Arrogant ice hockey player Derek Thompson (Dwayne Johnson) takes great delight in stamping on other people's hopes and dreams. Nicknamed the 'Tooth Fairy' due to his penchant for knocking out players' teeth, his moniker becomes very apt when he steals a dollar that his girlfriend Carly's (Ashley Judd) daughter has left for the real Tooth Fairy. Sprouting wings, Derek is summoned to meet the leader of the fairies, Lily (Julie Andrews), who orders him to serve as a tooth fairy to make up for his transgressions.
It seems playing selfish jerks who, through the love of a good family, learn to change their ways has become The Rock's bread and butter of late, if this and The Game Plan are anything to go by. Coming from the world of professional wrestling, it's perhaps no surprise that Johnson's grasp of physical comedy is impressive and, wrapping his bulk in a tight-fitting fairy suit, he certainly gets a lot of mileage out of the absurdity of the situation.
Revolving around a narrative strand that sees Derek learn the importance of aspirations through Carly's teenage son Randy (Chase Ellison), Tooth Fairy's plot is the usual saccharine sweet follow-your-dreams stuff. That said, there's plenty of talent on hand to keep this from being an exercise in tooth pulling for cynical adults, including Extras co-creator/star Stephen Merchant as Derek's stroppy tooth fairy case worker.
Tooth Fairy is a Film programme that first aired in 2010 and has been classified a PG certificate.
