Tinker Bell is a 2008 American animated fantasy film and the first installment in the Disney Fairies franchise produced by Disneytoon Studios. It is about Tinker Bell, a fairy character created by J. M. Barrie in his 1904 play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, and featured in the 1953 Disney animated film Peter Pan and its 2002 sequel Return to Never Land. Unlike Disney's two Peter Pan films featuring the character, which were produced primarily using traditional animation, Tinker Bell was produced using digital 3D modeling.
Tinker Bell is the first Disney film to feature Tinker Bell in a speaking role. Actress Brittany Murphy was originally selected for the part before the role went to Mae Whitman. The film follows Tinker Bell’s origin story, before she met Peter Pan, as she works out her place in Pixie Hollow and struggles with what her “talent” is.
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on October 28, 2008. It was followed by five sequels, beginning with Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure in 2009.
Plot Tinker Bell is born from the first laugh of a baby and is brought by the winds to Pixie Hollow, which is part of the island of Neverland, and Queen Clarion welcomes her. She learns that her talent is to be one of the tinkers, the fairies who make and fix things. Two other tinker fairies, Bobble and Clank show her around Pixie Hollow, teach her their craft and show her house.
While out working, the trio are hit by sprinting thistles, a type of menacing weed. Tinker Bell meets Silvermist, a water fairy; Rosetta, a garden fairy; Iridessa, a light fairy; and Fawn, an animal fairy. They tell her about the fairies who visit the mainland to bring each season. Tinker Bell is thrilled and cannot wait to go to the mainland for spring. After meeting them, she notices Vidia, an ill-tempered fast-flying fairy who immediately dislikes her because of her unusually strong talent. Vidia challenges her to prove she will be able to go to the mainland, and Tinker Bell creates several inventions but messes up with them while showing them to the Minister of Spring. Tinker Bell then learns from Queen Clarion that only nature-talent fairies visit the mainland. She talks with Fairy Mary, the tinker fairy overseer, who tries to please her with who she is, but instead inspires her to "switch her talent".
She tries her hand at nature skills; making dewdrops with Silvermist, lighting fireflies with Iridessa, and trying with Fawn to teach baby birds to fly, but she fails miserably at all of these. Meanwhile, Bobble and Clank cover for Tinker Bell when questioned by Fairy Mary. When Tinker Bell returns, she tries to explain, but Fairy Mary simply responds that she knows, and expresses her disappointment with Tinker Bell's actions.
On the beach, Tinker Bell finds parts of a music box and figures out how to put them together. Iridessa, Fawn, Silvermist, and Rosetta witness her doing this, then tell her that she should be proud of her talent, if this is what she is good at, the mainland should not matter. However, Tinker Bell still wants to go to the mainland. She asks Rosetta if she will still teach her to be a garden fairy, to which she does not respond any differently.
As a last resort, Tinker Bell asks Vidia to teach her how to be a fast-flying fairy, then explains that her friends gave up on her. Vidia craftily tells her that capturing the sprinting thistles would prove her worth as a garden fairy. However, once she sees Tinker Bell making progress, she lets the captured thistles loose, and in attempting to recapture them, they destroy all the preparations for spring. Tinker Bell decides to leave, but after talking with Terence, a dust-keeper fairy, about how important his job is, she realizes the importance of a tinker.
Tinker Bell invents machines that quicken the process of decorating flowers, ladybugs and so on. This allows the other fairies to get back on schedule, thus saving the arrival of spring. Vidia is punished for prompting her to cause the chaos, and Queen Clarion allows Tinker Bell to join the nature-talent fairies when they bring spring to the mainland, which she declines, having realized her talent. However, Fairy Mary arrives with the music box Tinker Bell fixed and gives her the task of delivering it to its original owner, who is shown to be Wendy Darling. The narrator ends by saying that when lost toys are found or a broken clock starts to work, "it all means that one very special fairy might be near."
Cast Mae Whitman as Tinker Bell, a new tinker fairy. Lucy Liu as Silvermist, a water fairy and a friend of Tinker Bell. Raven-Symoné as Iridessa, a light fairy and a friend of Tinker Bell. Kristin Chenoweth as Rosetta, a garden fairy and a friend of Tinker Bell. America Ferrera as Fawn, an animal fairy and a friend of Tinker Bell. Jane Horrocks as Fairy Mary, the overseer of the tinker fairies. Jesse McCartney as Terence, the pixie-dust keeper. Jeff Bennett as Clank, a large tinker fairy who is friends with Bobble. Rob Paulsen as Bobble, a wispy tinker fairy with large glasses who is friends with Clank. Pamela Adlon as Vidia, a proud fast-flying fairy who is jealous of Tinker Bell’s talent. Anjelica Huston as Queen Clarion, the queen of Pixie Hollow who oversees the four seasons. Loreena McKennitt as The Narrator. Steve Valentine as The Minister of Spring, the grand master of spring. Kathy Najimy as The Minister of Summer Richard Portnow as The Minister of Autumn Gail Borges as The Minister of Winter America Young as Wendy Darling Kat Cressida as Mrs. Darling Bob Bergen as Fireflies
Production The film went through two dozen script versions and multiple directors. The movie was produced with animation firm Prana Studios from their India location in CGI.
Planned for release in fall 2007, the movie experienced delays in connection with personnel changes in Disney management. According to a June 2007 article in Variety, Sharon Morrill, the head of DisneyToons direct-to-DVD division since 1994, was removed from this position due to problems with the film, including a budget that had expanded to almost $50 million. Pixar Animation Studios executives John Lasseter and Ed Catmull were given leadership of Walt Disney Feature Animation after Disney purchased Pixar in early 2006, and although DisneyToons was not under their management, "they are said to have gotten increasingly involved in the unit's operations." Lasseter reportedly said that the film was at that time "virtually unwatchable" and that it would hurt both Walt Disney Feature Animation and the Disney Consumer Products line it was meant to support.o-meon: Tinker Bell: Return of the Dark Fairy By C. W. Oberleitner Morill was moved to "special projects" and the status of the movie was seriously in doubt. Disney observer Jim Hill reported at the time that the complications surrounding this film had resulted in a decision that Disney would no longer produce straight-to-DVD sequels to its feature films, resulting in later sequels to Tinker Bell seeing theatrical releases.
Music The score to the film was composed and conducted by Joel McNeely, who recorded the music with an 88-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony and Celtic violin soloist Máiréad Nesbitt at the Sony Scoring Stage.
Soundtrack The movie's soundtrack was released on October 14, 2008, a week before the DVD release and contains songs from and inspired by the film. Other than the score suite, the only tracks in the film are both parts of "To the Fairies They Draw Near," "Fly to Your Heart" and "Fly With Me."
"To the Fairies They Draw Near" – Loreena McKennitt "Fly to Your Heart" – Selena Gomez "How to Believe" – Ruby Summer "Let Your Heart Sing" – Katharine McPhee "Be True" – Jonatha Brooke "To the Fairies They Draw Near, Part II" – Loreena McKennitt "Shine" – Tiffany Giardina "Fly With Me" – Kari Kimmel "Wonder of It All" – Scottie Haskell "End Credit Score Suite" – Joel McNeely
Score An album of Joel McNeely's score from the film was released on July 22, 2013, through Intrada Records as part of a co-branding arrangement with Walt Disney Records.
Prologue To the Fairies They Draw Near – Loreena McKennitt A Child's Laughter / Flight to Pixie Hollow Choosing a Talent Tink Tours Pixie Hollow Welcome to Tinker's Nook Tinker Bell's New Home Tink Meets the Other Fairies The Lost Things Theme Tink Meets Vidia and Finds Lost Things Tinkering Your Place is Here Making Things Tink Tries to be a Light Fairy Teaching a Baby Bird to Fly Hawk! Tink Finds the Magic Box Searching for Answers Sprinting Thistles Tink Feels Lost Spring is Ruined Rebuilding Spring The Music Box Restored To the Fairies They Draw Near, Part II – Loreena McKennitt Tink Meets Wendy Fly to Your Heart – Selena Gomez
Marketing The CGI-animated characters of Tinker Bell and new fairies appearing in the film were featured in Disney Channel bumpers in which they would draw the channel's logo with their wands. Rosetta represents her webisode. Marketing efforts for the film included a tie-in with Southwest Airlines, decorating and naming a Boeing 737 "Tinker Bell One". Flight attendants wore fairy wings and awarded prizes to passengers who correctly answered trivia questions about the Tinker Bell character.
Frank Nissen, the director of Cinderella III: A Twist in Time directed a series of webisodes under the title of "Pixie Preview" to promote the film on the "Fairies" channel of the Disney XD web site. Except for a few vocal effects, only one contains dialogue.
Title Description Tink and the Bell Tinker Bell finds a silver jingle bell, makes funny faces at her reflection in it, and then gets stuck in it. Tink and the Pepper Shaker Tinker Bell finds a pepper shaker and plays with it. Fawn and the Log Fawn attempts to wake some sleepy squirrels in a log. Fawn and the Butterfly Fawn attempts to help a butterfly which is having trouble getting out of its cocoon. Silvermist and the Fish Silvermist helps a baby fish get over a waterfall so that it can be with its family. Iridessa and the Light Bugs With the help of Pixie Dust, Iridessa helps make lightning bugs glow. Rosetta and the Flower Rosetta has some trouble in attempting to get a stubborn flower bud to open up. (This is the only webisode with two versions: one with dialogue and one without.)
A preview of a scene from the movie proper, likely the one where Tink tries to help a small bird flap its wings, was aired as part of a The Wonderful World of Disney airing of Peter Pan on ABC on July 26, 2008. The preview has been referred to as Tink and the Bird; no sources have been found that can confirm if it was named as such during the broadcast or if it was a nickname. Tink and the Bird has also been given as the name for an alleged broadcast on Disney Jr. at 6 AM ET on January 8, 2010, but the channel did not exist at the time, nor did the Playhouse Disney programming slot launch before 8 AM ET that morning.
Video game
Disney Fairies: Tinker Bell is an adventure game for the Nintendo DS. The game begins with Tinker Bell's arrival in Pixie Hollow, preparing for each season. As the seasons progress, more areas of the game become accessible. After all four seasons are completed, every area may be visited and season preparations become optional and vary each time. Various different tasks must be accomplished, which are bestowed upon the player by other characters. Such tasks include deliveries, item repairs, requests for items and searching for insects.