Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue (G)
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Caution: spoilers.

This is the third movie in the Tinker Bell franchise. Um, so it came out on my birthday (September 21) in 2010, though I didn't watch it til over a year later, November 23, 2011 (which was, btw, the day before Thanksgiving; and now I'm writing this review on Thanksgiving Day). Not that you care about any of that. You probably also don't care that my viewing of the DVD came soon after the fourth movie premiered on Disney Channel, which I didn't get to see because at the moment I don't have Disney Channel. But that's fine, surely it'll be on DVD eventually, and I watch it then. Maybe not as soon as I get it, but whatever.

Anyway, at the start of the movie, all the fairies go to the Mainland, where they're going to stay for the whole Summer. (I mean, most of the important characters and a bunch of random fairies; I suppose some must have stayed behind in Pixie Hollow; we never see Queen Clarion or Fairy Mary or any of the seasonal ministers in this movie.) In addition to helping usher in Summer, the fairies are supposed to go to Fairy Camp. There are actually a number of these, I have no idea how many. But after Terence delivers some pixie dust to the one Tink and her friends are at, he heads off to deliver more to other camps, so we don't get to see him again til the end of the movie. Oh, btw, I also find it a bit odd that the first movie was about Spring, the second about Autumn, and the third about Summer. I suppose this must be the following year, although Terence did say it was Tink's first Summer on the Mainland, which is odd. It's definitely set after the second movie, because we see Blaze the firefly, briefly. So I dunno why she didn't get to go to the Mainland in between the first and second movies.

But I digress. The tree in which is hidden the camp where Tink and the others are staying is not far from a house which is inhabited by a 9-year-old girl named Lizzy Griffiths, and her father, who is apparently an entomologist. (There's no mention of Lizzy's mother, who I suppose must be dead. Though there is a woman named Mrs. Perkins, who's supposed to look in on Lizzy at one point, while her father's away. Not sure if she's a nanny or just a family friend or what.) I think Lizzy and her father are just vacationing in the country for the summer, though they're not that far from London, which I presume is where they normally live. (Oh, I wanted to say it was odd that Lizzy's dad mentioned unpacking the "trunk"; being British, I'd expect him to call it a "boot," but I suppose most of the American target audience wouldn't get that. Or maybe he was talking about the trunk that was in the boot, I dunno.) Anyway, Lizzy is obsessed with fairies, though her father keeps telling her they're not real, and that she should focus her talents on science, instead of fairy tales. Meanwhile, all the other fairies tell Tink she should stay away from humans, but she goes out anyway, being fascinated by the motor car (or "horseless carriage") which Dr. Griffiths drives. Vidia (who is nicer in this movie than she was in the first, though still not as nice as the other fairies) follows Tink and tries to bring her back. However, Tink discovers a toy fairy house which Lizzy had built, and goes inside to investigate. Vidia traps her in the house as a lesson, not expecting a human to show up before she can let Tink out. But then Lizzy does show up, and when she finds a fairy in her toy house, she's very excited, and immediately takes the toy house back to her real house, to show her father.

Vidia is horrified by this, and manages to fly to the house (which is odd, because not long before that her wings had been too wet to fly, for a reason I won't get into). Looking through the window, she sees lots of butterflies pinned in display cases on the wall, which of course is even more horrifying. Lizzy also quickly fears that this would mean her father would do the same thing to the fairy she'd caught, so she decides not to show him, after all. Meanwhile, Vidia rushes back to fairy camp to tell the others that Tink has been captured. Of course they all want to rescue her, but by this time, there's a big rainstorm, which would prevent the fairies from flying. It also makes walking impossible, because the tiny rivulets of rainwater that collect on the road are like a river to them. But then Clank and Bobble design a sailboat, which all the other fairies (as well as Cheese the mouse and other creatures) help build. From this point on, the story will alternate between Tink's time with Lizzy, and her friends making their way toward the house, to rescue her. (Btw, I can't remember for sure, but I feel like before seeing the movie, I had gotten the idea that it was Vidia who was captured and needed rescuing, not Tink.)

Anyway, Tink is scared of Lizzy at first, but before too long they become friends. (Tink couldn't leave right away because she was waiting for the rain to stop.) I should mention that one problem I had when I first heard about the first movie was that Tink was going to talk in it (which I mentioned in my review of that movie). Well, this movie redeems the franchise on that front, because to Lizzy, Tink's speech just sounds like tiny jingling bells, which is as it should be. In spite of this, they do manage to communicate, to some degree. (We see how some of this is accomplished, such as Lizzy learning Tinker Bell's name; though later Lizzy writes down a lot of stuff she learns about fairies from Tink, which we don't really see how Tink communicated, and it does strain credibility, somewhat.)

Um, eventually, for a reason I won't get into, Tink reveals herself to Lizzy's father, who is amazed at her existence, and wants to take her to London to present to the museum. However, the other fairies finally show up, and Vidia manages to push Tink out of the way, and ends up getting captured by Dr. Griffiths, herself. (Which probably explains why I thought it was Vidia who needed rescuing.) So, Tink joins her friends, and Lizzy, in flying to London to rescue Vidia.

Well, I guess that's all I want to say about the plot. I hope I haven't spoiled too much. It definitely has a very happy ending for everyone, and the whole movie is pretty sweet. As always, nice animation. Also as always, the movie had pleasant music, good humor and drama, etc. (I loved when Lizzy learned that fairies are responsible for the changing seasons, and she says she thought... well, she gives the actual scientific explanation, and Tink- though of course Lizzy wouldn't hear this- says "That's what we wanted you to think!" Priceless.) It was also fun to see Rosetta do an impression of Tink. And to see Vidia feel actual guilt and remorse, and to display heroism. And... yeah, I guess that's pretty much all I had to say.

And of course, as with all the movies, the DVD has some good bonus features, including deleted scenes which were fun to watch....