The Tooth Fairy
- Year:2010
- Rating:G
- Cast:Julie Andrews, Dwayne Johnson, Ashley Judd
- Release Date:January 14, 2010
- Distributor:20th Century Fox
- Running time:101 minutes
- Film Worth:$7.50
- FILMINK rates movies out of $20 - the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cliched and predictable but goofy crowd-pleaser with a funny supporting cast.
Derek Thompson (Dwayne Johnson), a minor league hockey player, has earned the nickname "The Tooth Fairy" for his habit of knocking out the pearly whites of opposing players. Once a major star, Derek has now put his dreams behind him and settled for being a tough guy more concerned with shouting "You can't handle the tooth" than scoring goals.
Every inch of Tooth Fairy is formulaic, so that watching it is largely a process of waiting for the obvious set-ups to inevitably play out. So when Derek tells the daughter of his girlfriend (Ashley Judd) that the tooth fairy isn't real, how long will it be until Derek's transformed into a fairy with wings and a wand?
Having urged his girlfriend's moody son to go for his rock star dream, how long will it be until Derek's own dream of making it back to the major league becomes a plot point?
When Chief Fairy (Julie Andrews) chastises him for his bad attitude toward magic, when will Derek realise the error of his non-believing ways?
While lacking depth, Johnson is a likeable comedy star. With each role, Johnson has attempted to phase out his well known wrestling moniker, The Rock, but it's clear that his instincts are foremost as a crowd-pleaser and Tooth Fairy lets his goofball amiability take centre stage, which will please the kids.
The most laughs come from Derek's relationship with his uptight caseworker Tracy (Stephen Merchant, co-writer of UK series The Office). Merchant's comedic charm far outweighs Johnson's and makes this cliché of a film funnier than it should be.
