Secret of the Wings

Where do fairies come from?  When a baby laughs, a fairy is born.  And Tinker Bell (Mae Whitman) learns in this sweet animated tale that the baby’s laugh that gave her life must have been extra merry because two fairies appeared.  The Secret of the Wings is that Tink has a sister she never knew she had in a place she has never been.

Tinker Bell is a summer fairy who lives happily with her friends.  But she is curious about the adjoining land of the winter fairies.  Summer fairies send baskets of food across the bridge where the frost fairies live in a land covered with ice and snow.  Animals can cross over, too, but fairies are forbidden from entering each other’s lands by order of Lord Milori (Timothy Dalton), who is the ruler of the winter fairies.  Tinkerbell disobeys the rules and discovers a fairy named Periwinkle (Lucy Hale), who turns out to be her twin.  They instantly bond and are delighted to get to know one another.  “You collect lost things, too?”  “I call them found things!”

But summer fairies can be injured by the cold temperatures.  And when Periwinkle comes to visit Tinker Bell, even Tink’s clever contraption for keeping Peri cool is not enough to protect her from the damage caused by the warm climate.

The Disney artists have created two enchanting lands with pause-button-worthy details and swooping 3D effects.  The sweet story is unfortunately marred by brief boy-girl silliness, but Tink herself is an independent, resourceful, and loyal heroine.  She is respectful but willing to question authority, she is curious — I liked seeing her go to the library to do research — and she is skilled with tools and good at solving problems.  The sparkly twins will delight children and the grown-up voice talent like Dalton and Angelica Houston and imaginative visuals will give parents something to enjoy as well.