The Tooth Fairy Story Film Analysis: Animated Journey with a Touch of Kid-Appropriate Tween Love Story
In this cartoon adventure for preteens, the world of fairies focuses on collecting baby teeth of sleeping children and leaving gold beneath where they sleep. Skateboarding youthful nonconformist fairy Van (voiced by Booboo Stewart) shows little enthusiasm about devoting his life to gathering baby teeth—a sentiment that’s entirely reasonable. He’s only a bit more curious about the financial workings behind it all: the fairies deliver the teeth to unseen goblins, who provide metal in exchange. However, Van’s interest is piqued when he spots a goblin (played by Larkin Bell), who turns out to be not at all the ugly gnome he expected.
An Unlikely Connection and Shared Threat
The stage is set for an exciting quest with a gentle touch of young love (even though it remains very much suitable for children). The goblin and fairy communities are estranged from each other, and nothing fuels the excitement of secrecy to bring people as one. The two species portrayed in the film are incredibly similar, yet both maintain biased views about the opposite side. The fairies are supposed to be entitled types, prone to taking whatever they fancy, while goblins are reportedly stupid, foul-smelling, and primitive, but are in fact intelligent and technologically advanced.
Of course, this scenario requires a common enemy to join forces against, and this is duly provided by some nasty spiders, voiced by Jon Lovitz and Fran Drescher. There’s no beating about the bush about their intentions: they want to eat the goblins and fairies, and they make for fairly bloodthirsty, though not especially competent, villains.
Target Audience and Final Thoughts
There aren’t all that many animated films targeting the kind of audience that is beginning to have first crushes, but are not old enough for the content 14-year-olds view these days in lieu of Twilight. Should your youngster is in the right age bracket, this is unlikely to become their new all-time fave, but it’s a decent choice.
A Tooth Fairy Tale releases in movie theaters in Scotland starting October 10 and the rest of the UK from 24 October.