Tooth Fairy DVD
Dwayne Johnson takes on new and for him seemingly routine roles with his newest the job of collecting those teeth when children place them under their pillows.
Film making 10/25
Video 20/25
Audio 20/25
Bonus Features 2/25
Total 55/100
Did you ever wish to have some dream come true, not a big one, just some little thing that only you knew about or just some little thing that would not change the world but just make you smile a little. Big dreams are not the sort of thing Tooth Fairy is about, it's one of those little things that get so out of hand.
It's like a freight train rumbling down the tracks on its out of control way to squash that little VW bug stalled at the crossing ahead. Tooth Fairy is kind of like that, a simple idea taken so out of its element that it runs over anything resembling a good idea by the end credits.
Dwayne Johnson plays Derek Thompson, the hunk hockey player who has lost all semblance of a kind person and has become that mythical sports figure we all look up to only for his money. He is literally the Tooth Fairy, an over hyped hockey player who has not made a goal in nine years but because he is so brutal on the ice has a following of his own in the minor leagues.
He has a love interest, Carly played by Ashley Judd, but possibly due to his own prowess as a public figure he thinks all things mythical like Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy no longer exist even for young kids. He spills the beans that the tooth fairy does not exist to his girlfriends daughter and gets punished by the Fairy Godmother and the system for it.
He gets assigned to a mentor fairy, one without wings, by the Fairy Godmother played by Julie Andrews and gets his fairy gadgets by another old fairy played by Billy Chrystal. Even with the help of fairies played by great actors the film flops as nothing can be taken even half way seriously but even the comedy falls flat.
After bumbling through a few tooth exchanges where shrinking small and invisibility does not help the job of Derek "The Tooth Fairy" Thompson he needs help. He tries hard to perform his duties as haphazardly as he does on the ice but nothing helps him take the job serious.
He finally got it drummed into his head that small wishes and dreams were an important part of being human and that helping to perpetrate these wishes to the young were equally as important. Tooth Fairy has the problem of trying to be a humor filled movie with a message or moral but the fluffy obviously pinned on fairy wings are only the start of the problems.
If the movie had taken things differently, more serious or something, things would have been better but the film goes to the extreme starting with those wings. They look like something in an elementary school play and not a full budgeted Hollywood film and the film continues this theme from beginning to end.
The acting is equally as bad and if they had taken things a bit more serious or something else I think the actors would have gotten in line to make a creative modern tale instead of whatever this is. The Tooth Fairy reminds me much of The Santa Clause without the same witty fun that Tim Allen brought to that film.
Dwayne Johnson does an admirable job but like other stars his heart is just not in the film or he just does not have what it takes to be this kind of funny. The film does have its moments but between the cute kid who finally discovers there are magical moments in this world there is also the let downs and cheesy prop wings.
Tooth Fairy looks good and has great audio but when the film falls flat and things get out of hand in fairy land the audio, video and even the bonus features cannot save the film from boredom. Let's look at one scene that exemplifies my point, a hockey player nicknamed the Tooth Fairy becomes the real, mythical thing and continues on his way not with awe or disbelief but with the injustice of it all.
Derek argues the finer points of how unfair it is that he is now a fetch it boy for the Fairy Godmother instead of
wondering about the implications of a real fairy standing in front of him. If they would have handled things a bit different the movie could have been enjoyable and fun like The Santa Claus.
But instead we have Dwayne arguing about things with fairies instead of praising them for their hard work toward children's dreams. Tooth Fairy is definitely aimed at younger kids but even then I am not sure many are going to buy into Dwayne Johnson's vision of a bumbling Tooth Fairy trainee.
The film mocks more than it praises imagination and dreaming by not even taking the idea that fairies exist with much awe or downright humility. The video in Tooth Fairy is great with very good color and well done darks that are evident through much of the film as many scenes are at night.
Audio is also well done with good clear sound but I received a reviewers copy DVD so am not going to be sure of what is on the actual DVD release. The bonus content that was on my reviewers copy is likely to be the same that comes out on the DVD release which I hope is not true as it is really bad.
Actual amount would suffice for a simple DVD release, its just this mocking attitude toward kids that I really don't like. An exercise video via fairy instructor and karaoke for one song that was bad enough in the film does not exactly make great bonus content for kids.
The making of feature is just too short but typical for a DVD release but I think the exercise routine using a fairy instructor is just a bit too much. The routine uses the films fairy training and some of Derek's half hearted attempts at performing his tooth fairy duties as a basis for kids to get off the couch and get some exercise.
The bonus content is just about as bad as not having anything at all and many would probably prefer to just shut off the movie when the end credits roll. Tooth Fairy is another film in a long line of tries at using popular myths to create a family friendly film that falls far short.
Tooth Fairy is a miss in my book and well worth skipping completely as it does not give a humorous or true enough experience like The Santa Claus did.