MOVIE: Tinker Bell

GENRE: Animated

RUNNING TIME: 78 minutes

BONUS FEATURES: Tinker Trainer, Magical Guide to Pixie Hollow, Ever Wonder, Creating Pixie Hollow, All-New Music Video, Deleted Scenes.

WHO'S IN IT: Mae Whitman (voice of Tinker Bell), Raven-Symone (Iridessa), Lucy Liu (Silvermist), America Ferrera (Fawn), Jane Horrocks (Fairy Mary), Jesse McCartney (Terence), Jeff Bennett (Clark), Rob Paulsen (Bobble), Pamela Avlon (Vidia), Anjelica Houston (Queen Clarion).

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Tinker Bell is brought to gossamer-wing-fluttering, bright-blue-eyes-glowing life with a sprinkle of gold on a wayward dandelion by Terence. She, like every fairy before her, has to immediately be assigned her task in the great, big factory of little creatures who make big things happen for us humans - the changing of the seasons - through a process of touching the tools of various parts of the trade. As she does so things go poof, things go pop and, surprisingly, she becomes a tinker (y'know, that fixes stuff).

superb viewing experience

Tinker Bell is delivered on what the movie's producers Walt Disney call a Blue Ray disc, which really lives up to its promise of improved quality for a superb viewing experience. Colours are so lush you can practically dive into the thick patches of flowers, roll on the lawns and toss around the snow as Clark and Bobble escort her through the seasons (with their attendant fairies) to her place in Pixie Hollow where they literally make spring (including spraying the ladybugs).

The tale becomes one of a fairy who wants more than the assigned place for herself and her fellow fairies (which leads to tons of humour, as she gets her pals dunked with a dewdrop and is chased by fireflies for the sun droplet stuck to her bottom) and makes her lowly role one of supreme importance, as she turns scraps of human cast-offs into labour and time-saving inventions. (First, of course, her devices fail with rib-tickling results.)

But when Queen Clarion announces that spring is going to be late, it is tinkering, not magic, that saves the day (Tinker Bell makes a spray gun and a rapid harvester out of an old glove and harmonica). Naturally, she gives her fixer pals the big talk ("I am a tinker. And tinkers fix things, but I can't do it alone") and all is well.

Jealous mischief maker

Along the way to the extended burst of song and fly and colour that closes Tinker Bell, the star girl staves off the malice and putdowns of Vidia ("Sweetie, I make forces of nature. You make pots."), whose superior air comes from controlling the wind - and who is eventually exposed as a jealous mischief maker.

There is a slight problem in that, though, as there are stereotypical light and white forces of good (Tinker Bell is a blue-eyed blonde) against the evil dark-hair and dark-eyed person. It reinforces the white is good and black is bad concept.

And you don't have to look too closely to see that Tinker Bell's little green outfit is, well, little.

THE REEL LOWDOWN: The kids will really love this one, especially the girls. It does not, however, have that 'Shrekkie' characteristic of also appealing to the adults.

- Mel Cooke