The Tooth Fairy Story Review: Animated Adventure with a Sprinkling of Kid-Appropriate Preteen Romance
Throughout this cartoon journey aimed at tweens, the fairy community focuses on collecting baby teeth of sleeping children and leaving treasure beneath where they sleep. Skateboarding youthful nonconformist fairy Van (voiced by Booboo Stewart) shows little enthusiasm about devoting his life to collecting baby teeth—a feeling that’s completely understandable. He is just slightly more curious about the underlying economics of the situation: the fairies deliver the teeth to mysterious goblins, who supply gold as payment. However, Van’s interest is piqued when he catches sight of a goblin (played by Larkin Bell), who turns out to be far from the ugly gnome he had imagined.
An Unlikely Bond and Shared Threat
The stage is set for an adventure with a gentle touch of teen romance (even though it remains very much suitable for younger kids). The goblin and fairy groups are estranged from each other, and there’s nothing like the thrill of the forbidden to unite beings as one. Both groups portrayed in the film are remarkably alike, yet both maintain biased views about the opposite side. The fairies are said to be entitled types, prone to taking whatever they fancy, while the goblins are reportedly stupid, smelly, and backward, but are actually intelligent and advanced in technology.
Naturally, such a setup needs a shared foe to join forces against, and this is duly provided by a group of vicious spiders, with voices by Jon Lovitz and Fran Drescher. They make no secret with these guys: they aim to devour the fairies and goblins, and they serve as quite savage, though not particularly skilled, villains.
Target Audience and Final Thoughts
You won’t find very many animated films aimed at the kind of audience that is starting to experience early romances, but aren’t yet old enough for the content teenagers are watching instead of popular teen sagas. If your child is in the right age bracket, this is unlikely to be their next favorite movie, but it’s a decent choice.
A Tooth Fairy Tale arrives in movie theaters in Scotland from 10 October and the rest of the UK from 24 October.
