At long last Peter Pan's best friend (okay sometimes she's a vindictive bitch) is getting an animated feature of her own. After a few false starts, TinkerBell the movie is due for release on DVD and Blu-ray late this October. If you are the mother of a little girl and if just one more Disney Princess item in the house will make you run screaming into the night, here's your chance to distract your little darling with a new set of merchandising opportunities. And you don't have to wait for the film. Right now you can log onto Disney Fairies and get a leg up on what will surely be the marketing coup of the season - at least for the under ten set. That's because Tink (as she's know in certain circles) has GIRLFRIENDS! Yes, you can collect all five action figures plus whatever accessories are de rigueur in Fairy Fashion.
Pre-release propaganda bills this as a story about friendship. Not just about friendship but about the special bond among Girlfriends. I can't help but notice there is also a Diversity Component. Anything else would be so last century! Because I really and truly do believe, I have hope that this will be a story about real friendship and not just a lot of stupid cliches. I hope the fairy friends will exhibit true emotion and not just a lot of tee hee hee and boo hoo hoo. Even a child of three knows what real tragedy feels like. What if your precious Pooh bear got thrown out totally by mistake? How would you feel about that, huh?
There are few enough films about friendship among women and precious few aimed at audiences this young. If I had a little girl in my life, I'd certainly plan to watch TinkerBell with her. If the film is great, the job is done. If it leaves something or a lot to be desired, at least you have talking points.
On the website is a poll asking "Do you wish you were a fairy?" The icon next to "Of course" is a picture of a beautiful fairy. The icon next to "No, I'm happy being myself" is some kind of green thing - I think it's a worm. Maybe it's a butterfly-to-be but I'm still not happy with that message. So far 85% of responders would rather be a fairy. That's because even little girls are very suspicious of this whole "inner beauty" thing. They aren't dumb - they know that adults fawn and coo over tots with big blue eyes and rosy cheeks and sort of pass over the ones with stringy hair and big ears (yeah, that would have been me). Just recently a good friend of mine asked his granddaughter, "Do a lot of people tell you that you're beautiful?" She said, "No, just you and mama." And I could tell she really didn't care. She was busy creating beauty - a really great drawing that showed she has genuine talent. She wasn't interested in being distracted by what other people thought of her appearance. She's only eleven; I hope that attitude stays with her for the rest of her life.