Tinker Bell (BD Live) [Blu-ray]
From WALT DISNEY VIDEO

Born into the fantastic world of Pixie Hollow, Tinker Bell thinks her fairy talent as a tinker isn t as special or important as the other fairies talents. But when Tink tries to change who she is, she creates nothing but disaster! With encouragement from her friends Rosetta, Silvermist, Fawn and Iridessa, Tink learns the key to solving her problems lies in her unique tinker abilities and discovers that when she s true to herself, magical things can happen.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4400 in DVD
• Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
• Released on: 2008-10-28
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: AC-3, Animated, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 70 minutes

On the Blu-ray Disc
The Blu-ray "BD Live" bonus feature allows viewers with Blu-ray or Playstation 3 players connected to the Internet to go online with friends or family anywhere in the country who also have Blu-ray and Internet capability to set up specific movie chat times. Both parties must own the Blu-ray version of the same movie in order to sync the movie for simultaneous viewing and the person who initiates the chat session controls movie functions like pause, fast forward etc. Chat session participants can instant message one another right on screen as the movie plays for an interactive experience that's just a step away from viewing the movie together in the same room. The only real delay is the time it takes to maneuver your remote through the onscreen keyboard, though the capability to link with your computer keyboard or handheld device makes messaging back and forth less cumbersome. The movie mail option allows users to upload video files they've created on their computer to automatically play alongside the movie in a particular scene--that means your little fairy princess can work some magic right alongside Tinker Bell and your friends online can watch her performance. Movie Challenge is an online interactive trivia game with three difficulty levels that plays scenes from the movie behind multiple choice trivia questions--players choose opponents from their true friends list (still coming soon as of this review's writing) or from anyone in the country who happens to be online with their Blu-ray player and the same movie. Viewers can also program parental controls and redeem points on Disney Movie Rewards right from their Blu-ray player. Other functions still "coming soon" as of October 2008 are a calendar function that plots future movie chat times up to three months out, news, and movie notifications. The only real downside of BD live is that the functions and menus are not always the most intuitive and both setting up your account and compiling a list of true friends is a multi-step procedure that requires many trips back and forth between your Blu-ray player and computer and/or phone. Assume that children and the non-tech-savvy will probably need some assistance. Once everything is set up and you've figured out how to navigate the system, it's time to watch and game with your friends and family--no matter how far away they live. --Tami Horiuchi

Review
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Review
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Great family entertainment!
"Tinker Bell" has gotten a lot of online commentary, most of it negative, so I wasn't really excited to watch my preview copy of this movie. I was VERY pleasantly surprised by what I saw. "Tinker Bell" is an enjoyable movie, perfect for children and even entertaining for adults. Based upon what I'd read previously, I would not have gone to a theater to see this; however, after watching it, I believe this movie is worthy of both big screen AND home entertainment viewing. Unfortunately, most of the banter has focused on the fact that Tinker Bell speaks. Personally, this is a minor point, as the animators have done a tremendous job of having Tinker Bell retain her spunky nature and movements that we all know from "Peter Pan (2-Disc Platinum Edition)."

The story is fairly simple; Tinker Bell arrives in Pixie Hollow, where all the Fairies have talents. It is discovered that (no surprise) Tinker Bell's talent is "tinkering" or fixing things. However, in Tink's opinion, this is not very exciting. She'd rather be one of the Fairies who gets to take Spring to "the mainland" (aka London). As you can imagine, Tink's early time at Pixie Hollow is filled with figuring out who she really is and that she is just as important as the other fairies who have more glamorous talents. There is plenty of humor, emotion, and visual beauty that helps elevate what seems like an oft-told tale.

The animation is fantastic; although it is obviously computer generated, it is apparent that the level of the animators doing it is such that they focus on camera movements, lighting, color, and emotional nuances rather than just the basics. Still, the characters do still have somewhat of a doll-like/mechanical quality. The movement and facial emoting is a vast improvement over some of the early computer animation, but it does still have a little way to go.

There is also a first-rate cast behind the scenes, giving the voices to these animated characters: Anjelica Huston (Queen Clarion), Lucy Liu (Silvermist), America Ferrera (Fawn), Kristin Chenoweth (Rosetta), Kathy Najimy (Minister of Summer), and my favorite, Jane Horrocks as the sassy Fairy Mary. The Celtic-inspired music is also enjoyable and the perfect accompaniment to the film.

The extras include:

* Tinker Trainer: Hone your skills as a Tinker Fairy in this activity

* Magical guide to Pixie Hollow: Discover the Ancient Realm of Fairies with Tinker Bell

* Ever Wonder: Discover how Fairies put the "wonder" in natural wonders. Combining special effects with live action, you are "shown" how grass grows between the cracks in the sidewalk, etc. A cute little featurette.

* Creating Pixie Hollow: See how the filmmakers created this magical realm.

* All-new music video by Disney Channel's Selena Gomez.

* Deleted scenes: enjoyable, but not really missed.

* Sneak previews, most notably the Blu-ray version of 1940's "Pinocchio." It looks fantastic! Being released March 2009.

Blu-ray exclusive:

* Disney BD Live: Connect with Family & friends through this innovative movie-watching experience

Movie specs: on Blu-ray, 1080 HD/1:78:1 video, with English 5.1 Uncompress & English 5.1 Dolby Digital audio.

Utterly gorgeous to look at and sure to delight all young children
I just watched TINKER BELL on Blu-ray and I was quite impressed. Time was that direct-to-DVD meant, well, bad. Low production values, second tier talent, and a disposable story. Lately, however, a number of studios have begun struggling with ways to develop a business model that allowed them to make profits on projects that bypassed theater releases. For instance, MGM has had some success with the Stargate movies, which have a solid but niche market, enough fans to buy DVDs with enthusiasm, but not enough general public support to justify a general release into theaters. Universal has reputedly been thinking of the possibility of doing the same with a SERENITY sequel, a film that merely broke even (after international sales) in the theaters, but has been a huge success on disc. My point is that it is no longer possible to dismiss anything that makes its debut on disc.

TINKER BELL is a great example of the greatly increased quality of direct-to-DVD productions. Visually, this is just a stunning movie. Story apart, there is never a moment when the film isn't utterly riveting. As an adult I found it great to look at from beginning to end. I think small children, especially young girls, will find it entrancing. The story isn't very complex or nuanced, but there are some nice messages of empowerment. If classic Disney frequently was mired in notions that the primary hope of women was for someday their prince to come, this one's theme is of a young fairy striving to be all that she can be. The emphasis is on what she can make of herself, not only the need for a romantic Other to make her life complete.

I mentioned the relative lack of talent in traditional direct-to-DVD releases. That is not the case here. Tinker Bell is voiced by Mae Whitman, who many will know as the delightfully forgetable Ann on ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT (viewers of the show will know what I meant by that). Some of the main fairies are voiced by such excellent performers as Kristin Chenoweth, America Ferrera, Angelica Huston, Lucy Liu, and Jane Horrocks.

Honestly, the movie is not going to blow most adults away. This is very definitely a kids film. As someone who raised a daughter as a single dad, however, I am confident that small children, especially young girls, are going to love this movie. And it is something that adults will be able to enjoy watching a first time and not find too unpleasant on the unaccountable repeated viewings that very young children love to engage in (there are still many animated movies that my daughter watched a few dozen times that I have nearly every scene memorized).

If you have a small child, this is a very good movie to consider picking up, especially if the child in question is a girl. It features very high production standards, is unbelievably beautiful to look at, and has a much better than average moral. And it is clearly intended to be the first of at least two films, since an insert inside the case advertises a new Tinker Bell film to be released in the fall of 2009.

Great movie, thanks one more time...Disney
I went to see the movie this afternoon, yes.. here in Mexico is playing in teathers. It is a great, fantastic, incredible, wonderfull and beautiful movie. The movie was in Spanish and it was great, the music and the colors. What I like the most was the story, because it has a deep message, I mean it has to do with your own acceptance to society. Think has to prove and acept by herself what she was meant to be. She is like a mechanich or something like that, but she wants to be different until the moment that she figures it out what she really is. All the fairies are so beautyful, the colors and the 3-D animation. I am wondering why Disney studios did not give this project to Pixar Animation, because I can tell that the animation is a little poor compared with Wall-e, resolution and color are very good, Dubbing was incredible and the story remains me something naive and sweet. I strongly recomend this movie to little childrend, my wife love it, and I am actually cry because it has a lot of love. Oh... and my favorite character is "queso" or "cheese", a little mouse that helps tinker bell trying to capture weeds, and my favorite fairy is Vidia, because she is kind of evil but no so much, and she is prettier than tink. Queen Clayron is so pixie and understanding person, and tink's friends are so funy, specially the fat guy. I can't reveal the end, but I can say that Wendy is in the movie (yes... the Pete's friend). Finally, it seems that think has a friend that likes her a lot. I can't wait to compare this movie with the blu-ray version. My expections about this movie were so high and I can say that well done. Thank's Disney. I am so happy to see an incredible and pixie Movie.