The Tooth Fairy Story Film Analysis: Cartoon Adventure with a Touch of Kid-Appropriate Preteen Love Story
In this cartoon journey aimed at tweens, the fairy community is dedicated to gathering teeth from sleeping children and placing treasure under their pillows. Skateboarding teenage rebel fairy Van (voiced by Booboo Stewart) shows little enthusiasm about devoting his life to collecting baby teeth—a sentiment that’s entirely reasonable. He’s only a bit more interested in the underlying economics behind it all: the fairies deliver the teeth to mysterious goblins, who supply gold as payment. But Van’s curiosity grows when he spots a goblin (voiced by Larkin Bell), who turns out to be not at all the ugly creature he had imagined.
A Forbidden Connection and Shared Threat
The stage is set for an adventure with a light sprinkling of young love (even though it remains very much suitable for younger kids). The fairy and goblin groups are estranged from each other, and nothing fuels the excitement of secrecy to bring people together. The two species portrayed in the film are incredibly similar, yet each holds biased views about the other. The fairies are supposed to be entitled types, prone to stealing whatever they fancy, while goblins are reportedly dim-witted, foul-smelling, and backward, but are in fact bright and advanced in technology.
Of course, this scenario requires a common enemy to unite against, and that need is met by some nasty spiders, voiced by Jon Lovitz and Fran Drescher. They make no secret about their intentions: they aim to devour the goblins and fairies, and they serve as fairly bloodthirsty, if not particularly skilled, villains.
Target Audience and Overall Impression
There aren’t all that many children’s animations targeting the kind of audience that is beginning to have first crushes, but aren’t yet mature enough for whatever 14-year-olds view these days in lieu of Twilight. If your child is in the right age bracket, this is unlikely to be their next all-time fave, but you could do worse.
The Tooth Fairy Story releases in movie theaters in Scotland from 10 October and across the United Kingdom from 24 October.