All of the Tinker Bell films personally were surprisingly enjoyable films, not perfect but great for its main target audience but sadly falling victim to "target audience stereotyping". Tinker Bell and the Pirate Fairy is the fifth film and quite possibly the best one, though all five are ranked very close together in terms of ratings. Maybe a few parts are a tad rushed and the dialogue is ropey at times, but what was good about the previous Tinker Bell films are evident also in Tinker Bell and the Pirate Fairy. The animation is not quite as beautiful as The Secret of the Wings but it is still very smooth moving and the colours are so warm and elegant, a far cry from "all gloss, no depth" quality. The action is thrillingly animated with no jerky editing in sight really. The music score has a Celtic touch but also have rousing and ethereal qualities too, that is sympathetically used, doesn't detract from the storytelling and match the visuals remarkably well. The songs are not the best in the world but for both the pirates and the fairies are cute and surprisingly hummable, with plenty of rouse and charm. The dialogue does have good-natured and suspenseful parts as well as the at times ropey ones, and of all the five films it's Tinker Bell and the Pirate Fairy that has the most eventful story that is bright, breezy and mostly solidly paced if rushed in spots. It has bags of charm and not only has parts that are genuinely funny like with Zarina but also some heartfelt ones too like Tinker Bell's return of the blue dust. Predictable? Yes. Charmless? Certainly not. The characters carry the film very nicely, James is an interesting villain, Zarina is a amusing addition and Tinker Bell is still a good identifiable role model. The voice acting is wonderful, especially from Christina Hendricks who makes a sassy contribution and Tom Hiddleston who shows with his suave yet subtly menacing delivery how he is born to play villains. Mae Whitman is very emotive though too, and the pirates and fairies are voiced with no obvious problems. To conclude, a pleasant and good film that is my personal favourite of the five and should be given a chance without prejudice. 8/10 Bethany Cox
Review of The Pirate Fairy
