A Tooth Fairy Tale Film Analysis: Animated Adventure with a Sprinkling of Kid-Appropriate Tween Love Story
In this cartoon journey aimed at tweens, the world of fairies focuses on gathering teeth from slumbering children and placing gold under their pillows. Board-riding teenage rebel fairy Van (brought to life by Booboo Stewart) is less than thrilled about devoting his life to gathering baby teeth—a sentiment that’s entirely reasonable. He is just a bit more interested in the financial workings behind it all: the fairies hand over the molars to mysterious goblins, who supply gold in exchange. But Van’s curiosity is piqued when he spots a goblin (voiced by Larkin Bell), who turns out to be not at all the hideous gnome he expected.
A Forbidden Connection and Shared Threat
Everything is prepared for an exciting quest with a light sprinkling of teen romance (though it’s perfectly appropriate for children). The goblin and fairy communities are estranged from each other, and there’s nothing like the excitement of secrecy to unite beings as one. Both groups portrayed in the film are remarkably alike, yet both maintain biased views about the opposite side. Fairies are supposed to be self-centered sorts, given to taking anything they want, while goblins are reportedly dim-witted, foul-smelling, and backward, but are in fact intelligent and technologically advanced.
Of course, this scenario needs a shared foe to unite against, and this is duly provided in the form of some nasty spiders, voiced by Jon Lovitz and Fran Drescher. There’s no beating about the bush about their intentions: they aim to devour the goblins and fairies, and they make for quite savage, though not particularly skilled, villains.
Target Audience and Final Thoughts
You won’t find all that many children’s animations targeting the kind of audience that is beginning to have early romances, but are not mature enough for whatever teenagers view these days in lieu of Twilight. If your child falls into this age group, this is unlikely to be their next all-time fave, but you could do worse.
A Tooth Fairy Tale releases in Scottish cinemas from 10 October and the rest of the UK from 24 October.
