Movie Review: Secret of the Wings (2012)

The animated movie uses voices from Mae Whitman, Lucy Hale, Timothy Dalton, Lucy Liu and Grey DeLisle.

My youngest daughter wanted to have a family movie night a couple nights ago. So, while I picked up a couple frozen pizzas on my way home from work, I told her to pick out a movie on Netflix. This is the one she decided on.

Even though her and her older sister had seen this film before, this was the first time I took the time to watch it. And, to be honest, as someone who isn't a big Tinkerbell fan, I was expecting it to seem like the longest 75 minutes of my life. However, as it turns out, this was actually a pretty decent movie.

The story about two sisters who were separated by where they lived was intriguing. I've seen similar plots in other movies. But, the fact either one of them could die simply by staying in the wrong climate too long was an interesting twist. And, while Tinkerbell (Whitman) had some pretty creative ideas about how to overcome that problem, her solutions had their own limitations too.

As I was pretty much expecting, some parts of the movie were a little predictable, especially when Tinkerbell learns the backstory about why the Winter Woods were off limits (it wasn't too hard to figure out which two fairies were responsible for the rule).

That being said, there were also quite a few other parts of this movie that weren't nearly as predictable as I thought they would be, especially when Tinkerbell's efforts to bridge the divide result in a deep freeze that threatens the warm-weather fairies. The problem she and the other fairies were facing was actually complex to the point it seemed as impossible to overcome as their inability to adapt to other climates.

My only real complaint about this movie is I'm still a little confused about how her sister (Hale) became a Winter Woods fairy when she, in all other ways, was identical to Tinkerbell. Was it simply because that is where she ended up or is there more to the selection process? The movie wasn't overly long so it wouldn't have been too hard to fit in a basic explanation about that.

I'm not ready to sit down and have a marathon session of Tinkerbell movies. But, this one did exceed my expectations. Overall, I thought it was a surprisingly good family film and is one I would recommend.

My Grade: A