The Tooth Fairy
Posted on May 4, 2010 at 8:09 am
Cute kid + The Rock in a pink tutu = movie deal.
After the success of The Game Plan, Dwayne Johnson (nom de wrestling: The Rock) has become the go-to guy for movies about taming the gentle giant. So once again, the fun is seeing Johnson playing an arrogant jock who is schooled by just about everyone.
This time, Johnson is a hockey player named Derek who has been knocked down to the minor leagues following an injury. His nickname is “The Tooth Fairy” because his blocking is so aggressive that it sometimes knocks out the opposing player’s teeth. He is proud that he leads the league in penalty time. But he is cynical and disappointed in his life, and when a young fan says he hopes to play professionally, Derek bluntly tells him that it will never happen.
Derek is dating Carly (sweetly played by Ashley Judd), a single mom with a cute little girl and a sulky middle school boy. Derek impatiently almost tells Carly’s daughter that there is no tooth fairy. That night, under his pillow, he receives a summons. Suddenly, he has sprouted wings and is wearing a pink tutu. For the crime of failing to believe, he has been sentenced to two weeks of duty as a tooth fairy. With guidance from an administrative fairy (the towering Stephen Merchant of the UK’s “The Office” and “Extras”) and the fairy godmother (a regal Julie Andrews), Derek is outfitted with all of the necessary equipment (including a male version of the uniform) and sent out to retrieve some teeth and tuck money under some pillows.
This turns out to be quite a challenge. Breaking into people’s homes for benign reasons is still breaking and entering, and Derek will need his shrinking gunk, amnesia powder, and invisibility spray. And there will be times when a tooth fairy emergency will come at the wrong moment, and misunderstandings will have to be straightened out. The film has a number of screenwriters who seem to have missed a meeting on consistency in the tooth fairy rulebook and the wings themselves are not very attractive. But everyone is game, the silly humor is good-natured, and Merchant is not the only one who has some fun making Johnson seem small.
I saw the film and enjoyed it. I thought your review was right on with what I saw and felt. I believe anyone who realizes going in that it is a film with good natured silly humor will enjoy it. It certainly appeared that many of the young children in the audience liked it as they applauded when it was finished. The only thing that I would have liked to have seen is some positive closure for the young hockey player with hopes of playing professionally since they flash to him several times in the crowd at the game but then never seen again. In all, it is a good film filled with silly humor and I enjoyed it.
Thanks, Tim! I agree!
I loved this movie! I get so tired of guts, flesh and profanity that this was a welcome relief. When more of my family have seen it we’ll be quoting lines from it for years to come.
Tooth Fairy got 3rd while Avatar are still on the top and breaks the record of Titanic for the Best Seller movie internationally.
Thanks, Roxana! I’m so glad you and your family enjoyed the film; I did, too!
I’m taking my daughter and her friends for her birthday and a parent was concerned that it will say the Tooth Fairy isn’t real. Does it say that the Tooth Fairy isn’t real?
Hi, Lynn! A character almost says that, but the whole point of the movie is that tooth fairies (there are many of them) are indeed real. I think they will enjoy it.
My whole family loved this movie. Dwayne Johnson has great comedic timing and he had a lot of chemistry with Stephen Merchant. There was something for everyone. It was not like the unfunny “The Spy Next Door”. It was much better written, directed, and performed. There were a lot of hilarious lines.
It’s really sad that the critics didn’t want to give it a chance. They really ripped into it. Sure it’s a formula. But the fun is in the details. So critics, lighten up!
Thanks, Jen! I’m one of the few critics who had anything good to say about it and I’m glad you and your family enjoyed it, too.