Tinker Bell (Film)

**Tinker Bell** is a 2008 animated film directed by Bradley Raymond and is the first instalment in the Disney Fairies franchise. It is based on the fairy character created by J. M. Barrie in his 1904 play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, and featured in the 1953 film Peter Pan.

The film was released on October 28, 2008 as a direct-to-video.

## Plot

Tinker Bell is born from the first laugh of a baby, and is brought by the winds to Pixie Hollow (which is part of the island of Neverland), and Queen Clarion welcomes her. She learns that her talent is to be one of the tinkers, the fairies who make and fix things. Two other tinker fairies, Bobble and Clank, show her around Pixie Hollow, teach her their craft and show her her house.

While out working, the trio are hit by sprinting thistles, a type of menacing weed. Tinker Bell meets Silvermist, a water fairy; Rosetta, garden fairy; Iridessa, a light fairy; and Fawn, an animal fairy. They tell her about the fairies who visit the mainland to bring each season. Tinker Bell is thrilled and cannot wait to go to the mainland for spring. After meeting them, she notices Vidia, a fast-flying fairy who immediately dislikes her because of her unusually strong talent. Vidia challenges her to prove she will be able to go to the mainland, and Tinker Bell creates several inventions, but messes up with them while showing them to the Minister of Spring. Tinker Bell then learns from Queen Clarion that only nature-talent fairies visit the mainland. She talks with Fairy Mary, the tinker fairy overseer, who tries to please her with who she is, but instead inspires her to "switch her talent".

She tries her hand at nature skills; making dewdrops with Silvermist, lighting fireflies with Iridessa, and trying with Fawn to teach baby birds to fly, but she fails miserably at all of these. Meanwhile, Bobble and Clank cover for Tinker Bell when questioned by Fairy Mary. When Tinker Bell returns, she tries to explain, but Mary simply responds that she knows, and expresses her disappointment with Tinker Bell's actions.

On the beach, Tinker Bell finds parts of a music box and figures out how to put them together. Iridessa, Fawn, Silvermist, and Rosetta witness her doing this, then tell her that she should be proud of her talent, if this is what she's good at, the mainland should not matter. But Tinker Bell still wants to go to the mainland. She asks Rosetta if she will still teach her to be a garden fairy, to which she doesn't respond any differently.

As a last resort, Tinker Bell asks Vidia to teach her how to be a fast-flying fairy, then explains that her friends gave up on her. Vidia craftily tells her that capturing the sprinting thistles would prove her worth as a garden fairy. However, once she sees Tinker Bell making progress, she lets the captured thistles loose, and in attempting to recapture them, they destroy all the preparations for spring. Tinker Bell decides to leave, but after talking with Terence, a dust keeper fairy, about how important his job is, she realizes the importance of a tinker.

Tinker Bell redeems herself by inventing machines that quicken the process of decorating flowers, ladybugs, etc. This allows the other fairies to get back on schedule, thus saving the arrival of spring. Vidia is punished for prompting her to cause the chaos, and Queen Clarion allows Tinker Bell to join the nature-talent fairies when they bring spring to the mainland, which she declines having realised her talent. However, Fairy Mary arrives with the music box Tinker Bell fixed, and gives her the task of delivering it to its original owner, who is shown to be Wendy Darling. The narrator ends by saying that when lost toys are found or a broken clock starts to work, "it all means that one very special fairy might be near."

## Cast and Characters

* Mae Whitman as Tinker Bell
* Kristin Chenoweth as Rosetta
* Raven-Symoné as Iridessa
* Lucy Liu as Silvermist
* America Ferrera as Fawn
* Jane Horrocks as Fairy Mary
* Jesse McCartney as Terence
* Jeff Bennett as Clank
* Rob Paulsen as Bobble
* Pamela Adlon as Vidia
* Anjelica Huston as Queen Clarion
* Loreena McKennitt as The Narrator
* Steve Valentine as The Minister of Spring
* Kathy Najimy as The Minister of Summer
* Richard Portnow as The Minister of Autumn
* Gail Borges as The Minister of Winter
* America Young as Wendy Darling
* Kat Cressida as Mrs. Darling
* Bob Bergen as Fireflies

## Sequels

* Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure (2009)
* Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue (2010)
* Secret of the Wings (2012)
* The Pirate Fairy (2014)
* Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast (2015)

## Production

The film went through two dozen script versions and multiple directors. The movie was produced with animation firm Prana Studios from their India location in CGI.

Planned for release in fall 2007, the movie experienced delays in connection with personnel changes in Disney management. According to a June 2007 article in Variety, Sharon Morrill, the head of DisneyToons direct-to-DVD division since 1994, was removed from this position due to problems with the film, including a budget that had expanded to almost $50 million. Pixar Animation Studios executives John Lasseter and Ed Catmull were given leadership of Walt Disney Feature Animation after Disney purchased Pixar in early 2006, and although DisneyToons is not under their management, "they are said to have gotten increasingly involved in the unit's operations." Lasseter reportedly said that the film was at that time "virtually unwatchable" and that it would hurt both Walt Disney Feature Animation and the Disney Consumer Products line it was meant to support. Morill was moved to "special projects" and the status of the movie was seriously in doubt. Disney observer Jim Hill reported at the time that the complications surrounding this film had resulted in a decision that Disney would no longer produce straight-to-DVD sequels to its feature films.

## Release

### Marketing

The digitally animated character of Tinker Bell and other fairies appearing in the film were featured in Disney Channel bumpers in which they would draw the channel's logo with their wands. Rosetta's represents her webisode. Marketing efforts for the film included a tie-in with Southwest Airlines, decorating and naming a Boeing 737 "Tinker Bell One". Flight attendants wore fairy wings and awarded prizes to passengers who correctly answered trivia questions about the Tinker Bell character.

Frank Nissen, the director of Cinderella III: A Twist in Time directed a series of webisodes to promote the film on the "Fairies" channel of the Disney XD web site. Except for a few vocal effects, only one contains dialogue.

## Reception

The film saw a brief theatrical release at the El Capitan Theatre between September 19 and October 2. It was shown on Disney Channel on November 30 as part of "New in November".

As of June 2020, the film holds a 90% approval rating Rotten Tomatoes, based on ten reviews with an average rating of 6.53 out of 10. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on October 28, 2008. In North America, 668,000 copies were sold on its first day of release, about 22 percent above previous estimations.

DVD sales brought in $52,201,882 in revenue for 3,347,686 units sold.