This German-Luxembourgian animation is a satisfactory if unambitious hour and a half for under-10s, closely within the orbit of Pixar each when it comes to visuals and in its central conceit of the enterprise of tooth-fairying as a Deliveroo-esque big-tech courier outfit. However not like Inside Out and Soul’s pint-sized explainers of the psyche, there’s just about no philosophical sprinkling on the cupcake right here. Not that that may cease the younger ’uns from gobbling it up anyway – however they could have loved one thing extra nutritious.
The examination to develop into a completely accredited tooth fairy appears simple sufficient. Because the would-be disco earworm firstly of My Fairy Troublemaker has it, “Sneak inside, take the tooth, make the toy, and disappear!” Cookie-scoffing, misbehaving Violetta (voiced by Jella Haase) is the one apprentice who fails to make the grade, not like her swotty mate Yolando (Julian Mau). Caught in her perception that she’s actually “probably the most particular tooth fairy ever”, she steals a gem that enables her entry to the human world. However in hijacking Yolando’s project to acquire an incisor from metropolis child Sami (John Chadwick), she finds an ally in his older stepsister Maxie (Lisa-Marie Koroll) when she is trapped in our actuality.
Beginning with a fairly annoying hero in Violetta, director Caroline Origer units the bar low when it comes to participating the viewers. Each Maxie, uncomfortable in her new household, and Violetta, at risk of turning right into a flower the longer she is exiled, are outsiders. However the movie is extra assured reverting to babyish antics – Violetta’s chocolate fixation, Sami’s itching powder stunts – than something emotional. Neither is the bigger ecological theme tabled with any subtlety: nefarious developer Rick (Tim Grobe), who desires to demolish an city greenhouse containing a tree holding the important thing to Violetta’s return, actually has a dollar-sign belt buckle.
Fortunately, the animation has the finesse the story doesn’t; competitors for Pixar’s rhythm and texture on presumably a fraction of the finances. The aged chief fairy’s silvery mane of dandelion seeds is a really good contact. Extra delicacy and element like that might have helped.
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