Originally Posted By mawnck In case anybody cares ....... I try to see every theatrical animated feature in the theater, and as has been noted elsewhere, the new Tink movie meets all the Academy's requirements for a card-carrying theatrical feature thanks to its 1-week run at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, so to the El Capitan I went this morning. Once again, I couldn't get anybody to go with me, so I ended up being the creepy older guy at the ticket booth as the person inside bellowed into their intercom for everyone to hear "DID YOU SAY **ONE** ADULT?" So this is a review very much from a grown-up perspective, and your 6-year-old's mileage may vary. And just for the record, I'm the guy who keeps telling everybody how surprisingly good the first Tink movie was. Well this one, not so much. The music is still great, the art direction is to die for, there are still some clever comedy bits and slapstick, and the montage that opens the thing is just flat-out magical. But then the story starts. And that direct-to-video smell starts wafting from the screen. The story here is contrived. REALLY contrived. So contrived that they have to spend two (count 'em, TWO) lengthy sequences wherein a minor character **verbally** contrives it for you. Like, stands there and fills you in on some sort of ridiculous bit of Fairy Legend that was obviously concocted for the sole purpose of giving Tink something to do for 70 minutes. The Fairy poobahs inexplicably give hotheaded, clumsy dingbat Tink the awesome responsibility of making a holder staff thingy for the unbelievably fragile and irreplaceable Moonstone, which they need for their rapidly upcoming annual blah blah blah, without which all the Fairies and the horses they rode in on will die in horrible writhing agony or something. (I wonder if this movie itself was ever in danger of missing its deadline? It would explain a LOT.) So we spend 20 or 25 minutes waiting for the inevitable while Tink tries to build the staff, and under the pressure gets into a fight with her significant other and sends him away, and then after (do I even have to say "spoiler" here?) she breaks the Moonstone, the other fairies suddenly decide to throw a production number (Tink actually GOES TO A TENT to see this) which tells a "fairy tale" (hee hee) about a magical Moonstone-repairing wishing mirror, which of course sends Tink sneaking off into the perilous wilderness to find it and are you asleep yet? Obviously most 6-year-olds aren't going to be all that critical about all the expository yacking, or the fact that this "fairy tale" of theirs ended with a wishing mirror that apparently nobody before Tink has ever considered looking for, or the fact that some of the stuff they predict in the "fairy tale" doesn't really happen, and one bit that does only sticks for about 20 seconds before the filmmakers apparently decide it's too inconvenient and quietly undo it. Mommy and Daddy, on the other hand, might need to keep a TV Brick handy just in case. So, lovely artwork and swell music aside, I'm afraid you can file this in the "above-average Disney Cheapquels" file. It's not nearly bad enough to give you PTSD flashbacks to Cinderella II, and the production values are high, but it's not really good enough to interest adults except in isolated sections. One interesting thing about this movie from a marketing standpoint: What's your kid's favorite fairy? If it's not Tink, I'm afraid I've got some bad news. This is pretty much a one-woman show. The other SKUs - uh - fairies barely even have cameos, and you might not even notice them at all unless you remember them from the first movie. Guess Lucy Liu was too busy or something. The best thing in the flick, IMHO, was this pair of wacky bickering bridge-guarding trolls, new characters that deserve at least their own short or something. They're on screen for maybe 3 minutes. 4 stars out of 10. Meh. See you next week at "Astro Boy."
Originally Posted By Rebekah I really enjoyed the first film and was looking forward to this film with great expectations. Thanks for lowering the bar... I suspect I will enjoy it more now that my expectations are lower. R.
Originally Posted By Dis-Philip Don't listen to Mawnck and his overly-negative and hateful review. He's wrong and obviously has no taste.
