Tooth Fairy
As I went into the screening of this film, I predicted it would be just an average children’s comedy with jokes that were too over-the-top to be funny. I can honestly say that this is one time that I admit my expectations were a bit low, and that I was pleasantly surprised with the result. At this time of year when films that don’t seem to have any box office potential are usually dumped quickly by studios it is nice to see a film that is still value for money.
The film starts with Derek Thompson (Dwayne Johnson, known as “The Rock”) really “breaking a tooth” as an ice hockey player nicknamed “The Tooth Fairy”, smashing an opponent on an ice rink during a game. With one half of him trying to be the tough guy in public, and the other half as a caring boyfriend and father with his girlfriend (played by Ashley Judd), and her children, he does not have the energy for both roles. After taking the daughter’s money from under her pillow—having lost a tooth—when he falls short at a poker game, he turns into a tooth fairy during the night. He suddenly arrives in a fairy world and is greeted by Tracy (Stephen Merchant) who tells him he is to be trained as a tooth fairy. When Derek demands to be sent home, Tracy jokes, “The nightmare is just beginning!”
Julie Andrews then makes a grand entrance as the Tooth Fairy Matriarch and accuses Derek of crushing children’s dreams after he cruely advises a young aspiring hockey player to lower their expectations. As the perfect actress for this role, she sentences him for two weeks of tooth fairy duty. Jerry (Billy Crystal), an older tooth fairy, gives Derek a wand, highly concentrated shrinking paste, a can of temporary invisibility spray, amnesia dust and a container of Cat-Away, which scares cats.
His first assignment as a wing fairy is to collect a tooth that one child has put under their pillow, and to put some money in its place. After he wakes the child up accidentally there is a funny scene where Derek is shrunk as a tooth fairy, and is frightened by a large tabby cat. By scaring the cat with Cat-Away, he goes back to being a full size human being after running thru a cat flap, and later uses his magic power as a tooth fairy by beating a rival team player.
There are some action scenes on the ice that make the film a bit more entertaining to watch, keeping it at a reasonable pace. Eventually Derek earns his wings and flies off back home for good, feeling that he has become a better person. Overall, I would suggest to wait for this film to come out on DVD, but if you are looking for general entertainment for children then this is a reasonable match.
Tooth Fairy • Dolby® Digital surround sound in select theatres • Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 • Running Time: 101 minutes • MPAA Rating: PG for mild language, some rude humor and sports action. • Distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation