“Can you smell what the Rock is cookin?” These are the words made famous by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson when he was WWF wrestling superstar. Well it seems like the Rock is cooking up some family fun with his latest (and surprisingly funny) movie Tooth Fairy
Derek Tompson (Johnson) is a professional hockey player who is brought down to the minor leagues due to an injury. While in the minor league’s Thompson becomes known as the “Tooth Fairy” because of his well-known hard checks on the ice that usually results in a player losing a tooth. Thompson is also a self proclaimed dream killer. Since his injury sent him to the minors he has become a very hardened to the idea that if you have a dream you can accomplish it. When his girlfriend’s daughter Tess loses a tooth Derek continues in his cynicism as he tells the young girl there is no such thing as a tooth fairy. That same evening Thompson is summoned to one week’s hard labor as a real life tooth fairy from the Fairy Godmother (played by Julie Andrews). The events that transpire challenge Thompson as he must fulfill his duties as a tooth fairy and still continue to live his life in the real world. As Derek adjusts to life as a tooth fairy with his case worker Tracy (Stephen Merchant) he begins to see that maybe reaching for your dreams are not as ludicrous as he has come to believe
Tooth Fairy is very predictable from the opening scene but has a certain charm and appeal to it that captivated me from the same opening scene. However the story did seem a bit rushed and there are many gaping holes in the plot but being a family movie I was able to overlook those. Billy Crystal plays the part of Jerry the “equipment fairy” and his humor ads to the appeal of this movie and I only wish he had a bigger part to play. This is a wonderful movie and I would highly recommend it as a safe and fun movie to watch together for a family night movie.
