WHERE does a 33-year old man start when reviewing Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue?
Clearly the film is not aimed at me. Clearly the makers – Disney – will not give a monkeys whether someone like me enjoys it or not. And clearly it’s not the sort of film I would watch without two small excitable children in tow.
So the only logical way forward is to review the film in the eyes of my five-year-old daughter. And judging by her excited gabbling in the car on the way home she absolutely loved it.
All through the 25-minute journey she was describing how when we got home she was going to make a fairy house. And when we got home she spent more than an hour making a fairy house. To say that this film captured her imagination would be the understatement of the decade. She was mesmerised by it.
The film itself is simple classic Disney. Stunning, bright, colourful, imaginative animation.
The plot - equally simple, which meant that both my daughters, including our three-year-old, had absolutely no problem following it.
A whole bunch of fairies arrive for ‘fairy summer camp’ in the woods. Nearby a man and his daughter arrive at a run-down cottage. The man is a collector of wildlife, doing field studies.
The young girl is passionate about fairies. The father has little time for her – because of his work – or for her ‘unscientific delusions’.
Tinkerbell accidentally gets trapped in the fairy house the young girl has made and placed carefully in the meadow opposite the house – thus setting the scene for the great fairy rescue, with fairies and science about to collide.
Disney films always come with a sprinkling of a certain magic, and this is no exception, with an enormous sprinkling of fairy magic.
And there are some brilliantly imaginative touches – the fairy machine that paints the stripes on bees was a thing of genuine wonderment to an inquisitive three-year-old.
This is not a film that will break box office records, I doubt it will win any awards, and clearly it will only appeal to children – and probably only girls at that – below a certain age.
But, if you have children that fall into that bracket, and it’s raining one day this week – clearly in Wales that’s a distinct possibility – then this could be the answer to your prayers.
It’s gentle, childish fun. Not too long. Just be prepared to be peppered with questions about fairies for a long time afterwards.
RATING: 4/5
*TICKETS: CINEWORLD, SHREWSBURY