Review by Leonard Norwitz
Production:
Theatrical: Mayhem Pictures/Blumhouse
Blu-ray: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Disc:
Region: 'A' (B+C untested)
Runtime: 1:41:28.832
Disc Size: 40,393,433,363 bytes
Feature Size: 27,146,797,056 bytes
Video Bitrate: 27.99 Mbps
Chapters: 24
Case: Standard U.S. Blu-ray case w/ flippage
Release date: May 4th, 2010
Video:
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Resolution: 1080P / 23.976 fps
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio:
DTS-HD Master Audio English 3597 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3597
kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Dolby Digital Audio English 448 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio French 448 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Portuguese 448 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448
kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 448 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps
Subtitles:
English, Chinese, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and None
Extras:
• Audio Commentary by Director Michael Lembeck
• Training Center – (20:25)
• Sing Along Fairyoke – (3:45)
• Behind the Scenes – (38:55)
• Gag Reel – (2:34)
• Deleted Scenes – (8:20)
• Tooth Fairy DVD
• Digital Copy Disc
The Film:
5
We've seen this idea before, a grinchy kind of guy who, by
having to take on the role of that which he most humbugs,
comes to find the meaning of. . . whatever. So, the theme is
familiar – how about the telling?
Perhaps it's that broad smile, so unexpected from a man the
size of a small mountain and twice as strong, but there's
something very endearing about this movie that transcends
cliché. And speaking of smiles – or, rather, grins – there's
Stephen Merchant (The Office in the U.K.), who looks like a
character right out Dr. Seuss. Merchant plays Tracy, a fairy
with a mildly spiteful attitude about his job, probably
because he suffers from wings envy. He hasn't got 'em. Never
did. Isn't likely to get them.
Dwayne (I feel kinda like we're on a first name basis after
this movie) is a hockey player who hasn't snapped a puck in
years after having settled into a career role as "The Tooth
Fairy" – so named for the teeth he's knocked out every time
he levels an opponent. His coach seems to think that's all
he good for – and perhaps that's true since we never
actually see Dwayne skate – he looks like he's just wheeled
around – but I'm sure we're not supposed to notice.
Derek (that's Dwayne) has a girlfriend (Ashley Judd, who
doesn't seem to believe in aging like the rest of us
girls!), a single mom of two kids: a teenage boy (the
relentlessly cute Chase Ellison – he's been on TV since he
was 7), who tinkers with his guitar and isn't bad at it, and
his younger sister (Destiny Whitlock, who is even cuter.)
Destiny is nine and looks five, which is fortunate because
her character still believes in the tooth fairy.
The idea is that Derek has been sentenced to two weeks duty
as a tooth fairy, during which time he is on call, no matter
where he is or what he's doing, to sneak into a home where a
sleeping child expects to awaken in the morning to money in
place of his or her tooth. Derek's job is to make the swap.
As Derek's caseworker, it's Tracy's job to see to it that he
competes his missions. Merchant is outstanding here. He is
visually a scream, and his manner and dialogue has just the
right bite to make us believe that The Rock has to give way
to him.
Julie Andrews is the Director of Tooth Fairy affairs. Julie
still has that same stick up her whosits that she's had
since The Sound of Music, and it suits her perfectly here.
Billy Crystal has an uncredited role as Jerry,
Totthfairydom's version of "Q," handing out a selected
arsenal of gadgetry to Derek so as he can complete his
missions without being found out. Crystal is even funnier
than usual, and grownups will want more of him but, alas,
it's not his movie. It's Dwayne's. And, except in those
scenes where he tells kids not to bother with their dreams
because someone else is going to snatch them away anyhow,
he's really lovely, especially in his pink tutu, and much
more credible doing this sort of thing than Arnold.
Seriously, though, the kyboshing scenes are the movie's only
weakness. In Dwayne's defense, they're written with such
little subtlety, it's no wonder The Rock can't find the
right tone.
Image:
5
NOTE:
The below
Blu-ray
captures were taken directly from the
Blu-ray
disc.
We've seen this idea before, a grinchy kind of guy who, by
having to take on the role of that which he most humbugs,
comes to find the meaning of. . . whatever. So, the theme is
familiar – how about the telling?
Perhaps it's that broad smile, so unexpected from a man the
size of a small mountain and twice as strong, but there's
something very endearing about this movie that transcends
cliché. And speaking of smiles – or, rather, grins – there's
Stephen Merchant (The Office in the U.K.), who looks like a
character right out Dr. Seuss. Merchant plays Tracy, a fairy
with a mildly spiteful attitude about his job, probably
because he suffers from wings envy. He hasn't got 'em. Never
did. Isn't likely to get them.
Dwayne (I feel kinda like we're on a first name basis after
this movie) is a hockey player who hasn't snapped a puck in
years after having settled into a career role as "The Tooth
Fairy" – so named for the teeth he's knocked out every time
he levels an opponent. His coach seems to think that's all
he good for – and perhaps that's true since we never
actually see Dwayne skate – he looks like he's just wheeled
around – but I'm sure we're not supposed to notice.
Derek (that's Dwayne) has a girlfriend (Ashley Judd, who
doesn't seem to believe in aging like the rest of us
girls!), a single mom of two kids: a teenage boy (the
relentlessly cute Chase Ellison – he's been on TV since he
was 7), who tinkers with his guitar and isn't bad at it, and
his younger sister (Destiny Whitlock, who is even cuter.)
Destiny is nine and looks five, which is fortunate because
her character still believes in the tooth fairy.
The idea is that Derek has been sentenced to two weeks duty
as a tooth fairy, during which time he is on call, no matter
where he is or what he's doing, to sneak into a home where a
sleeping child expects to awaken in the morning to money in
place of his or her tooth. Derek's job is to make the swap.
As Derek's caseworker, it's Tracy's job to see to it that he
competes his missions. Merchant is outstanding here. He is
visually a scream, and his manner and dialogue has just the
right bite to make us believe that The Rock has to give way
to him.
Julie Andrews is the Director of Tooth Fairy affairs. Julie
still has that same stick up her whosits that she's had
since The Sound of Music, and it suits her perfectly here.
Billy Crystal has an uncredited role as Jerry,
Totthfairydom's version of "Q," handing out a selected
arsenal of gadgetry to Derek so as he can complete his
missions without being found out. Crystal is even funnier
than usual, and grownups will want more of him but, alas,
it's not his movie. It's Dwayne's. And, except in those
scenes where he tells kids not to bother with their dreams
because someone else is going to snatch them away anyhow,
he's really lovely, especially in his pink tutu, and much
more credible doing this sort of thing than Arnold.
Seriously, though, the kaboshing scenes are the movie's only
weakness. In Dwayne's defense, they're written with such
little subtlety, it's no wonder The Rock can't find the
right tone.
Audio & Music:
7/6
The DTS-HD MA mix is, more often than not, front directed
with just enough ambience and music divvied up to the
surrounds to add some dimension. In the hockey arena, crowd
noises and the arena sound machine pump up the volume to all
channels, if not the bass. In the fairy world, the swoosh of
some flying fairy makes good use of the surrounds.
Operations:
6
AS with other Fox Blu-rays of late, the main menu includes a
Search tab that you have to click on to get to the Chapters.
Extras:
3
The Behind the Scenes segment is hosted by Director Lembeck
and Visual Effects guy Jake Morrison. They stress how they
managed what they did with severe budget constraints, then
they take us on a behind the scenes look at how many of them
the effects were pulled off with the aid of side by side
comparisons.
The Tooth Fairy Training Center is not, as you might have
anticipated, about how The Rock trains for his role as a
fairy (I just love saying that) but a calisthenics program
for single digit kids led by a nice fairy in pink (see
caps). The Sing Along is hard to target. It's a "Fairyoke"
duet between Dwayne and Stephen as they sing one of the most
excruciatingly awful songs ever written. I guess they choose
it so as to distract from how odd they sound singing it.
Bottom line:
6
A pleasing family entertainment, even if the message is a
little heavy-handed. The cast is uniformly very good, with
Johnson acquitting himself well as a repressed good guy.
Merchant is awesome.
Leonard Norwitz
May 10th, 2010