Some of the changes are a good thing. Young girls are empowered to use their talents, follow their dreams and that getting rescued by a handsome prince need not be a part every girl's personal history. And I understand why "Song of the South" might not see the light of day again. But political correctness is starting to swing the pendulum a bit too far in the opposite direction.
Embarrassingly so.
I previewed the financially successful animated film "Frozen" and found an uncomfortable feeling creeping up. The award winning song "Let It Go" didn't seem to fit and you could practically smell the politically correct messages coming at you. Men are increasingly being portrayed as insignificant at best or clueless jugheads at worst (so complained the men sitting near me.) Fearing this unnecessary (and potentially unhelpful to young boys' self image) observation had become an obligatory part of every Disney film is what propelled me to the screening of "Tinker Bell & the Pirate Fairy".
Expectation can be a distraction for general audiences and entertainment reviewers alike. Who has ever been able to completely focus on an Alfred Hitchcock film before his customary cameo is spotted? Any number of movies will edit in a swear word or superfluous shocking scene to garner the movie rating the producers want in a move so obvious that movie goers are drawn out of the story momentarily. "Then I'll see you in hell", growls Han Solo defiantly in the Star Wars movie, "The Empire Strikes Back". The audience responded, "There's the PG rating." I needn't have been on the lookout for overtly politically correct moments in "Tinker Bell & the Pirate Fairy", I was tied to the mast and flogged with it. At one point in the film, the fairies seem to have recaptured the all-important blue pixie dust, rescued their friend and are in charge of the pirate ship. One sailor says, "Wait, are we to be told what to do by a bunch of fairies?"
CRACKKK!!!
Feel the pain of the Mouse's sledgehammer driving home its 'celebrate diversity' message into your skull. The action in the movie actually freezes while you catch the message, rub the growing lump on your head and start to refocus on the movie as the sailor is convinced by a flying knife that the answer is yes. This same lesson is handled correctly and naturally later on when a guy gives a big effusive hug to another guy he is happy to see survived a sleeping spell. But the once-bitten, twice-shy audience is now on high alert for another PC blow to the noggin and winces. This assault on the audience's intelligence so unnecessary and potentially dates the film, keeping it from being the beloved enduring classic we expect from our friend The Mouse.
A quick review: When a misunderstood dust-keeper fairy named Zarina steals Pixie Hollow's all-important Blue Pixie Dust, and flies away to join forces with the pirates of Skull Rock, Tinker Bell and her fairy friends embark on a rescue mission to return it to its rightful place. However, in the middle of their pursuit of Zarina, the rescuers' world is turned upside down. Tinker Bell and her friends find that their respective talents have been switched and they have to race against time to retrieve the Blue Pixie Dust and return home to save Pixie Hollow.
"Tinker Bell & the Pirate Fairy" has all the requisite lessons and action its target audience [girls aged 3-10] could hope for and will be bearable for their 12 year-old brothers quieted by an ice cream cone bribe. The pirate song sung in chorus is very funny and it is a bit of a prequel for "Peter Pan" as there are many foreshadowing moments for many of its characters.
Parents may want to consider bringing a helmet.
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