A Tooth Fairy Tale Review: Cartoon Journey with a Sprinkling of Kid-Appropriate Tween Romance
Throughout this animated journey aimed at tweens, the world of fairies is dedicated to gathering teeth from sleeping children and placing treasure under their pillows. Board-riding youthful nonconformist fairy Van (voiced by Booboo Stewart) shows little enthusiasm about devoting his life to gathering baby teeth—a feeling that’s entirely reasonable. He is just a bit more curious about the underlying economics of the situation: the fairies deliver the teeth to mysterious goblins, who supply gold in exchange. But Van’s curiosity grows when he catches sight of a goblin (voiced by Larkin Bell), who turns out to be far from the ugly creature he had imagined.
A Forbidden Bond and Shared Threat
The stage is set for an exciting quest with a gentle touch of young love (though it’s perfectly appropriate for younger kids). The fairy and goblin communities are estranged from one another, and there’s nothing like the thrill of the forbidden to bring people as one. Both groups as seen here are incredibly similar, yet each holds prejudiced beliefs about the opposite side. The fairies are supposed to be self-centered sorts, prone to taking whatever they fancy, while goblins are reportedly stupid, foul-smelling, and backward, but are in fact intelligent and advanced in technology.
Of course, such a setup needs a common enemy to unite against, and that need is met by some nasty spiders, voiced by Jon Lovitz and Fran Drescher. They make no secret about their intentions: they want to eat the fairies and goblins, and they serve as fairly bloodthirsty, if not particularly skilled, villains.
Ideal Viewers and Final Thoughts
There aren’t very many animated films aimed at the viewer group that is starting to experience first crushes, but aren’t yet old enough for whatever 14-year-olds are watching in lieu of Twilight. If your child falls into this age group, this is unlikely to be their next all-time fave, but it’s a decent choice.
A Tooth Fairy Tale releases in Scottish cinemas starting October 10 and the rest of the UK from 24 October.
