Click here to hear interviews with the cast and crew of “Tooth Fairy.”
Kids love Dwayne Johnson, formerly known as “The Rock.” He’s a large, good looking, likable former wrestler turned actor who has had a lot of success in the family genre. He played a football player turned single dad in “The Game Plan” and cab driver turned hero in “Race to Witch Mountain.” Now, Johnson plays a hockey player turned tooth fairy in “Tooth Fairy.”
Out of all of those scenarios, this one is by far the most outrageous because, of course, the Tooth Fairy, doesn’t exist. That’s fine in a family film, though, because hopefully the film leaves its audience with some of that magical feeling of possibility. “Tooth Fairy,” however, lacks that magic. It’s just not there. Maybe that’s because nothing in the film ever feels dramatic.
Johnson plays Derek, a minor league hockey player best known for knocking out people’s teeth. When his girlfriend’s (Ashley Judd) daughter loses her tooth, he is about to spill the beans when she snaps at him. Apparently, the REAL Tooth Fairy’s hear him and then sentence him to serve a two week sentence as a real tooth fairy as a punishment. There he meets his case worker played by Stephen Merchant, the head of the tooth fairy’s, played by Julie Andrews and the gadget person of Tooth Fairy’s (think Q in James Bond) played by Billy Crystal.
If all of this sounds a little random and a little too unbelievable, that’s because it is, even for a simple kids movie. And the main problem with the movie is that there is never any effort to make it any more based in reality. Your kids are bound to just ask a million questions and point out the plot holes. In fact, later in the film, one character says to Derek, “Know what your problem is Derek? You can’t say ‘what if,’ and you never will.”
That’s a great idea!
WHAT IF it was explained what happened to the teeth that were collected?
WHAT IF a parent decides they want to give their kids money instead of the ‘real’ tooth fairy?
WHAT IF Derek asked one single question about this situation instead of just totally buying into it?
WHAT IF we were given a bit of context as to why Ashley Judd is a single mother?
WHAT IF it was explained how the Tooth Fairy’s raised money?
WHAT IF Seth McFarlane’s cameo had a point?
WHAT IF Derek was a little more balanced a person instead of a black and white evil/good guy?
You catch the drift.
“The Tooth Fairy” demands its audience totally buy into a fantastic situation without giving us a morsel of context. And that might be okay for the kids who are watching, but the parents are going to get very frustrated very fast.
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