Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure (Blu-ray)
Directed by Klay Hall
Studio: Disney
Year: 2009
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 1080p AVC codec
Running Time: 80 minutes
Rating: G
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English; Dolby Digital 5.1 French, Spanish
Subtitles: SDH, French, Spanish
Region: A
MSRP: $ 39.99
MSRP: $ 39.99
Release Date: October 27, 2009
Review Date: October 19, 2009
The Film
3.5/5
There were high hopes that after last year’s middling introductory story in the Tinker Bell saga, the next three would feature better and more interesting tales. And that’s just what Disney has come up with in Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure, a kind of kiddie Indiana Jones-styled adventure for the feisty fairy which offers a more engrossing story, more humor, and the expected juvenile life lessons offered up with a spoonful of sugar.
Industrious and clever Tinker Bell (Mae Whitman) is given the opportunity by Queen Clarion (Anjelica Huston) and the Minister of Autumn (John Di Maggio) to design this year’s Fall Scepter, a necessary item which, with a valuable, one-of-a-kind blue moonstone at its summit, is a vital element in the production of pixie dust, a necessity for all of the fairies in Pixie Hollow to be able to fly. With the help of her friend Terence (Jesse McCarthy), Tink designs a beautiful scepter, but an accidental set of circumstances breaks the moonstone into many pieces and causes a falling out between the two friends. Tink’s only hope of rejuvenating the moonstone and making her deadline for the presentation of the scepter is to find the magic Mirror of Incarta which has one wish left on it, but it’s far, far away from Pixie Hollow, and with Tink’s monthly supply of pixie dust low, she needs help if she’s to somehow manage to make things right in time for the fall celebration. With Terence and her on the outs, it’s going to take some ingenuity and a lot of luck for Tink to pull off this miracle.
Evan Spiliotopoulos’ screenplay has added quite a bit of humor to this fairy world not only from Clank and Bobble from the last movie but the addition of two testy trolls Tinker Bell encounters on her way to find the mirror. (Ironically, the voices of Clank and Bobble and the two trolls are voiced by the same actors - Jeff Bennett and Rob Paulsen, and they do very amusing different characterizations for each pair.) Another wise decision is to give Tink a companion on her long journey, a helpful firefly named Blaze who has a meet-cute with Tink and then proceeds to be a jack-of-all-insects for the desperate fairy. Nothing in the tale is especially scary if one is afraid the younger members of the family might get frightened, but the dangers are intense enough that the younger fry will likely be rapt by the sights and sounds and really enjoy it. The films are really for the youngest members of the family (ten and under, I’d say), but a couple of decent songs have been added to give some flavor to the piece (“It’s Time” brings in the autumn motif of the film; “Gift of a Friend” ties into the movie’s overall themes of friendship, perseverance, and responsibility), and the CGI animation is beautiful and easily draws one into this fairy tale world.
Mae Whitman and Jesse McCarthy get the lion’s share of work in this installment of the “Disney Fairies” series, and they bring the characters of Tink and Terence to adorable life. Tinker Bell’s friends voiced by Kristin Chenoweth, Lucy Liu, Raven-Symoné, and Pamela Adlon have much less to do here than in the first film. Jane Horrocks manages to steal all of her scenes as Fairy Mary, sort of a den mother to the younger fairies. Eliza Pollack Zebert and Bob Bergen give voice and sound effects to Tinker Bell’s new firefly pet Blaze making the character a must-have for future installments.
Video Quality
5/5
The film has been framed at 1.78:1 and is presented in this 1080p transfer using the AVC codec. It’s a beautiful image throughout with bold, vibrant colors, wonderful detail on the animated trees and flowers, and with no hint of banding or edge enhancement to spoil this pure, pristine image. The film has been divided into 12 chapters.
Audio Quality
4/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 focuses on the songs and music score by Joel McNeely for most of the surround activity. The music has been gorgeously recorded and spreads out superbly through all of the surround channels. Not enough has been done with the possibilities of ambient sounds in the surrounds. But there’s no denying that for a made-for-home video release, this is an outstanding soundtrack.
Special Features
4/5
All of the bonus featurettes are in 1080p.
“Magical Guide to Pixie Hollow” is a somewhat disappointing barely animated introduction to the film as Tink and Terence take viewers on a quick tour of the Autumn area of Pixie Hollow. It runs for 4 ¾ minutes.
“Scenes You Never Saw” are some clever “outtakes” which obviously never made it into the finished work with some running gags with Tink’s scepter designs and lots of familiar moments from the movie (Tink and Terence playing the piano, and the entire featured gang of Pixie Hollow doing a parody of the Beach Party movies) sent up for fun. This runs 4 minutes.
There are seven deleted scenes which may be viewed separately or in one 16 ¼-minute group. They are introduced by director Klay Hall and producer Sean Lurie. (The animation is only in stop action storyboard form though the actors’ voices were recorded for these sequences.)
“Pixie Hollow Comes to Walt Disney World” is an 8 ¼-minute featurette on the building of the Pixie Hollow Fairy Garden at Epcot in Florida. The amazing achievement was done in a week.
Disney Channel star Demi Lovato sings the film’s “Gift of a Friend” in a music video with footage from the movie lasting 3 ¼ minutes.
The disc is BD-Live capable, but the network offerings for the movie had not been activated during the review period.
There are 1080p trailers for Dumbo, The Princess and the Frog, and Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue.
The second disc in the set is a DVD copy of the movie complete with the accompanying bonus features named above.
In Conclusion
3.5/5 (not an average)
An enjoyable adventure for the family’s youngest viewers, Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure makes a marvelous second offering in the made-for-video “Disney Fairies” series. The Blu-ray looks beautiful, sounds wonderful, and offers a nice array of bonuses and a DVD copy of the movie for good measure.
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
