There are many fairy films collected in these pages, some horror, some comedy, most for children, the majority mediocre and a significant minority dreadful. However, if you a day in bed with flu which should you watch. In no particular order we would suggest Totoro (1988) a Japanese film for children from the extraordinary Ghibli studios. Ghibli films have been characterised in the last twenty years by difficult plots and fabulous animation. In Totoro the animation is toned down and the plot (if you can call it that) is as simple as possible: two sisters find themselves in a country district and make friends with a series of supernatural beings, including Totoro, a local ‘troll’.

The Smoke Fairy (1909): cinema-lovers pretend to like silent films, but how many could truly bear to sit through forty minutes of a melodrama from, say, 1913. The Smoke Fairiy works because it is so very short; barely five minutes long; because it is entertaining; and because plays with perspective. Beautiful for children or adults alike.

The Secret of Kells (2009) is without question the best cartoon to come out of Ireland and one of the great children’s films of the new century. Set in Dark Age Ireland during the Viking invasions, Secret describes the young monk Aidan as he helps his friend Brendan write the Book of Kells, Ireland’s greatest treasure. The fairy is Aisling, a local forest sprite with beautiful white hair who helps Aidan as he works in the forest and who eventually, the films is ambiguous, dies to save Aidan. The music and animation are extraordinary.

The Secret of Roan Inish (1994) is another Irish film for kids this time set around selkie/seal legends. The film is sometimes a little bit too much like a Gaelic lesson from an earnest Irish nationalist, but it works and the finale is, against all the odds, moving. There is no mature content – unless talk about storms and tarring boats offends you – but for children brought up on a diet of cartoons this might be hard going. Probably best to wait to your children are at least nine or ten before seeing this.

Tinkerbell (2008) was the first of four prequel cartoons to Disney’s Peter Pan, following Tinkerbell in her adventures with friends in Pixy Hollow and clearly aimed at children. Reduced to basic plots the films sound unpromising and Disney’s record with fairies has not been great over the years. But the animation works surprisingly well and the script is often witty and sensitive to fairy lore. If you have a five year old in the house…

The Faery Faith (2000). One of several documentaries around the question of fairy belief and the most successful of these. The film begins and ends in Canada and includes a visit to Ireland (with Ed Lenihan!) and to England and Scotland. The director makes a case that perhaps does or does not work. But the fairy accounts he chooses, including an incredibly creepy description of fairies stealing a shadow, are vivid and memorable.

Epic (2013)

Type: Animation, Family, Comedy

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 64%

Directors: Chris Wedge

Stars: Colin Farrell, Amanda Seyfried

Duration: 106 mins

Rated: G

Plot Summary: The boggans and the ‘leaf folk’ (fairies, ‘Ronin’ even has an Irish accent) are fighting for the heart of the forest, which is watched over by an ineffective if lovable old scientist who is convinced that an advanced fairy society lives there and his estranged daughter who accidentally stumbles into the midst of the battle. Epic is interesting for the development of the theme that fairies are the ‘motor’ of nature, found in a slightly tamer version in the Tinkerbell films. Boggans (see boggarts?) are, instead, forces of entropy and not honestly that scary: your seven year old won’t die of fright. Highlights include the frog with a Harlem accent and the pseudo-science of fairies living at a higher velocity than us mere human beings.

Secret of the Wings (2012)

Type: Animation; Family, Fantasy

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 58%

Directors: Roberts Gannaway, Peggy Holmes

Stars: Timothy Dalton, Lucy Hale, Megan Hilty

Duration: 75 minutes

Rated: G

Plot summary: In the fourth of Tinker Bell’s recent films, the famous fairy’s curiosity about the forbidden Winter Woods leads her to discover she has a sister in that world. In their attempts to spend time together, trouble ensues as the two realms and respective fairies are unable to survive in each other’s conditions. Through teamwork by all the fairies and the star-crossed lovers ruling the two realms, the sisters secure a future in which they can see each other.

The Tooth Fairy 2 (2012)

Type: Comedy, Family

Rotten Tomatoes Ratings: 38%

Director: Alex Zamm

Stars: Larry the Cable Guy, David Mackey and Erin Beute

Duration: 90 minutes

Rated: PG

Plot Summary: Inferior to the first in the series. Larry the Cable Guy has lost his fiancé to a wealthy and unpleasant neighbour. However, he campaigns to win her back while being magically transformed into the tooth fairy.

Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue (2010)

Type: Animation; Adventure, Family

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 71%

Director: Bradley Raymond

Stars: Lucy Liu, Mae Whitman and Michael Sheen

Duration: 76 minutes

Rated: G

Plot Summary: The third instalment to Tinker Bell’s saga since her Disney debut in Peter Pan in 1953, this film finds the famous fairy trapped inside a tiny house belonging to a human girl with a fascination for fairies. The two form a friendship, which is then put to the test by the girl’s disbelieving father. But with help from Tinker Bell and her fairy friends, he in turn discovers the truth and a newfound bond with his daughter.

Barbie: A Fairy Secret (2011)

Type: Animation; Family, Fantasy

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: N/A

Director: William Lau, Terry Klausen

Stars: Diana Kaarina, Adrian Petriw, Britt Irvin

Duration: 72 minutes

Plot Summary : The Barbie franchise discovers fairies and Ken is kidnapped by fairies.     Barbie and her friend/rival Raquelle must ‘learn that the real magic lies not just in the fairy world itself, but in the power of friendship’. Tell that to the fairies though…

Neverland (2011)

Type: TV Mini-Series; Adventure, Fantasy

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: N/A

Director: Nick Willing

Stars: Rhys Ifans, Anna Friel and Charles Dance

Duration: 180 minutes

Plot Summary: A strange neo-realistic take on Peter Pan with real pirates, real Indians and little in the way of fairies.

Gnomeo and Juliet (2011)

Type: Animation; Comedy, Family

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 55%

Director: Kelly Asbury

Stars: James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Maggie Smith

Duration: 84 minutes

Rated: G

Plot Summary: A spin on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, feuding next-door neighbours have clans of gnomes living in their gardens and who likewise despise each other. Following a similar pattern of events as the classic play, Gnomeo and Juliet, gnomes from the two fighting clans, meet and fall in love. A twist on the originals ending, the film ends with the gnomes resolving their disagreements and the couple getting married.

The Tooth Fairy (2010)

Type: Comedy, Family, Fantasy

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 18%

Director: Michael Lembeck

Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Ashley Judd and Julie Andrews

Duration: 101 minutes

Rated: PG

Plot Summary: This comedy stars Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as Derek Thompson, a hockey player and boyfriend to a single mother by day and a tooth fairy by night. Thompson is a minor league hockey player whose misdeed lands him a two-week sentence as a tooth fairy. Balancing his new nocturnal activities with his daytime career and romance lead Thompson to realize the importance of being a influence to those around him.

The Secret World of Arrietty (2010)

Type: Animation; Adventure, Family

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 94%

Director: Hiromasa Yonebayashi

Stars: Bridgit Mendler, Amy Poehler, Will Arnett

Duration: 94 minutes

Rated: G

Plot Summary: The story of the unlikely friendship between a human boy and a girl belonging to a race of tiny people who live unseen by humans and are known as ‘Borrowers’ because they get what they need to survive by taking it from humans. In the short time they spend together, the pair inspire each other to have the courage to fight on in the face of adversity.

Secret of Kells (2009)

Type: Animation and Adventure

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 91%

Director: Tomm Moore

Stars: Evan McGuire and Christen Mooney

Duration: 78 minutes

Rated: G

Plot Summary: Perhaps the greatest animated production of this century (to date). Secret of Kells describes the work of Aidan, a young Irish monk, as he helps Brother Brendan create the Book of Kells, ‘to take among the people’ in the dark days of the Viking invasions. In creating the book Aidan makes an unlikely alliance with a fairy, Aisling in the woods outside Kells. Aisling saves her friend, but does she die? The film gives no easy answers.

Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure (2009)

Type: Animation; Adventure, Family

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 75%

Director: Klay Hall

Stars: Lucy Liu, Mae Whitman and Anjelica Huston

Duration: 81 minutes

Rated: G

Plot Summary: In the second of the Pixie Hollow films, Tinker Bell is given a special task for the coming autumn. She soon finds herself on an adventure to find a lost wish-granting mirror and teams up with a firefly named Blaze along the way. Though the pair ultimately finds what they sought, the most valuable things are what they discover of themselves along the way.

The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning (2008)

Type: Animation; Family, Fantasy

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 40%

Director: Peggy Holmes

Stars: Jodi Benson, Samuel E. Wright and Jim Cummings

Duration: 77 minutes

Rated: G

Plot Summary: In this prequel to the 1989 classic, Ariel’s father bans music from the underwater realm after a ship kills his wife when she tries to recover a music box. Years later, Ariel discovers her own love of music with help from Sebastian the crab. However, an ambitious servant with an eye for Sebastian’s position ruins their fun by alerting the king. With the help of her friends, Ariel shows her father his own forgotten love of music.

Tinker Bell (2008)

Type: Animation; Adventure, Family

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 89%

Director: Bradley Raymond

Stars: Mae Whitman, Kristin Chenoweth, Raven-Symoné

Duration: 78 minutes

Rated: G

Plot Summary: The return of Peter Pan’s Tinker Bell with her own leading role, the film takes place in a part of Neverland known as Pixie Hollow. The story brings to light the world of the magical island’s fairies and their various roles such as fixing things, bringing about the seasons, and helping animals. Tinker Bell’s desire to visit the mainland, or the real world, causes her to attempt the jobs of other fairies, which inevitably brings about disaster. These forays lead Tinker Bell to gradually come to terms with her own talents and see them as equal in importance to those bestowed on the other fairies.

Gnomes and Trolls: The Secret Chamber (2008)

Type: Animation; Family, Fantasy

Rotten Tomato Rating: N/A

Director: Robert Rhodin

Stars: Elizabeth Daily, Greg Berg, James Arnold Taylor

Duration: 70 minutes

Plot Summary: A coming-of-age story about a young gnome named Junior who lives in the forest. Continually at odds with his father, the leader of his people, the Junior must put aside his differences when trolls steal the gnomes’ winter food supply and he embarks on a quest to retrieve it. Travelling to unknown lands and facing various dangers, Junior finds courage he never knew he possessed.

A Very Fairy Christmas (2006)

Type: TV Movie; Animation.

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: N/A

Director: Ron Crown

Stars: Ashleigh Ball, Kathleen Barr and Alexandra Carter

Duration: 48 minutes

Rated: G

Plot summary: Leah Carpenter makes friend with Shaily an elf who works in Santa Claus’ workshop and visits Santa’s workshop.

Tooth (2004)

Type: Family and Fantasy

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 29%

Director: Edouard Nammour

Stars: Rory Copus, Vinny Jones, Stephen Fry, Sally Phillips and Tim Dutton

Duration: 91 minutes

Plot Summary:  A tooth fairy accidentally on purposes leaves far too much money for a tooth and allows the anti-Clause, a fairy-hunter to track her and her kids down.

The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea (2000)

Type: Animation; Family, Fantasy

Rotten Tomato Rating: 38%

Directors: Jim Kammerud, Brian Smith

Stars: Jodi Benson, Samuel E. Wright and Tara Strong

Duration: 75 minutes

Rated: G

Plot summary: The sequel to Disney’s 1989 classic, the film features Ariel’s daughter in a full reversal of the original’s storyline. Melody finds herself bound to land and wanting nothing more than to go explore the ocean, which her parents have forbidden out of fear of retribution from the original foe, Ursula’s sister. In spite of their wishes, Melody runs away to the ocean where she strikes a deal Morgana to turn her into a mermaid.

Faeries (1999)

Type: Animation; Adventure, Family

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 67%

Director: Gary Hurst

Stars: Kate Winslet, Jeremy Irons and Dougray Scott

Duration: 90 minutes

Rated: G

Plot summary: Never eat fairy food! A child eats a fairy cake and ends up in fairyland. The only way out is to complete three tasks and return to the world.

The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns (1999)

Type: Adventure, Comedy and Family

Rotten Tomatoes’ Rating: 77%

Director: John Henderson

Stars: Randy Quaid, Whoopi Goldberg, Roger Daltrey

Duration: 172 minutes

Plot Summary: A very long and often complicated film but one with real intelligence behind it. Jack Woods is an American who comes to live in an Irish cottage that is full of leprechauns. While Jack tries to relate to these strange creatures and catches the eye of a local girl, a Romeo and Juliet style story is underway as the prince of the leprechauns falls in love with the princess of the fairies and the two tribes go to war. Notable for Whoopi Goldberg (the Grand Banshee!) and special fairy vocabulary: ‘trooping fairies’ etc etc.

Rated: N/A

The Last Leprechaun (1998)

Type: Adventure, Fantasy and Drama

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 86%

Director: David Lister

Stars: Veronica Hamel, Jack Scalia and David Warner

Duration: 93 minutes

Plot Summary: Two exiled American children fight the evil designs of their step-mother and her creepy butler in Ireland.

Toothless (1997)

Type: TV Movie; Comedy, Fantasy, Romance

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 56%

Director: Melanie Mayron

Stars: Kirstie Alley, Dale Midkiff, Ross Malinger

Duration: 92 minutes

Plot Summary: A woman descending from a long line of dentists dies of a car accident and finds herself in a purgatory-like place, from where people either ascend to heaven or descend to hell depending on the deeds they perform while there. She is then given the job of tooth fairy though quickly breaks the rules by being seen by humans – at first only children, whose innocence allows them to see the paranormal – and interfering in the their lives. Though disastrous at first, her meddling ultimately lands her a second chance at life.

Ferngully 2: The Magical Rescue (1998)

Type: Animation; Adventure, Family

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 44%

Director: Phil Robinson, Dave Marshall

Stars: James S. Baker, Erik Bergmann and Connie Champagne

Duration: 75 minutes

Rated: G

Plot Summary: Poachers have stolen some animals from Ferngully and the fairies leave their ancestral home to retrieve them.

Spellbreaker: Secret of the Leprechauns (1996)

Type: Family, Fantasy

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 80%

Director: Ted Nicolaou

Stars: Gregory Smith, Madeleine Potter and Godfrey James

Duration: 85 minutes

Rated: G

Plot Summary: Mike Dennehy, an American kid finds himself at Fairyhill (Ireland) for the summer and makes friends with the local leprechauns and fights Nula, queen of the dead.

Pom Poko (1994)

Type: Animation and Adventure

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 83% 

Director: T. Takahata

Duration: 112 minutes

Rated: PG

Plot Summary: Not strictly a fairy film, but the description of a tribe of Tokyo raccoons who fight to protect their home from building development has many fairy echoes from the east. The raccoons, doomed to defeat, learn to shape change and to use magic against their human foes.

The Secret of Roan Inish (1994)

Type: Drama, Family, Fantasy

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 98%

Director: John Sayles

Stars: Jeni Courtney, Eileen Colgan and Mick Lally

Duration: 103 minutes

Rated: PG

Plot Summary: Fiona is ten and goes to live with her grandparents in Donegal where she learns that she has selkie blood: she then makes contact with the selkies and her lost baby brother. A beautiful film.

Thumbelina (1994)

Type: Animation; Family, Fantasy

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 25%

Director: Don Bluth and Gary Goldman

Stars: Jodi Benson, Gary Imhoff and Gino Conforti

Duration: 87 minutes

Rated: G

Plot Summary: Traditional story as a cartoon.

Ferngully: the Last Rainforest (1992)

Type: Animation; Adventure, Family

Rotten Tomatoes Rating:

Director: Bill Kroyer

Stars: Samantha Mathis, Christian Slater and Robin Williams

Duration: 76 minutes

Rated: G

Plot Summary: Hexxus is a logging firm that wants to destroy Ferngully. Its fairy guardians though are determined not to let this happen.

Hook (1991)

Type: Animated

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 31%

Director: Steven Spielberg

Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams, Julia Roberts

Duration: 144 minutes

Rated: PG

Plot Summary: A twist on the old Peter Pan story with an adult Peter Pan determined to take on Captain Hook.

A Gnome named Gnorm (1990)

Type: Adventure, Family, Fantasy

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: N/A

Director: Stan Winston

Stars: Anthony Michael Hall, Jerry Orbach and Claudia Christian

Duration: 84 minutes

Rated: PG

Plot Summary: A gnome’s attempt to gain notoriety among his race and an undercover detective’s sting operation go awry simultaneously, forcing the two to work together as they attempt to fix their debacles.

The Little Mermaid (1989)

Type: Animation; Family, Fantasy

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 56%

Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker

Stars: Jodi Benson, Samuel E. Wright, Rene Auberjonois

Duration: 83 minutes

Rated: G

Plot Summary: In Disney’s take on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, Ariel, a teenage mermaid and daughter of the king of the ocean, wants nothing more than to walk among the humans. After making a deal with the octopus-like witch, Urusula, who seeks to depose Ariel’s father and take his place, Ariel gains a pair of legs in exchange for her voice and, unless she is kissed by a human prince within three days, her soul as well. With the hep of her lively friends from the sea, Ariel attempts to fulfil her to sway the prince and so keep her soul and her happiness.

My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

Type: Cartoon

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 92%

Director: H. Miyazaki

Stars: Dakota Fanning, Ellie Fanning and Tim Daly

Duration: 87 minutes:

Plot Summary: Two children go to live in the country with their archaeologist father, while their mother is in hospital trying to recover from a mystery illness. The two slowly make friends with various local elementals in the Japanese countryside and, above all, a friendly troll called Totoro. Look out for the cat bus…

David the Gnome (1985)

Type: Animated, Family and Adventure

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: N/A

Director: Ernest Reid

Stars: José María Cordero, Matilda Conessa and Ramón Langa

Duration: 30 minutes

Plot Summary: This Spanish adaptation of the children’s book, The Secret Book of the Gnomes, follows the adventures of David and several other Gnome, who live in the forest and use their magical powers to battle the damage humans have created on the environment as well as their age-old enemies, the trolls. Twenty-six episodes were created in total for this television series.

Dark Crystal (1982)

Type: Animation; Adventure, Family

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 71%

Director: Jim Henson, Frank Oz

Stars: Jim Henson, Kathryn Mullen, Frank Oz

Duration: 93 minutes

Rated: PG

Plot Summary: DC is set on another world but the parallels with our earth’s fairy lore are striking.

Faeries (1981)

Type: TV; Animation; Short, Fantasy

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: N/A

Director: Lee Mishkin

Stars: Hans Conried, Craig Schaefer, Morgan Brittany

Duration: 30 minutes

Plot Summary Oisin is taken by a fairy to the fairy king to asks for his help against the evil Shadow. The film is notable for being based on the illustrations of Brian Froud.

Gnomes (1980)

Type: TV Movie; Animation; Family, Fantasy

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 76%

Directors: Jack Zander, Lars Calonius

Stars: Lee Richardson, Arthur Anderson and Rex Everhart

Duration: 45 minutes

Plot Summary: Based on the same children’s book as the Spanish television series, David the Gnome, the film revolves around a family of gnomes living in the forest and who prepare for the wedding of the eldest son in the family. The ceremony, however, is put to the test by a family of trolls intent on ruining the wedding as well as obnoxious members of Tor’s own extended family.

The Gnome Mobile (1967)

Type: Adventure, Family, Fantasy

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 61%

Director: Robert Stevenson

Stars: Walter Brennan, Matthew Garber and Karen Dotrice

Duration: 84 minutes

Plot Summary: A millionaire is committed to a mental institution for seeing gnomes and his grandchildren (the Mary Poppins duo) have to both rescue him and save the gnomes.

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Type: Animation; Family, Fantasy

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 91%

Director: Clyde Geronimi

Stars: Mary Costa, Bill Shirly, Eleanor Audley

Duration: 75 minutes

Rated: G

Plot Summary: Three fairy godmothers help sleeping beauty break the curse and find her prince.

Peter Pan (1953)

Type: Animated

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 75%

Director: Clyde Geronimi and Wilfred Jackson

Stars: Bobby Driscoll, Kathryn Beaumont and Hans Conried

Duration: 77 mins

Plot Summary: The classic Disney telling of the Peter Pan story with a particularly memorable and often angry Tinker Bell – who according to silver screen legend was based on Marilyn Monroe. Tinker Bell returned to Disney’s frontline in the Pixie Hollow films starting in 2008

Princess Nicotine; or The Smoke Fairy (1909)

Rotten Tomato Rating: N/A

Type: Comedy, Short, Fantasy

Director: J. Stuart Blackton

Stars: Paul Panzer, Gladys Hulette

Duration: 5 minutes

Plot Summary: Playing with ideas of size the fairy enters the cinema in a matchbox.

The Fairies and the Faun (1908)

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: N/A

Type: Comedy, Short, Fantasy  

Director: Pathé brothers

Stars: Bleuette Bernon, Georges Méliès

Duration: 5 minutes

Rated: U

Plot Summary: Much ballet and smoke bombs: very impressive.

Les Royaumes des Fées (1903)

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: N/A

Type: Comedy, Short, Fantasy  

Director: Georges Méliès

Stars: Bleuette Bernon, Georges Méliès

Duration: c. 16 minutes

Rated: U

Plot Summary: A series of fairy tableaux. The first fairy film.

 

Fairy Folio: A Field Guide to the Faerie (2004)

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: N/A

Type: Animation; TV Documentary

Director: Frank Forrestall

Stars: Rhys Bevan-John, Gordon Pinsent

Duration: 45 minutes

Plot Summary: Beautiful Canadian short that deserved better, an animated guide to the personnel of fairy ranging from the Irish Sidh to the Red Cap and Brownie.

Enquete sur le Monde Invisibile [Study of an invisible world] (2002)

Rotten Tomatoes Rating : N/A

Type: Documentary

Director: Jean-Michel Roux

Stars: Friðrik Þór Friðriksson and Baltasar Kormákur

Duration: 87 minutes

Plot Summary : A grainy documentary set in Iceland, the last corner of Europe where fairy belief is common among the rural population: novelty of French dubbing Icelandic.

The Fairy Faith (2000)

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: N/A

Type: Documentary

Director: John Walker

Stars: John Walker, Alex Goldie, Ai Yamamoto

Duration: 75 minutes

Plot Summary: The first fairy documentary: well worth watching.

Chasing Leprechauns (2012)

Type: TV Movie; Family

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: N/A

Director: Kevin Connor

Stars: Adrian Pasdar, Amy Huberman and Sean Duggan

Plot Summary: Irish law protects leprechauns but an American company wants to build a smelting plant.

Leprechaun’s Revenge (2012)

Type: TV Movie; Fantasy, Horror, Thriller

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: N/A

Director: Drew Daywalt

Stars: Billy Zane, Courtney Halverson, William Devane

Duration: 88 minutes

Rated: R

Plot summary: Homicidal leprechauns, four-leaved clovers and a St Patrick’s Day parade in a small Louisiana town. You’ve been warned!

The Fairy (2011)

Type: Comedy, Drama, French

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 92%

Directors: Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon, Bruno Romy

Stars: Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon, Bruno Romy

Duration: 93 minutes

Rated: NR

Plot Summary: ‘I’m a fairy, you have three wishes’. Quirky Belgian comedy with vanishing babies and circus style acrobatics.

The Tooth Fairy (2006)

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 22%

Type: Horror, Thriller

Director: Chuck Bowman

Stars: Lochlyn Munro, Chandra West, Steve Bacic

Duration: 89 minutes

Plot Summary: In the bad old days a witch (aka the tooth fairy) used to rip children’s teeth out and then kill them. Her lair has been turned into a lovely hotel, but evil is still lurking there. Lot of unpleasant scenes.

Faeries (2003)

Rotten Tomato Rating: N/A

Type: Musical; Short

Director: Tom Gustafson

Stars: James McKay, Wendy Robie, Vanessa Conway

Duration: 20 minutes

Plot Summary: Gay student seeks refuge in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It seems to work for him. Satisfying film.

Darkness Falls (2003)

Rotten Tomato Rating: 10%

Type: Horror, Thriller

Director: Jonathan Liebesman

Stars: Chaney Kley, Emma Caulfield, Lee Cormie

Duration: 86 minutes

Rated: PG-13

Plot Summary: The classic tooth fairy is given an evil twist. A woman wrongly accused of killing two children places a curse on the townspeople before she is hanged. Thereafter, she haunts the town by visiting children when they lose their last baby tooth and killing them if they see her. One, however, survives though is believed afterward to have become insane. Years later, a former friend realizes the truth of his story, and the two set out to destroy the evil tooth fairy once and for all.

A Midsummer’s Night Dream (1999)

Rotten Tomato Rating: 67%

Type: Comedy, Fantasy, Romance

Director: Michael Hoffman

Stars: Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Everett

Duration: 116 minutes

Rated: PG-13

Plot Summary: The Bard in a luscious Tuscan setting with a lot of English and American lovvies enjoying themselves.

Fairy Tale: A True Story (1997)

Rotten Tomato Rating: 52%

Type: Drama, Family, Fantasy

Director: Charles Sturridge

Stars: Paul McGann, Florence Hoath, Elizabeth Earl

Duration: 99 minutes

Rated: PG

Plot Summary: A parable based on the Cottingley happenings. The girls are even called Elsie and Frances…

Photographing Fairies (1997)

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 100%

Type: Drama, Fantasy and Mystery

Director: Nick Willing

Stars: Toby Stephens, Emily Woof, Ben Kingsley

Duration: 106 minutes

Rated: R

Plot Summary: Stunned by the death of his wife and the Great War Charles Castle goes in search of fairies in the idyllic English village of Burkinwell. He finds though a series of surprises.

Midsummer Night’s Dream (1996)

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 40%

Type: Drama, Fantasy, Comedy

Director: Adrian Noble

Stars:Alex Jennings, Lindsey Duncan

Duration: 105 minutes

Rated: PG-13

Plot Summary: For better and for worse a very ‘theatrical’ production.

Dreams (1990)

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: N/A

Type: Drama, Fantasy

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Stars: Akira Terao, Mitsuko Baishô, Toshie Negishi

Duration: 119 minutes

Rated: PG

Plot Summary: Eight shorts (based on Kurosawa’s dreams) fairy feel to ‘The Peach Orchard’.

A collection of tales based upon the actual dreams of director Akira Kurosawa.

Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935)

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 89%

Director:Max Reinhardt

Stars: James Cagney, Mickey Rooney

Duration: 117 minutes

Rated: U

Plot Summary: Cagney as Bottom, Rooney as Puck….