Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure Blu-Ray Review
Klay Hall Directs Disney Fairies Movie For Disney Home Entertainment
Oct 29, 2009
In their interview with Suite 101, Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure director Klay Hall and producer Sean Lurie said they wanted to rescue Disney's direct-to-DVD animated film line from the 'dreck-to-video' moniker it acquired in the mid-1990's by concentrating on telling a good story.
Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure represents a step in the right direction for the beleaguered division, presenting a tale of friendship and owning up to your mistakes.
Mae Whitman, Jesse McCartney, Grey DeLisle, Anjelica Huston Star in Klay Hall's Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure
Tinker Bell (Mae Whitman) has been assigned a very special task by Queen Clarion (Anjelica Huston): make the scepter for the pixies' Harvest Festival. The scepter will hold the one-of-a-kind Blue Moonstone that will allow the pixies to harvest the magical dust that gives them their powers. However, when an accident puts the entire Festival – and Pixie Hollow – at risk, Tink must figure out a way to fix the damage, and repair her friendship with Terrence (Jesse McCartney).
Given Disney Toon's prior track record, this flick could have gone horribly wrong, and kudos to director Hall, scriptwriter Evan Spiliotopoulos and Disney Animation overlord John Lasseter that it didn't happen. Spiliotopoulos redeems himself for the debacle that was Battle for Terra with a fun script that hangs together without any lapses in story continuity or deus ex machina moments. He makes Blaze the Firefly – the inevitable cute sidekick – actually charming and useful for Whitman's heroine without coming off as cloying or annoying.
The CGI animation still looks plastic and doll-like, but their movements are realistic, and Disney Toon has eliminated the gloss that plagues most direct-to-DVD animation. You can tell Hall had fun with many of the scenes: shooting from some unusual angles and making the "camera" swoop through several scenes.
Blu-Ray Extras
The bonus short, 'A Magical Guide to Pixie Hollow' is essentially a rough storyboard animation that takes the viewer around Pixie Hollow, guided by Terence and Tink. It doesn't add much that isn't already in the movie.
Much more successful is the "Scenes You Never Saw," a hilarious 'blooper' reel that's just an excuse to throw in some gags. Some of the visual jokes in here are just about worth the price of admission.
However, Hall and Lurie do far too much talking to introduce the deleted scenes, presented here in storyboard form. While some form of introduction is necessary for some of these scenes, the two go overboard here.
The "Pixie Hollow Comes to Walt Disney World" featurette is an extended infomercial for the Pixie Hollow exhibit at Epcot. Avoid unless you want your little 'un badgering you to take them to see it.
The less said about Demi Lovato's music video for "The Gift of a Friend" the better.
The Final Analysis
While Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure isn't a home run for Disney Toon, it stands on its own as a piece of art, as opposed to just being an extended commercial for little girls' merch. While the CGI characters still look plastic and doll-like, and the flick wallops its moral across your cranium at every opportunity, at least it has its heart in the right place.
Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure gets a 7/10.
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