The Pirate Fairy - Blu-ray Review

Details: By Loron Hays; 30 March 2014

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Disney is not quite ready to drop the whole “pirate” act - at least not yet. The Pirate Fairy – the fifth in a series of Tinker Bell movie adventures and a prequel to Peter Pan – arrives in stores this Tuesday. It’s not as cinematic as what we’ve come to expect from Disney but this direct-to-DVD is quite entertaining and better than one might be lead to believe. Featuring a sextet of fairy heroines and the voice of Tom Hiddlestone as a young Captain Hook, owning The Pirate Fairy – especially if you have a household of little girls – is a no-brainer.

Released theatrically in Britain and other foreign territories, The Pirate Fairy has already earned its production cost (and then some) but, domestically, it will be a home theater release only. Considering that John Lasseter had story input, this fact is a bit of head-scratcher. The film is actually quite entertaining.

The story – written by Jeffrey M. Howard and Kate Kondell – tells the story of Tinker Bell (voiced again by Mae Whitman) and her inquisitive new friend, Zarina (Christina Hendricks from Mad Men) as, together with Southern-accented garden fairy Rosetta (Megan Hilty), water fairy Silvermist (Lucy Liu), animal fairy Fawn (Angela Bartys), light fairy Iridessa (Raven-Symone), and wind fairy Vidia (Pamela Adlon) battle familiar pirates who want the ability to make their ship fly the friendly skies of Neverland.

The animation is detailed and, on the whole, looks much, much better than Disney’s murderously awful Planes. The well-developed story is better, too. Make no mistake, this is Girl Power all the way through but, in spite of its female tilt, there’s no reason that boys wouldn’t enjoy the adventure, too. The inclusion of a young Croc adds for a bit more humor and, well, Hook’s pirates aren’t very refined and often more humorous than they are threatening. The voice talent is top notch and features a cameo from Anjelica Huston. It’s all money well spent.

Director Peggy Holmes and producer Jenni Magee-Cook have done a fine job of keeping Peter Pan’s spirit alive. Some of the set pieces are quite magical and the whole exploration of what pixie dust does is pretty interesting. In fact, it is a mystery to me why Disney lacked the faith to get this to theatres in America. Imaginative and full of fun references to the 1953 film, The Pirate Fairy has more energy than Planes.

If Disney doesn’t come up with a pint-sized pirate theme-park ride based on the zippy song “The Frigate That Flies” (featured in the movie twice), then they’re missing the boat on this release. The Pirate Fairy is an easy win for a morning’s entertainment.

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MPAA Rating: G for General Audiences.
Runtime: 78 mins
Director: Peggy Holmes
Writer:
Cast: Mae Whitman, Christina Hendricks, Tom Hiddleston
Genre: Family | Animated
Tagline: The Pirate Fairy
Memorable Movie Quote: "Wow, di you do those? That wasn't in rehearsal."
Distributor: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Official Site: http://fairies.disney.com/
Release Date: No theatricl release
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: April 1, 2014
Synopsis: From the world of Peter Pan comes The Pirate Fairy, a swashbuckling adventure about Zarina, a smart and ambitious dust-keeper fairy who's captivated by Blue Pixie Dust and its endless possibilities. When Zarina's wild ideas get her into trouble, she flees Pixie Hollow and joins forces with the scheming pirates of Skull Rock, who make her captain of their ship. Tinker Bell and her friends must embark on an epic adventure to find Zarina, and together they go sword-to-sword against the band of pirates led by a cabin boy named James, who'll soon be known as Captain Hook himself.

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The Pirate Fairy - Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - April 1, 2014
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English
Audio: English SDH, French, Spanish
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD); Digital copy; DVD copy
Region Encoding: A

The Pirate Fairy looks absolutely gorgeous in 1080p, with nice 3-dimensionality, character and object definition, and a palette of colors so rich and vivid that it feels like an assault on the senses. The AVC/MPEG-4 transfer is a good one, too, with no flaws that I can see or hear. “The Pirate Fairy” is presented in 1.78:1 widescreen. The featured audio is a crisp and robust English DTS-HD MA 7.1 that really fills the room with sound, especially on the songs or crisis scenes, as when the fairies take a plunge down a leaf slide. The bass may not rumble, but it still has a nice presence.

Supplements:

Commentary:

None

Special Features:

Kids will like what’s here. Included is a five-minute Croc-u-mentary about crocodiles and imprinting, along with a handful of deleted scenes, sing-along songs, a recording session for “The Frigate That Flies,” and the big bonus feature, “Second Star to the Right: The Legacy of Never Land,” which offers the conceptual lowdown on the imaginary place. Not bad for this road trip adventure.