There is a scene in "Tooth Fairy" when the hero is screamed at by his girlfriend for even beginning to suggest to her 6-year-old that there isn't a Tooth Fairy. But surely this is a trauma a child can survive. Don't kids simply humor their parents to get the dollar?
The film reveals that there's not one Tooth Fairy anyway, but a whole workforce, tightly scheduled and supervised by the head fairy (Julie Andrews). This comes as rather an astonishment to a rugged pro hockey player named Derek, played by Dwayne Johnson, who is sentenced to a term in Fairy Land for almost spoiling the young girl's faith. Derek's nickname is "The Tooth Fairy" because he is a specialist in body-slamming opponents so hard that you can fill in the rest.
The Rock plays this role straight, which is basically the way he plays every role. He's a pleasant, relaxed screen presence, but a Method Actor he's not. His idea of a tone for the Tooth Fairy is sincerity.
The movie's best scenes involve Fairy Land, where a brisk but very tall fairy social worker played by Stephen Merchant adds some quirkiness. Merchant is a 6-foot-7 British comedian, inheritor of the possibly genetic trait that populated Monty Python. Also in Fairy Land is Billy Crystal, in charge of magic weapons, who issues Derek visibility sprays and suchlike.
There's no way I can recommend this movie to anyone much beyond the Tooth Fairy Believement Age, but it is pleasant and inoffensive, although the hockey violence seems out of place. Given his nickname and reputation, it's a miracle the Tooth Fairy has been allowed to survive with such a dazzling row of pearlies.
ROGER EBERT, Chicago Sun Times
