Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue (Blu-ray Combo Pack)
Directed by Bradley Raymond
Studio: Disney
Year: 2010
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 1080p AVC codec
Running Time: 77 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
Release Date: September 21, 2010
Review Date: September 19, 2010
The Film
3/5
After the high-flying adventure in Tinker Bell’s last made-for-home video film, her third outing which puts her in contact with humans for the first time is a bit less exciting. Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue is more about matters of the heart rather than an exciting escapade that the title of the movie might suggest. Yes, there is a rescue to be sure, a couple in fact, but those rescue sequences are relegated to the film’s last twenty minutes. Before then, we’re much more focused on the human-fairy connection and the magic that faith, trust, and pixie dust can produce.
Tinker Bell (Mae Whitman) is excited about her first summer at Fairy Camp, but almost immediately, she gets drawn toward lonely English child Lizzy (Lauren Mote) whose passionate belief in fairies has led her to build a fairy cottage that Tink gets inadvertently trapped in. Haughty fairy Vidia (Pamela Adlon) sees this happen and races back to the campsite to form a rescue party made up of Tink’s friends Rosetta (Kristin Chenoweth), Silvermist (Lucy Liu), Iridessa (Raven-Symoné), and the bungling Clank (Jeff Bennett) and Bobble (Rob Paulsen). While they have their own problems navigating to Tink’s location through a thunderstorm and a countryside with cars and cats to contend with, Tink is getting to know the unhappy Lizzy who’s thrilled to finally meet a real fairy but upset knowing her scientist father (Michael Sheen) isn’t going to approve her using her spare time on ethereal pursuits instead of natural science investigations.
While the story is sweet and will likely delight little girls and boys younger than ten, the adventure aspects which made the last film Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure such a welcome venture for the whole family are much less at the fore here and to the film’s detriment. Tink’s educating the young Lizzy on all things fairy makes for a rather bland first half of the film. The action does pick up once Tink’s flying lessons begin and the gang finally arrives at the house, and then it’s a mad dash to London to prevent Dr. Bennett from revealing the truth about fairies. With that having transpired, adults especially will have some déjà vu moments as the family flies over London which will take many right back to those magisterial sequences from Peter Pan, and while the sequences here can’t match that either in the drawing or with the music, it’s still the very best thing about this third Tinker Bell adventure. There are also two simple but effective ballads sung on the soundtrack: “Summer’s Just Begun” over the main titles and “How to Believe” as Lizzy learns to fly.
Mae Whitman once again excels as Tink in her third assignment as the plucky fairy, and her friends played by Kristin Chenoweth, Lucy Liu, Raven-Symoné, and Pamela Adlon have much more to do in this third entry than in the second one. Contrarily, Jesse McCartney as Tink’s close friend Terrence who was a major attraction of the first two films only shows up in very brief scenes at the beginning and the end this time out. Lauren Mote makes a most believable friendless child as Lizzy, and Michael Sheen convinces easily as a professor who’s more in tune with his insects than his own daughter.
Video Quality
5/5
The film is framed at 1.78:1 and is presented in 1080p using the AVC codec. As with the last film, the animation is excellent for a made-for-home video project with rapturous color, superb sharpness, and impressive detail for animation work done on a tighter budget than a theatrical feature. There is no banding or blooming color to be seen, and the saturated hues are rich and impressive. The film has been divided into 12 chapters.
Audio Quality
4/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sound mix makes music the primary focus of the surround experience with the songs and background score beautifully recorded and filtered through the soundstage with great effectiveness. Elsewhere, however, the budgetary limitations of the sound design come through as surround envelopment isn’t all it could have been with the rainstorm, the sounds of the countryside, and the noises of London late in the film.
Special Features
2.5/5
All of the bonus features are presented in 1080p.
There are five deleted scenes in various stages of animation which are each introduced by the director and producer of the movie explaining why each was omitted in the final edit. Together they run 14 ¾ minutes, but they can be watched individually.
“How to Believe” music video is performed by Bridgit Mendler who also sings the song on the soundtrack of the movie. It runs 3 minutes.
Fairy Field Guide Builder is a family game where multiple choice trivia questions about fairies and the story of the movie are offered for play.
“Design a Fairy House” is a brief featurette showing a contest that was held at Disney World for children to build their own fairy house for Tinker Bell. The winner and her winning house are shown in this 2-minute vignette.
There is an extended sneak peek of Tangled which runs for 3 ¾ minutes.
The Blu-ray is BD-Live enhanced, but while the network was active, there didn’t seem to be any specific content related to this film.
There are also trailers for Beauty and the Beast, Fantasia/Fantasia 2000, Toy Story 3, Santa Paws, Oceans, The Crimson Wing, Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2, Prince of Persia, and A Christmas Carol.
The second disc in the set is a DVD copy of the movie.
In Conclusion
3/5 (not an average)
Not quite as good as the previous entry in this series, Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue will still undoubtedly delight its target audience looking for more fairy comedy and adventure. The Blu-ray release is a beautiful looking and sounding package with the bonus of the DVD copy of the movie included.
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC