I bet you never expected a review for this ever hitting the ITK website, amirite? Well Tinkerbell must be hot property if this direct-to-video title is hitting South Africa’s silver screen.
- Tinkerbell: The Secret of the Wings
Directors: Peggy Holmes and Bobs Gannaway
Cast: Timothy Dalton, Lucy Hale and Megan Hilty
Running time: 92 minutes
Age restriction: A
Genre: Animation
Initially walking into this, I was expecting the worst possible result. At some point or another come into contact with the Tinker Bell DVD releases; needless to say, my expectations weren’t set too high. But after sitting through from start to finish, I can understand why Secret of the Wings got released in cinemas. Primarily it is due to South Africa having a small 3-D TV market and I’m sure Disney would like to get the most of their investment. However, I’d like to think that the justification for the release was the level of production values that elevate this Tinkerbell movie above all the substandard offerings in the past.
The CGI, while nothing groundbreaking is definitely above any Tink films that have come before but it doesn’t hold a candle to the latest from Pixar and Dreamworks…it just lacks the rich textures and animated charm that one can find elsewhere. The sentiment echoes through the whole production – everything from the voicework to the story itself is acceptable but nothing special. Then again, through the eyes of a child, this movie would be nominated for an Oscar.
On a side note, Disney has implemented a very bizarre method of political correctness in this film – all of Tinker Bell’s friends are of different racial profiles, which I suppose makes sense in our modern age, but it seems a little disconcerting when the rest of the fairies in the world are white.
The Target
Kids, that is all. But if you’re a parent, Secret of the Wings isn’t the nauseating experience that one would expect.
The Bottom Line
Tinker Bell: Secret of the Wings is a direct to video movie that was deamed worthy of a theatrical release (in 3-D no less), and while it doesn’t break any new ground, it hits the right notes for the young girls. The plot lacks any complexity, the visuals are satisfactory and thankfully, the pacing sends the film on a one way ticket to the credits on the celluloid express – it’s not an agonising 90 minutes mind you.
Note that if your have a girl between the ages of 3 and 8, it’s safe to say that you can bump this rating up a few points!