession. This fundamental juxtaposition is something not only Disney movies have always touched upon as people have often felt that the grass is always greener on the other side. Of course, this would not be a children’s movie if all Tinker Bell did was mope and brood under the shadows. With tenacity and more than a touch of stubbornness Tinker Bell gets her fairy friends to try and teach her other skills in order to convince everyone that it was some sort of mistake that she was assigned to being an engineer.

The movie does a good job of setting up Tinker Bell and her circle of friends although we are not given much information on them and as a result her friends come off as colourful albeit a bit too easy to pigeonhole. That’s not out of the ordinary as this is a product for children and it makes them easily recognizable. I have no doubt young girls will easily attach themselves to anyone of these fairies. Tinker Bell herself is the highlight though and the movie does not disappoint in that regard. The focus stays on her throughout the movie and we’re drawn into her ongoing struggle to prove her worth to the other fairies.

Thankfully, the filmmakers have not gone the route of other all-girl casts ala Bratz, Winx Club or Totally Spies by imbuing their leads with too much sassiness and Charlie’s Angels faux “grrrrl power” clichés. These fairies just seem to want to help each other out of genuine friendship without overtly feminist overtones. That is not to say that you can’t make a case for over sexualization of these fairies either. Although this is a Disney product and it keeps these elements completely out of the story as evinced with Tinker Bell’s more or less easy rapport with Terrence, one of the only male supporting characters who just so happens to be the most handsome, the overall look of the film decidedly focuses on those of beauty.

I remember watching this film with my wife who remarked during one scene where Tinker Bell was moping slouched over a table that, “Wow, Tinker Bell has a big chest.” Yes she indeed does and so does every other female fairy as well. It is also a bit of a tease that the first thing Tinker Bell does when she receives an over-sized green dress is to tailor it into her trademark extremely revealing outfit. Still, this styling aside, there’s nothing even remotely romantic going on, merely the animators’ desire to make every female member of Tinker Bell’s clique look like they have fashion model figures.

What is pleasantly surprising about the whole movie is that it looks incredibly detailed with lush bright colours and gorgeous vistas. Characters move with decent fluidity of motion and facial expressions are spot on. This is still not close to a Pixar animated feature film but it’s light years ahead of what I expected for a straight to video product. If John Lasseter and those at Disney have this level of finesse in mind with regards to future products then we’re all going to be thankful for their vision.

Buttressing the colourful visuals is a light-hearted musical score with a Celtic flair and though I don’t mind listening to them in other movies it works in this movie’s favor that there are no overblown musical numbers. This is one area where I hope the new folks at Disney reign in as there’s nothing worse than a musical and dance sequence that sounds as if it were written by a tone-deaf composer coupled with overwrought dance choreography. There are two songs but they are unobtrusive, one of them playing during the end credits.

All the voice talent assembled here acquits themselves well with Mae Whitman as Tinker Bell obviously shouldering the workload whereas others such as Anjelica Huston and Lucy Liu do their best to make their characters come to life even though they have minimal screen time.

With a short 78 minute running time the movie works at a fast pace and does an admirable job of setting up the characters and the world in which they live. It’s apparent from all the minute details that the Disney team has strived to create a believable fairy world that can serve as a launching point for further adventures. Kids, especially the young girl target audience, should love what is presented here although there’s not much that might engage older adults. Still, at least it is not insulting to their intelligence.

That being said, there are a few places where the film sags. The bulk of the entire second act where Tinker Bell attempts to learn other professions overcomes its welcome with too many pratfalls and events. The addition of a semi-villain reeks of frustration as well and doesn’t fit the overall feeling of camaraderie that is so prevalent in the fairy kingdom. It makes you wonder just how this particular fairy got such a bad attitude when no one else seems to care or notice. Finally, as much as Tinker Bell owes her existence to Peter Pan it’s not really a good move to keep making reference to the source material. The filmmakers have created a wonderfully realized world of pixie hollow that has enough weight to stand on its own. I can understand this being the first Tinker Bell movie to show some hooks that link it to Peter Pan but I hope further adventures will keep the fairies firmly as the focus.

Still, Tinker Bell is a good solid first effort from the new generation of Disney filmmakers who have taken the criticisms of the past to heart. Hopefully, the days of ghastly straight to video features is long gone with a new commitment to higher production values and effective storytelling.

*** out of ****

2008 USA, 78 Minutes, Disney, G
Directed by Bradley Raymond
Character by J.M. Barrie
Written by Jeffrey M. Howard
Original Music by Joel McNeely
Art Direction by Ryan L. Carlson

Tinker Bell (voice): Mae Whitman
Rosetta (voice): Kristin Chenoweth
Iridessa (voice):Raven-Symoné
Silvermist (voice): Lucy Liu
Fawn (voice): America Ferrera
Fairy Mary (voice): Jane Horrocks
Terence (voice): Jesse McCartney
Queen Clarion (voice): Anjelica Huston