Jeri Jacquin
Coming to Digital platforms from director Michael Johnson, Automatic Entertainment and Shout! Kids is the animated story and A TOOTH FAIRY TALE.
Young Van (voiced by Booboo Stewart) is a young fairy who is learning the ways of being a fairy which his father doesn’t really see. His Mom on the other hand wants her song to succeed and is willing to help. She explains that his magic just needs time and patience. On the first night out to deliver coins to the children who have lost teeth, his dad presents him with a very special wand. He soon discovers that someone has beat him too it!
Getting back to the other fairy’s, he explains what he found but no one seems to believe him. On the second night out, he meets Rupee, a small troll who is more than happy to help Van. Going through a secret space in the rocks, Van finds another world that is far from his home. There he finds Gemma (Larkin Bell), a goblin who warns him that fairies are forbidden there yet they learn from one another.
Quickly, Van and Gemma discover they have something in common – parents! Gemma takes Van around her world and shows him how they live. They also discover that the stereotypes on both sides are not correct. When Gemma discovers that fairy dust in her invention will allow her to go out into the daylight, she and Van feel like they are free to enjoy each other’s company in the sky. Someone who wants either fairy or goblin a certain widow, Queen Mortina, (Fran Drescher) in the dark.
Now, Van and Gemma have to find a way to be together before what lies in the dark ruins everything!
Stewart lends his voice to Van, a young fairy who is learning the ropes of getting a tooth and leaving a coin. His parents are trying to understand his difficulties and its even made more difficult when Dad is the trainer of the new fairy’s. Van is different, he sees the world as something to be explored, learned about and discovered. That might be his biggest problem that even his friends don’t understand. Bell as Gemma has the same problem. She is a smart goblin who examines and learns about everything and is creative enough to invent things but doesn’t always fit in. She and Van realize fairly quickly that they both are on the outside but with each other they get it.
There only problem happens to be a very dark Queen and Drescher gets to be that eight-legged fright in the night. Her character is one that both the fairies and the goblins have fear of and that would be the one thing that they need to come together on for the sake of their children. That doesn’t stop Drescher from giving us a wicked and snappy character that made me giggle.
Other cast include Jailen Bates, Mary Deaton, Maz Jobrani, Paty Lombard, Jon Lovitz, Tony Nation, Zachary Rice, Presley Ryan and Vivica A. Fox.
SHOUT! Studios has grown into a tremendous multi-platform media company. Releasing new animated features such as the exquisite LONG WAY NORTH, and the epic fantasy BEAUTY AND THE BEAST along with releases such as WALLACE & GROMIT, FERNFULLY, SHAUN THE SHEEP and so many more. For more of what SHOUT! Kids has to offer please visit www.shoutfactory.com.
Automatic Entertainment is a Los Angeles based independent motion picture distribution management company. Collaborating with content creators to develop and produce movies that appeal to a global audience, they work closely with theatrical distributors, television networks and film festivals around the world to secure distribution that promotes movies and series to the widest possible audience.
A TOOTH FAIRY TALE is really a wonderful film all around. The animation is so well done, colorful and dark at the same time. It gives us three different worlds which means three ways to use animation skills to show it to us all. I loved all three worlds as it shows the ways that one side misunderstands the other through outdate beliefs and stereotypes. That’s what I found most interesting, the stereotypes that Van and Gemma talk about made them both willing to be understanding. That is an important issue that kids can truly relate to and apply to their own life.
The story is so well done I just love Van and Gemma. This is a film that families can enjoy together, have some laughs, learn from and truly embrace from start to finish. I really do love when a film can be shared and the subject offers teachable moments. Films are so powerful in general but when you can tell a story such as this through animation and a good story, I can’t help but recommend it to anyone I meet – especially those with children.
Characters such as fairy’s, trolls and goblins are always of interested because they hold such mystery. Bringing them all together in a film with their own story to tell is so beautiful and worth the time to view again and again. So, cuddle up, grab some popcorn and spend a night at the movies with A TOOTH FAIRY TALE!
In the end – their friendship can save them all!
