Rating :   67/100                                                                       75 Min       

Fast and fun, Tinker Bell flutters again in this, her fifth film instalment as part of the Disney Fairies franchise. Aimed at younger children, girls primarily, like its predecessors it retains the same colourful (computer generated) artwork and general feel of fairy goodness. Although the story is a little whimsical – introducing the mirror realm of the winter fairies and a never the twain shall meet parental warning, until Tink decides to eschew the ruling fairy law and go adventuring, almost causing global fairy annihilation, but ultimately alluding to the wisdom of co-operation and invention. It should be easy enough to follow and engrossing for its target audience – with Angelica Huston and Timothy Dalton in fairy voice support.

Disney have the following website to support the franchise, and it’s a pretty comprehensive site. The opening short entitled ‘How to have a snowball fight’ is actually quite amusing and The Red Dragon did appreciate the line ‘I love the smell of snowballs in the morning’ (if you are not aware of the reference then you are in immediate need of an injection of classic war films). However, this also seems to be a portal for a kids MMORPG (massively multi-player online role playing game) and based on the game’s description it seems, like many of its kind, to be designed purely to keep youngsters playing and immersed in the Disney fairy world. If it was also educational then maybe it would be a good thing, but as it is The Red Dragon would strongly advise parents to have their children stay clear of it, avoiding the possibility of a primary school aged generation of gaming zombies (I believe it also costs real world money to play).