Latest Tinker Bell tale from Disney has 'Wings'

By CAINE GARDNER

Film Critic

With two young daughters, Tinker Bell is always a welcomed guest my house. So each time a new adventure is introduced, it's a good bet it will be on my TV for at least a week.

In the fourth direct-to-DVD installment "Tinker Bell and the Secret of the Wings," Tink (Mae Whitman) and her friends are once again involved in another adventure that takes them beyond the borders of Pixie Hollow and gives the Tink the shock of her life.

As they do each winter, the fairies of Pixie Hollow are hard at work making snowflakes for the fairies that reside beyond the border in the Winter Woods. True to her nature, curiosity gets the better of Tink and she decides to see what's beyond the border.

On the other side, she is surrounded by falling snowflakes. The beauty of the snow is only trumped by the beauty of her now glowing wings.

The stunt lands Tink in the hospital, but as soon as she's better, she's determined to find how what made her wings glow.

With a damaged book about wings under her arm, Tink sets off for the Winter Woods in a basket of snowflakes.

Upon her crash landing arrival, Tinker Bell loses her book, which is quickly discovered by Lord Milori (Timothy Dalton), the Lord of Winter, and Sled (Matt Lanter).

She follows Sled to the Hall of Winter, where she meets the Keeper (Jeff Bennett) and Periwinkle (Lucy Hale), who just so happens is visiting the Keeper to inquire about her own problem of glowing wings.

The two are revealed to be sisters, born of the same baby's first laugh, but before the happily ever after can happen, Lord Milori and Queen Clarion (Anjelica Huston) inform the girls they can't be together because it's too dangerous.

A snow machine Tinker Bell constructed to help Periwinkle cross is knocked into the river and creates a snowstorm that endangers the warm fairies of Pixie Hollow.

Tink hightails it to the Winter Woods for help. The winter fairies decide to encase the Pixie Dust Tree in frost to protect it from the approaching storm, with they do, but at a cost.

In the process of saving the tree, Tink's wing is broken, and as we learn earlier in the movie, a broken fairy wing can't be repaired.

Cue the happily ever after.

As Tinker Bell and Perwinkle are saying their final goodbyes, the two are surrounded in light from their wings and magically Tink's wing is as good as new. Plus the two fairies groups can visit each other.

Of the four Tinker Bell releases, this is perhaps my favorite. The tale of friendship and family are strong. The voice acting spearheaded by Whitman, Dalton, Hale and Huston is superb.

Final Cut: "Secret of the Wings" is a fun tale that will capture the heart of girls of any age.

4 out of 5 stars