Instead of “The Game Plan’s” arrogant football
player who must learn sacrifice, humility and teamwork from a child,
the former wrestler known as The Rock plays a cynical, washed-up minor
league hockey player who has to learn a lesson about encouraging, not
discouraging, children’s dreams and fantasies.
Fairy thanks to his team enforcer role and his brutish skills on the
ice. “You can’t HANDLE the Tooth!”
He wears that has-been’s swagger, complete with a
“bonus baby” Corvette now a few years past its last tune-up. And he
loves his puns. “That’s the tooth, the whole tooth and nothing but the
tooth!”
He’s popular in Lansing, but he can’t help ruining
that by telling kids who want to grow up to be stars the long odds
working against their hockey dreams. But when he disillusions his
girlfriend’s daughter about the Tooth Fairy, the Fairy Godmother of
Tooth Fairies calls him on the carpet. She’s
He’s busted for “first degree murder of fantasy.”
Derek is sentenced to be a tooth fairy, at her beck
and call. No matter what he is doing, when the fairy Blackberry buzzes,
wings pop out, he trots out his magic wand, shrinking cream, amnesia
dust and other tricks to go crawl under a kid’s pillow, retrieve a
tooth and leave a dollar bill in its place.
Silly screenwriter. Everybody knows the REAL Tooth Fairy leaves Sacagawea dollar coins.
There are many “fairy” gags, a few too many “Let’s get small” references (
As “Fred Claus” ham-fisted as this is, the glint of
what might have been a cute kids’ comedy still glimmers in random
moments. But that
Tooth Fairy
1 1/2 stars (out of 4)
Cast:
Director:
Running time: 1 hour, 41 minutes
Industry rating: PG for mild language, some rude humor and sports action.
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(c) 2010, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).
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