‘Tooth Fairy’ is a cavity

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Dwayne Johnson tries to cash in on his “Game Plan”-proven kid appeal and Fox strains to find a little Disney-magic in “Tooth Fairy,” a sugary blend of “Enchanted” and “Monsters, Inc.” that will make you want to brush midway through it.

Instead of “The Game Plan’s” arrogant football
player who must learn sacrifice, humility and teamwork from a child,
the former wrestler known as The Rock plays a cynical, washed-up minor
league hockey player who has to learn a lesson about encouraging, not
discouraging, children’s dreams and fantasies.

Derek (Johnson) already has the nickname The Tooth
Fairy thanks to his team enforcer role and his brutish skills on the
ice. “You can’t HANDLE the Tooth!”

He wears that has-been’s swagger, complete with a
“bonus baby” Corvette now a few years past its last tune-up. And he
loves his puns. “That’s the tooth, the whole tooth and nothing but the
tooth!”

He’s popular in Lansing, but he can’t help ruining
that by telling kids who want to grow up to be stars the long odds
working against their hockey dreams. But when he disillusions his
girlfriend’s daughter about the Tooth Fairy, the Fairy Godmother of
Tooth Fairies calls him on the carpet. She’s Julie Andrews and she’s not keen on Mr. Cynic, especially after he makes fun of her accent.

He’s busted for “first degree murder of fantasy.”

Derek is sentenced to be a tooth fairy, at her beck
and call. No matter what he is doing, when the fairy Blackberry buzzes,
wings pop out, he trots out his magic wand, shrinking cream, amnesia
dust and other tricks to go crawl under a kid’s pillow, retrieve a
tooth and leave a dollar bill in its place.

Silly screenwriter. Everybody knows the REAL Tooth Fairy leaves Sacagawea dollar coins.

There are many “fairy” gags, a few too many “Let’s get small” references (Billy Crystal shticks it up in a cameo) and “wing envy” jokes, and entirely too many minutes pass before TV actor-turned-director Michael Lembeck teaches ol’ hockey puck-for-brains his lesson.

As “Fred Claus” ham-fisted as this is, the glint of
what might have been a cute kids’ comedy still glimmers in random
moments. But that Disney touch (which even Disney has trouble replicating) is missing. Even the hockey is unconvincing. So no dollar under the pillow for this cavity.

Tooth Fairy

1 1/2 stars (out of 4)

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Julie Andrews, Ashley Judd

Director: Michael Lembeck

Running time: 1 hour, 41 minutes

Industry rating: PG for mild language, some rude humor and sports action.

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(c) 2010, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).

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Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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